Structural engineering

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The Eiffel Tower in Paris is a historical achievement of structural engineering.

Structural engineering is a sub-discipline of

contractors on site.[2] They can also be involved in the design of machinery, medical equipment, and vehicles where structural integrity affects functioning and safety. See glossary of structural engineering
.

Structural engineering theory is based upon applied

empirical knowledge of the structural performance of different materials and geometries. Structural engineering design uses a number of relatively simple structural concepts to build complex structural systems. Structural engineers are responsible for making creative and efficient use of funds, structural elements and materials to achieve these goals.[2]

History

Pont du Gard, France, a Roman era aqueduct circa 19 BC

Structural engineering dates back to 2700 B.C. when the step pyramid for Pharaoh Djoser was built by Imhotep, the first engineer in history known by name. Pyramids were the most common major structures built by ancient civilizations because the structural form of a pyramid is inherently stable and can be almost infinitely scaled (as opposed to most other structural forms, which cannot be linearly increased in size in proportion to increased loads).[3]

The structural stability of the pyramid, whilst primarily gained from its shape, relies also on the strength of the stone from which it is constructed, and its ability to support the weight of the stone above it.[4] The limestone blocks were often taken from a quarry near the building site and have a compressive strength from 30 to 250 MPa (MPa = Pa × 106).[5] Therefore, the structural strength of the pyramid stems from the material properties of the stones from which it was built rather than the pyramid's geometry.

Throughout ancient and medieval history most architectural design and construction were carried out by artisans, such as stonemasons and carpenters, rising to the role of master builder. No theory of structures existed, and understanding of how structures stood up was extremely limited, and based almost entirely on empirical evidence of 'what had worked before' and intuition. Knowledge was retained by guilds and seldom supplanted by advances. Structures were repetitive, and increases in scale were incremental.[3]

No record exists of the first calculations of the strength of structural members or the behavior of structural material, but the profession of a structural engineer only really took shape with the Industrial Revolution and the re-invention of concrete (see History of Concrete). The physical sciences underlying structural engineering began to be understood in the Renaissance and have since developed into computer-based applications pioneered in the 1970s.[6]

Timeline

Galileo Galilei published the book Two New Sciences in which he examined the failure of simple structures.
Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, which contains his laws of motion
.
Leonhard Euler developed the theory of buckling of columns.

Structural failure

The history of structural engineering contains many collapses and failures. Sometimes this is due to obvious negligence, as in the case of the

Pétion-Ville school collapse
, in which Rev. Fortin Augustin " constructed the building all by himself, saying he didn't need an engineer as he had good knowledge of construction" following a partial collapse of the three-story schoolhouse that sent neighbors fleeing. The final collapse killed 94 people, mostly children.

In other cases

box girders
which collapsed in Australia during the 1970s.

Theory

Figure of a bolt in shear stress. Top figure illustrates single shear, bottom figure illustrates double shear.

Structural engineering depends upon a detailed knowledge of

ETABS, Prokon, Revit Structure, Inducta RCB, etc. Such software may also take into consideration environmental loads, such as earthquakes and winds.[citation needed
]

Profession

Structural engineers are responsible for engineering design and structural analysis. Entry-level structural engineers may design the individual structural elements of a structure, such as the beams and columns of a building. More experienced engineers may be responsible for the structural design and integrity of an entire system, such as a building.[citation needed]

Structural engineers often specialize in particular types of structures, such as buildings, bridges, pipelines, industrial, tunnels, vehicles, ships, aircraft, and spacecraft. Structural engineers who specialize in buildings often specialize in particular construction materials such as concrete, steel, wood, masonry, alloys, and composites, and may focus on particular types of buildings such as offices, schools, hospitals, residential, and so forth.[citation needed]

Structural engineering has existed since humans first started to construct their structures. It became a more defined and formalized profession with the emergence of architecture as a distinct profession from engineering during the industrial revolution in the late 19th century. Until then, the architect and the structural engineer were usually one and the same thing – the master builder. Only with the development of specialized knowledge of structural theories that emerged during the 19th and early 20th centuries, did the professional structural engineers come into existence.[citation needed]

The role of a structural engineer today involves a significant understanding of both static and dynamic loading and the structures that are available to resist them. The complexity of modern structures often requires a great deal of creativity from the engineer in order to ensure the structures support and resist the loads they are subjected to. A structural engineer will typically have a four or five-year undergraduate degree, followed by a minimum of three years of professional practice before being considered fully qualified. Structural engineers are licensed or accredited by different learned societies and regulatory bodies around the world (for example, the Institution of Structural Engineers in the UK). Depending on the degree course they have studied and/or the jurisdiction they are seeking licensure in, they may be accredited (or licensed) as just structural engineers, or as civil engineers, or as both civil and structural engineers. Another international organisation is IABSE(International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering).[7] The aim of that association is to exchange knowledge and to advance the practice of structural engineering worldwide in the service of the profession and society.

Specializations

Building structures

Ove Arup & Partners
Millennium Dome in London, UK, by Richard Rogers and Buro Happold
world's tallest building
, shown under construction in 2007 (since completed)

Structural building engineering includes all structural engineering related to the design of buildings. It is a branch of structural engineering closely affiliated with architecture.[citation needed]

Structural building engineering is primarily driven by the creative manipulation of materials and forms and the underlying mathematical and scientific ideas to achieve an end that fulfills its functional requirements and is structurally safe when subjected to all the loads it could reasonably be expected to experience. This is subtly different from architectural design, which is driven by the creative manipulation of materials and forms, mass, space, volume, texture, and light to achieve an end which is aesthetic, functional, and often artistic.

The structural design for a building must ensure that the building can stand up safely, able to function without excessive deflections or movements which may cause fatigue of structural elements, cracking or failure of fixtures, fittings or partitions, or discomfort for occupants. It must account for movements and forces due to temperature, creep, cracking, and imposed loads. It must also ensure that the design is practically buildable within acceptable manufacturing tolerances of the materials. It must allow the architecture to work, and the building services to fit within the building and function (air conditioning, ventilation, smoke extract, electrics, lighting, etc.). The structural design of a modern building can be extremely complex and often requires a large team to complete.

Structural engineering specialties for buildings include:

Earthquake engineering structures

Earthquake engineering structures are those engineered to withstand earthquakes.

Earthquake-proof pyramid El Castillo, Chichen Itza

The main objectives of earthquake engineering are to understand the interaction of

perform
during an earthquake.

Earthquake-proof structures are not necessarily extremely strong like the El Castillo pyramid at Chichen Itza shown above.

One important tool of

base isolation
, which allows the base of a structure to move freely with the ground.

Civil engineering structures

Civil structural engineering includes all structural engineering related to the built environment. It includes:

The structural engineer is the lead designer on these structures, and often the sole designer. In the design of structures such as these, structural safety is of paramount importance (in the UK, designs for dams, nuclear power stations and bridges must be signed off by a chartered engineer).

Civil engineering structures are often subjected to very extreme forces, such as large variations in temperature, dynamic loads such as waves or traffic, or high pressures from water or compressed gases. They are also often constructed in corrosive environments, such as at sea, in industrial facilities, or below ground.

Mechanical structures

The principles of structural engineering apply to a variety of mechanical (moveable) structures. The design of static structures assumes they always have the same geometry (in fact, so-called static structures can move significantly, and structural engineering design must take this into account where necessary), but the design of moveable or moving structures must account for fatigue, variation in the method in which load is resisted and significant deflections of structures.

The forces which parts of a machine are subjected to can vary significantly and can do so at a great rate. The forces which a boat or aircraft are subjected to vary enormously and will do so thousands of times over the structure's lifetime. The structural design must ensure that such structures can endure such loading for their entire design life without failing.

These works can require mechanical structural engineering:

Aerospace structures

An Airbus A380, the world's largest passenger airliner
Structural Analysis

Aerospace structure types include launch vehicles, (

Hypersonic vehicles (Space Shuttle), military aircraft (F-16, F-18) and commercial aircraft (Boeing
777, MD-11). Aerospace structures typically consist of thin plates with stiffeners for the external surfaces, bulkheads, and frames to support the shape and fasteners such as welds, rivets, screws, and bolts to hold the components together.

Nanoscale structures

A

nanoparticles
have three dimensions on the nanoscale, i.e., the particle is between 0.1 and 100 nm in each spatial dimension. The terms nanoparticles and ultrafine particles (UFP) often are used synonymously although UFP can reach into the micrometer range. The term 'nanostructure' is often used when referring to magnetic technology.

Structural engineering for medical science

Designing medical equipment needs in-depth understanding of structural engineering

Medical equipment (also known as armamentarium) is designed to aid in the diagnosis, monitoring or treatment of medical conditions. There are several basic types:

EEG, blood pressure, and dissolved gases in the blood; diagnostic medical equipment may also be used in the home for certain purposes, e.g. for the control of diabetes mellitus. A biomedical equipment technician
(BMET) is a vital component of the healthcare delivery system. Employed primarily by hospitals, BMETs are the people responsible for maintaining a facility's medical equipment.

Structural elements

statically determinate
simply supported beam, bending under an evenly distributed load

Any structure is essentially made up of only a small number of different types of elements:

Many of these elements can be classified according to form (straight, plane / curve) and dimensionality (one-dimensional / two-dimensional):

One-dimensional Two-dimensional
straight curve plane curve
(predominantly) bending beam continuous arch lamina, dome
(predominant) tensile stress rope, tie Catenary
shell
(predominant) compression pier, column Load-bearing wall

Columns

Columns are elements that carry only axial force (compression) or both axial force and bending (which is technically called a beam-column but practically, just a column). The design of a column must check the axial capacity of the element and the buckling capacity.

The buckling capacity is the capacity of the element to withstand the propensity to buckle. Its capacity depends upon its geometry, material, and the effective length of the column, which depends upon the restraint conditions at the top and bottom of the column. The effective length is where is the real length of the column and K is the factor dependent on the restraint conditions.

The capacity of a column to carry axial load depends on the degree of bending it is subjected to, and vice versa. This is represented on an interaction chart and is a complex non-linear relationship.

Beams

Little Belt: a truss bridge in Denmark

A beam may be defined as an element in which one dimension is much greater than the other two and the applied loads are usually normal to the main axis of the element. Beams and columns are called line elements and are often represented by simple lines in structural modeling.

  • cantilevered (supported at one end only with a fixed connection)
  • simply supported (fixed against vertical translation at each end and horizontal translation at one end only, and able to rotate at the supports)
  • fixed (supported in all directions for translation and rotation at each end)
  • continuous (supported by three or more supports)
  • a combination of the above (ex. supported at one end and in the middle)

Beams are elements that carry pure bending only. Bending causes one part of the section of a beam (divided along its length) to go into compression and the other part into tension. The compression part must be designed to resist buckling and crushing, while the tension part must be able to adequately resist the tension.

Trusses

St Louis, Missouri
, USA, a concrete shell structure
Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri

A

gusset plates to connect intersecting elements. Gusset plates are relatively flexible and unable to transfer bending moments
. The connection is usually arranged so that the lines of force in the members are coincident at the joint thus allowing the truss members to act in pure tension or compression.

Trusses are usually used in large-span structures, where it would be uneconomical to use solid beams.

Plates

Plates carry bending in two directions. A concrete flat slab is an example of a plate. Plates are understood by using continuum mechanics, but due to the complexity involved they are most often designed using a codified empirical approach, or computer analysis.

They can also be designed with yield line theory, where an assumed collapse mechanism is analyzed to give an upper bound on the collapse load. This technique is used in practice[8] but because the method provides an upper-bound (i.e. an unsafe prediction of the collapse load) for poorly conceived collapse mechanisms, great care is needed to ensure that the assumed collapse mechanism is realistic.[9]

Shells

Shells derive their strength from their form and carry forces in compression in two directions. A dome is an example of a shell. They can be designed by making a hanging-chain model, which will act as a catenary in pure tension and inverting the form to achieve pure compression.

Arches

Arches carry forces in compression in one direction only, which is why it is appropriate to build arches out of masonry. They are designed by ensuring that the line of thrust of the force remains within the depth of the arch. It is mainly used to increase the bountifulness of any structure.

Catenaries

Catenaries derive their strength from their form and carry transverse forces in pure tension by deflecting (just as a tightrope will sag when someone walks on it). They are almost always cable or fabric structures. A fabric structure acts as a catenary in two directions.

Materials

Structural engineering depends on the knowledge of materials and their properties, in order to understand how different materials support and resist loads. It also involves a knowledge of Corrosion engineering to avoid for example galvanic coupling of dissimilar materials.

Common structural materials are:

See also

Notes

  1. ^ FAO online publication Archived 2016-11-19 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ a b "What is a structural engineer". RMG Engineers. 2015-11-30. Archived from the original on 2015-12-08. Retrieved 2015-11-30.
  3. ^ a b Victor E. Saouma. "Lecture notes in Structural Engineering" (PDF). University of Colorado. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-04-13. Retrieved 2007-11-02.
  4. ^ Fonte, Gerard C. A. Building the Great Pyramid in a Year: An Engineer's Report (Report). Algora Publishing: New York. p. 34.CV
  5. ^ "Some Useful Numbers on the Engineering Properties of Materials (Geologic and Otherwise)" (PDF). Stanford University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-06-16. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
  6. ^ "ETABS receives "Top Seismic Product of the 20th Century" Award" (PDF). Press Release. Structure Magazine. 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 27, 2012. Retrieved April 20, 2012.
  7. ^ IABSE "Organisation", iabse website Archived 2004-08-06 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ "Assessment of a Pair of Reinforced Concrete Roof Slabs" (PDF). Ramsay-Maunder.co.uk. Ramsay Maunder Associates. 2011. Retrieved 2022-03-08.
  9. ^ "Reappraisal of a Simply Supported Landing Slab" (PDF). Ramsay-Maunder.co.uk. Ramsay Maunder Associates. 2011. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2022-03-08.

References

Further reading

External links