MECH&AE 261A · MAE 261AEnergy and Computational Methods in Structural Mechanics
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering · 4 units · Graduate courses (200-299)
Review of theory of linear elasticity and reduced structural theories (rods, plates, and shells). Calculus of variations. Virtual work. Minimum and stationary variational principles. Variational approximation methods. Weighted residual methods, weak forms. Static finite element method. Isoparametric elements, beam and plate elements. Numerical quadrature.
Letter grading.
When it runs
- Fall 2025
- Fall 2026
Scheduled, not typical — from UCLA’s Schedule of Classes, which publishes Fall 2025 through Spring 2027 and nothing before it.
Requisites
Official UCLA wording
Requisite: course 156A or 166A.
BruinTree reads · Prerequisite
confidence 1.00 · from textRequires
Everything that has to come before this course, not just the courses named in the requisite above.
MECH&AE 261A
- MECH&AE 156AAdvanced Strength of Materials
- MECH&AE 82Mathematics of Engineering
- MECH&AE M20Introduction to Computer Programming with MATLAB
- MECH&AE 101Statics and Strength of Materials
- MATH 31BIntegration and Infinite Series
- MECH&AE 166AAnalysis of Aerospace Structures
2 direct requisites. Showing 11 courses over 3 levels; the branches marked with a count carry on past it. Every course here opens its own tree.
Unlocks
What this course is a requisite for, and what those courses lead to in turn.
MECH&AE 261A
- MECH&AE 261BFinite Element Analysis for Solids and Structures
1 course lists this as a requisite. The whole downstream is here — 1 course over 1 level. Every course here opens its own tree.