STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING

Etymology  Throughout ancient and medieval history, most

architectural design and construction was carried
 STRUCTURAL – structus (L.) – to pile, build,
out by artisans, such as stone masons and
assemble
carpenters, rising to the role of master builder.
Definition  No theory of structures existed and understanding
of how structures stoop up was extremely limited
 a field of engineering dealing with the design of and based almost entirely on empirical evidence of
structures that support or resist loads. “what had worked before.” Knowledge was retained
 usually considered a specialty within civil by guilds and seldom supplanted by advances.
engineering, but it can also be studied in its own Structures were repetitive and increases in scale
right. were incremental.
 Structural engineering theory – based upon  The profession of structural engineer only really
physical laws and empirical knowledge of the took shape with the industrial revolution and re-
structural performance of different geometries and invention of concrete.
materials.  The physical sciences underlying structural
 Structural engineering design – utilizes a engineering began to be understood in the
relatively small number of basic structural elements Renaissance and have been developing ever
to build up structural systems that can be very since.
complete.
Specializations
What does a structural engineer do?
Building structures
 most commonly involved in the design of buildings
and large non-building structures but can also be  Structural building engineering – branch
involved in the design of machinery, medical of structural engineering that is close to
equipment, vehicles, or any item where structural architecture.
integrity affects the item’s function or safety.  must ensure that the building is able to
 must ensure their designs satisfy given design stand up safely, able to function without
criteria, predicated on safety (e.g. structures must excessive ejaculations or movements
not collapse without due warning) or serviceability which may cause fatigue of structural
and performance (e.g. building sway must not elements, cracking or failure of fixtures,
cause discomfort to the occupants). fittings or partitions, or discomfort for
 Entry-level structural engineers – may design the occupants.
individual structural elements of a structure.  must account for movements and forces
 often specialize in particular fields, such as bridge due to temperature, creep, cracking, and
engineering, building engineering, pipeline imposed loads.
engineering, industrial structures, or special  must also ensure that the design is
structures such as a vehicle or aircraft. practically buildable within acceptable
within manufacturing tolerances of the
History materials.
 dates to at least 270 B.C.E.  must allow the architecture to work, and
 Imhotep – built the step pyramid for Pharaoh the building services to fit within the
Djoser building and functions (air conditioning,
- First engineer in history known by ventilation, smoke extract, electrics,
name lighting, and so on)
 Pyramids – most common major structures built by  The structural design of a modern building
ancient civilizations can be extremely complex, and often
- inherently stable and can almost requires a large team to complete.
be infinitely scaled.
STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING
Structural engineer specialties for buildings include: Beams

 Earthquake engineering  elements which carry pure bending only.

o Earthquake engineering structures  Bending causes one section of a beam
- engineered to withstand various types (divided along its length) to go into
of hazardous earthquake exposures at the compression then the other section into
sites of their particular location tension.
o Main objectives: - The compression section must be
- Snapshot of shake-table testing of designed to resist buckling and
base-isolated (right) and a regular crushing, while the tension section
(left) building model. must be able to adequately resist
- Understand interaction of structures tension.
with the shaky ground.
- Foresee the consequences of possible Struts and ties
earthquakes.  Truss – a structure comprising two types
- Design, construct, and maintain of structural element, struts and ties.
structures to perform at earthquake  Strut – relatively lightweight column
exposure up to expectations and in  Tie – slender element designed to
compliance with building codes. withstand forces.
o Skl ko lang, UST Main Building/Roque
Ruaño O.P. is the first earthquake Plates
resistant building in the Philippines. It was
 carry bending in two directions.
designed by Fr. Roque Ruaño. May
 understood by continuum mechanics, but
museum dito, date tayo if u want hehe :>
due to the complexity involved, they are
 Façade engineering
most often designed using a codified
 Fire engineering
empirical approach, or computer analysis.
 Roof engineering
 Ex.: concrete flat slab
 Tower engineering
 Wind engineering Shells

Structural elements  derive their strength from their form, and,

carry forces in compression in two
Columns
directions.
 elements that carry only axial force either  can be designed by making a hanging-
tension or compression or both axial force chain model, which will act as a catenary
and bending (which is technically called a in pure tension, and inverting the form to
beam-column but practically, just a achieve pure compression.
column)  Ex.: dome
 design must check the axial capacity of the Arches
element, and the buckling capacity.
 carry forces in compression in one
Catenaries
direction only, which is why it is
 derive their strength from their form and appropriate to build arches out of masonry.
carry transverse force in pure tension by  designed by ensuring that the line of thrust
deflecting. of the force remains within the depth of the
 almost always cable or fabric structures arch.
STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING
Structural engineering theory the structural material to resist the load without
breaking, or when the strain is so great that the
 depends upon a detailed knowledge of loads, element no longer fulfills its function.
physics, and materials to understand and predict
how structures support and resist self-weight and Stiffness
imposed loads
 depends upon the material properties and
 To apply knowledge successfully, a structural
geometry
engineer will need a detailed knowledge of
 stiffness of a structural element of a given material
mathematics and of relevant empirical and
is the product of the material’s Young’s modulus
theoretical design codes.
and the element’s second moment of area and is
 The criteria which govern the design of a structure
equivalent to the ‘force constant’ in Hooke’s Law.
are either serviceability or strength.
 dependent to stiffness – deflection of a structure;
 A structural engineer designs a structure to have a
dynamic response if a structure to dynamic loads.
sufficient strength and stiffness to meet these
 A structure is considered to fail the chosen
criteria.
serviceability criteria if it is insufficiently stiff to have
 Loads imposed on structures are supported by
acceptably small deflection or dynamic response
means of forces transmitted through structural
under loading.
elements. These forces can manifest themselves
 flexibility – inverse of stiffness
as:
 Tension (axial force) Safety factors
 Compression (axial force)
 Shear  The safe design of structures requires a design
 Bending or flexure approach which takes account of a statistical
likelihood of the failure of the structure. Structural
Loads design codes are based upon the assumption that
both the loads and the material strengths vary a
 can be classified as live (imposed) loads, dead
normal distribution.
loads, earthquake (seismic) loads, wind loads, soil
pressure loads, fluid pressure loads. Impact loads,  The job of the structural engineer is to ensure that
and vibratory loads. the chance of overlap between the distribution of
loads on a structure and the distribution of material
 Live loads – transitionary or temporary loads and
strength of a structure is acceptably small.
relatively unpredictable in magnitude.
 The safety factors for material strength vary
 may include the weight of a building’s occupants
depending on the material and the use it is being
and furniture, and temporary loads the structure is
put to and on the design codes applicable in the
subjects to during construction.
country or region.
 Dead loads – permanent; may include the weight of
the structure itself and all major permanent
components.: may include the weight of a structure
in a way it would not normally be supported, for
example during construction.
Strength

 depends upon material properties.

 strength of a material - depends on its capacity to
withstand axial stress, shear stress, bending,
torsion.
- measured in force per
unit in area.
 structure fails the strength criterion when the stress
induced by loading is greater than the capacity of