Introduction to

Structural
Engineering
Structural Engineering Overview

• What is a Structural Engineer?

• What do they do?
• What do they design?
Structural Engineering Overview

• What is a Structural Engineer?

• What do they do?
• What do they design?
 What is a Structural Engineer?
• Engineer
– Mathematics of design
• Architect/Artist
– Vision
– Aesthetics of design
• Mediator
– Liason between parties
on a project
• Salesman
– Must sell your idea,
yourself
Structural Engineering Overview

• What is a Structural Engineer?

• What do Structural Engineers do?
• What do they design?
 What do SE’s do?
• Designer
– Consultant
• Take a design, and fit a structural system to that
• Expert witnesses in lawsuits
– Inspector
• Fieldwork, Job site inspections
• Oversee the materials (concrete, steel, etc.)
• Inspect the building – pre- and post-construction
– Demolitions
• Building deconstruction
• Structural Retro-fits
Structural Engineering Overview

• What is a Structural Engineer?

• What do Structural Engineers do?
• What do they design?
SE’s design/analyze Structures
• What is a structure?
– A system designed to resist or support loading
and dissipate energy
• Building Structures
– Houses
– Skyscrapers
– Anything designed for continuous human occupation
• Non-building Structures
– Bridges
– Tunnels
– Dams
 Forces
• Influence on an object that causes a change in a
physical quantity
• Considered “vectors” – magnitude and direction
• Static Force
– Unchanging with time
• Walls
• Floors
• Dynamic Force
– Changing with time
• People
• Furniture
 Forces
• Axial Forces
– Acting along one axis, directly on a point or surface

• Momential (Bending) Force

– Acting along an axis, at a certain distance from a
point, causes a folding motion
– M = F*d

F
 Forces
• Tensile Force
– Pulling on an object – stretching it
– Steel shows “necking” when too much tensile
force is applied
• Compressive Force
– Pushing on an object – collapsing it
– Concrete crushes when too much
compressive force is applied
 Forces
• Strain
– Tensile-related property
– Deformation / Length
• Stress
– Compression-related
property
– Force / Area
• Compare using stress-
strain graph
 What constitutes loading?
• Loading is a force being enacted on the
structure
– Many sources of load
• Gravity/Weight
• Wind
• Snow
• Earthquake
• Man-made
– Two Types of Structural Loading
• Dead Loads – static, ever-present (i.e. Walls, Floors, etc)
• Live Loads – dynamic, changing (i.e. People, Desk, etc)
 What should we build our
structures out of??

• Common Structural Materials

– Timber
– Masonry
– Concrete
– Steel
– Composites
How do we judge the materials?
• Common Material Properties
– Strength – Tensile/Compressive
– Density
– Hardness
– Ductility / Brittleness
– Elasticity
– Toughness
 Strength
• Ability of a material to withstand loading
– Tensile strength – ability of a material to withstand a
pulling force
• Steel is good at this, but concrete performs very poorly.

– Compressive strength – ability of a material to

withstand a pushing force
• Wood, concrete, steel, and masonry perform well
 Density
• Mass per unit volume of a material
– Units – mass/vol - kg/m3 or lb-m/ft3
– Typically, materials with a high density are
very strong and offer great protection.
– However, a high density means that they are
heavy and difficult to work with $$$$$
 Hardness
• Ability of a material to resist permanent
deformation under a sharp load
– Relates to the elasticity of a material
– Diamond is a very hard substance. If we built
a wall out of diamond, we could be sure that
very few things would scratch it.
– However, Diamond is incredibly expensive
and not as tough as other engineering metals.
It wouldn’t stand up as well in impact loading
versus other materials.
 Ductility / Brittleness
• Ability of a material to deform without
fracture
– We want materials with high ductility, because
they will indicate structural failure without a
sudden collapse.
 Elasticity
• Ability of a material to deform and return to
it’s original shape.
– Important quantity
• Young’s Modulus
• Ratio of stress to strain
– Stress = Force / Area (lbs./in2 or N/m2)
– Strain = Deformation / Length (unitless)
• Generates a stress-strain graph
• Related to the ductility of a material
 Toughness
• Ability of a material to resist fracture when
stressed (amount of energy absorbed per
unit volume)
– Units – J/m3 or Lb-f/ft3
– Area under the stress-strain curve, evaluated
from 0 to the desired strain.
So, we know what properties are
important in structural materials.

How do the common materials

stack up against each other?
 Timber
• Advantages
– Cheap, renewable resource
– Good in Tension – ~40 MPa
• Disadvantages
– Susceptible to fire, nature
– Not very hard
– Not very strong
– Limits on shape, size
 Masonry
• Concrete blocks, clay bricks
– Advantages
• Large compressive strength
• Cheap
• Good thermal properties – holds heat
well
– Disadvantages
• Not a cohesive material. The strength
could depend on the mortar, other
factors
• Poor tensile strength, unless reinforced
• Heavy material, requires skilled
laborers to use $$$$$
• Height restriction
• Susceptible to the weather
 Concrete
• Combination of water, cement, small
aggregate, and large aggregate.
• Advantages
– Very versatile – can be modified with
admixtures for different effects
– High compressive strength (4~7 ksi)
– Fire resistant
– Many diverse sizes and shapes - formwork
Concrete
• Disadvantages
– Long curing time
– Low tension
strength (~0.4
ksi)
– Fails in shear,
unless reinforced
– Fairly heavy
material to work
with
 Steel
• Advantages
– High tensile and compressive strength (A36
Steel ~ 60 ksi)
– Many varieties, depending on your need
• Carbon steel
• Stainless steel
• Galvanized steel
– Elastic material
– Ductile material
– Many shapes, sizes
 Steel
• Disadvantages
– Expensive – limited quantities / competition
– Susceptible to fire, rust, impurities
 Put them together and…
• Reinforced Concrete
– Concrete with steel reinforcement
• Concrete handles compression
• Steel takes the tension
– Can handle nearly 4 times the loading that
concrete alone can handle
– More expensive material
 Composites
• Engineered compounds that have different
physical or chemical properties
– FRP – Fiber reinforced polymers
– CFRP – Carbon-fiber reinforced polymers
– Plastics
– Categories of Glass
– Categories of Wood
So, now we know what material
will best suit our needs..

What should we build with it?

 Structural Shapes
• Rectangle / Square
• Triangle
– Interested in stability
• Truss
• Geodesic Dome
 Shape Stability Exercise
• Split into teams of 5
• Build a triangle and square
• See which shape is the most stable
– Can the unstable shapes be made stable?
– How?
Rectangle
• Advantages
– Proficient in
resisting
vertical load.
• Disadvantages
– No lateral
support
 Triangle
• Advantages
– Able to withstand
lateral & vertical
loading
– Many triangular
shapes available
• Disadvantage
– Wide base = $$$$
 Rectangle
• Advantages
– Proficient in
resisting
vertical load.
• Disadvantages
Need another
– No lateral
bar for lateral (horizontal)
support!
load support
--BRACING--
 Truss
• Combination of square and triangle
 Truss
• Combination of square and triangle

Squares
 Truss
• Combination of square and triangle

Triangles
 Truss
• Combination of square and triangle
– Both vertical and lateral support
Geodesic Dome
Domes
 Domes
• Advantages
– Very strong shape, gets strong as the dome
size increases
– Perfect load distribution
– No need for structural supports
– Great aerodynamic performance
 Structural Components
• Beams Column Girder

• Girders
• Columns
• Floors
• Foundations

Beam
 Load Path
• Floor

• Beams

• Girders

• Columns

• Foundation

• Soil/Bedrock
 Foundations
• Support the building
– Typically attached to columns
• Types
– Shallow
• Spread footing – concrete strip/pad below the frost line
• Slab-on-grade – concrete pad on the surface
– Deep
• Drilled Shafts
• Piles
 Columns
• Carry the load from floors to the foundation
– Never want the columns to fail COLLAPSE
– Typically reinforced concrete or steel
– Many sizes and shapes
Girders
• Attached column-
to-column
– Take the load from
the beams
– Transfer it to the
columns
– Generally shaped
as an I-Beam
 Beams

• Attached between
the girders
– Take load from the
flooring system
– Transfer it to the
girders
– Generally solid
squares, I-beams
 Flooring
• Composed of a subfloor and floor covering
– Usually leave space for ductwork, wiring, etc.
– Floor covering ranges from application to
application