Basic Concepts

of Structural
Engineering
Arizval Mendoza
 STRUCTURE
A structure refers to a system of
connected parts used to support
a load. When designing a
structure to serve a specified
function for public use, the
engineer must account for its
safety, esthetics, and
serviceability,
Structural Elements
Tie Rods. Structural members
subjected to a tensile force are
often referred to as tie rods or
bracing struts.
Due to the nature of this load,
these members are rather slender,
and are often chosen from rods,
bars, angles, or channels.
Structural Elements
Beams are usually straight horizontal members used primarily to carry
vertical loads. Quite often they are classified according to the way they
are supported
Concrete beams generally have rectangular cross sections, since it is
easy to construct this form directly in the field. Because concrete is
rather weak in resisting tension, steel “reinforcing rods” are cast into
the beam. within regions of the cross section subjected to tension.
Precast concrete beams or girders are fabricated at a shop or yard in
the same manner and then transported to the job site.
Structural Elements
Columns. Members that are generally vertical
and resist axial compressive loads are referred
to as columns. Tubes and wide-flange cross
sections are often used for metal columns, and
circular and square cross sections with
reinforcing rods are used for those made of
concrete.
Columns are subjected to both an axial load
and a bending moment as shown in the figure.
These members are referred to as beam
columns.
Types of Structures
Structural System is the combination of structural
elements and the materials from which they are
composed.
Each system is constructed of one or more of four basic
types of structures. Ranked in order of complexity of their
force analysis, they are as follows.
Trusses. When the span of a structure is required to be
large and its depth is not an important criterion for design,
a truss may be selected.
Cables and Arches. Two other forms of structures used
to span long distances are the cable and the arch.
Cables are usually flexible and carry their loads in tension.
The arch achieves its strength in compression, since it
has a reverse curvature to that of the cable.
Types of Structures
Frames are often used in buildings and are
composed of beams and columns that are
either pin or fixed connected. Like trusses,
frames extend in two or three dimensions. The
loading on a frame causes bending of its
members, and if it has rigid joint connections,
this structure is generally “indeterminate” from
a standpoint of analysis.
Types of Structures
A surface structure is made from a
material having a very small thickness
compared to its other dimensions.
Sometimes this material is very flexible
and can take the form of a tent or air-
inflated structure. In both cases the
material acts as a membrane that is
subjected to pure tension.
As such they may be shaped as folded
plates, cylinders, or hyperbolic
paraboloids, and are referred to as thin
plates or shells.
Loads
Once the structural form has been determined, the actual design begins with
those elements that are subjected to the primary loads the structure is intended
to carry, and proceeds in sequence to the various supporting members until the
foundation is reached.
Thus, a building floor slab would be designed first, followed by the supporting
beams, columns, and last, the foundation footings. In order to design a structure,
it is therefore necessary to first specify the loads that act on it.
The design loading for a structure is often specified in codes. In general, the
structural engineer works with two types of codes: general building codes and
design codes.
General building codes specify the requirements of governmental bodies for
minimum design loads on structures and minimum standards for construction.
Design codes provide detailed technical standards and are used to establish
the requirements for the actual structural design.
 Dead Loads
Dead loads consist of the weights of the
various structural members and the weights
of any objects that are permanently attached
to the structure. Hence, for a building, the
dead loads include the weights of the
columns, beams, and girders, the floor slab,
roofing, walls, windows, plumbing, electrical
fixtures, and other miscellaneous
attachments
 Example 1:
The floor beam in Fig. 1–8 is used to
support the 6-ft width of a lightweight
plain concrete slab having a thickness
of 4 in. The slab serves as a portion of
the ceiling for the floor below, and
therefore its bottom is coated with
plaster. Furthermore, an 8-ft-high, 12-
in.-thick lightweight solid concrete block
wall is directly over the top flange of the
beam. Determine the loading on the
beam measured per foot of length of
the beam.
 Live Loads
Live loads can vary both in their magnitude and location. They may be caused by
the weights of objects temporarily placed on a structure, moving vehicles, or natural
forces.
The minimum live loads specified in codes are determined from studying the history
of their effects on existing structures.
Building Loads. The floors of buildings are assumed to be subjected to uniform live
loads, which depend on the purpose for which the building is designed. These
loadings are generally tabulated in local, state, or national codes.
These loadings are generally tabulated in local, state, or national codes. A
representative sample of such minimum live loadings, taken from the ASCE 7-10
Standard, is shown in Table 1.4. The values are determined from a history of loading
various buildings. They include some protection against the possibility of overload
due to emergency situations, construction loads, and serviceability requirements due
to vibration.
For some types of buildings having very large floor areas, many codes
will allow a reduction in the uniform live load for a floor, since it is
unlikely that the prescribed live load will occur simultaneously
throughout the entire structure at any one time.
Highway Bridge Loads. The primary live loads on
bridge spans are those due to traffic, and the
heaviest vehicle loading encountered is that
caused by a series of trucks.
LRFD Bridge Design Specifications of the
American Association of State and Highway
Transportation Officials (AASHTO).
Railroad Bridge Loads. The loadings on railroad
bridges, as in Fig. 1–11, are specified in the
Specifications for Steel Railway Bridges published
by the American Railroad Engineers Association
(AREA).
 Impact Loads
Impact Loads. Moving vehicles may
bounce or sidesway as they move over a
bridge, and therefore they impart an
impact to the deck. The percentage
increase of the live loads due to impact is
called the impact factor, I. This factor is
generally obtained from formulas
developed from experimental evidence.
Wind Loads
Wind Loads. When the speed of the wind is very high, it can cause
massive damage to a structure. The reason is that the pressure created
by the wind is proportional to the square of the wind speed. In large
hurricanes this speed can reach over 100 mi/h (161 km/h); however, by
comparison, an F5 tornado (Fujita scale) has wind speeds over 300 mi/h
(483 km/h)!
Wind Load Cont.
For a high-rise building, the wind loading
can be quite complex, and so these
structures are often designed based on the
behavior of a model of the building, tested in
a wind tunnel. When doing so, it is important
to consider the wind striking the structure
from any direction.*.
The effects of lateral loadings developed by
wind, can cause racking, or leaning of a
building frame. To resist this effect,
engineers often use cross bracing, knee or
diagonal bracing, or shear walls. Examples
that show the use of these members are
indicated in the photos.
Earthquake Loads
Earthquake Loads.
Earthquakes produce lateral
loadings on a structure
through the structure’s
interaction with the ground.
The magnitude of an
earthquake load depends on
the amount and type of ground
accelerations and the mass
and stiffness of the structure.
Earthquake Loads
During an earthquake, the ground vibrates
both horizontally and vertically. The
horizontal accelerations create shear
forces in the column that put the block in
sequential motion with the ground.
For an actual structure that is designed to
have large amounts of bracing and stiff
connections, this can be beneficial, since
less stress is developed in the members.
 Hydrostatic and Soil
Pressure
When structures are used to retain water, soil, or
granular materials, the pressure developed by these
loadings becomes an important criterion for their design.
Examples of such types of structures include tanks,
dams, ships, bulkheads, and retaining walls.
The laws of hydrostatics and soil mechanics are applied
to define the intensity of the loadings on the structure.
 Example 2:
The floor system of a building
consists of 100𝑚𝑚 thick reinforced
concrete slab resting on four steel
beams, which in turn are supported
by two steel girders as shown below.
The cross sectional areas of the floor
beams and girders are 9480𝑚𝑚2
and 33740𝑚𝑚2, respectively.
Determine the dead loads acting on the
beams CG and DH and the girder AD.
 Example 3:
If the floor framing system in the
previous problem is for residential
buildings. Determine the live loads
for each structural member.
 Example 4:
Determine the equivalent dynamic pressure induced on a
flat surface of signal number 4 typhoon in the
Philippines. Assume that very strong winds of more than
185 kph may be expected in at least 12 hours for this
type of typhoon.
q=1/2*𝜌*V²
ᵠ⁼ᵈʸⁿᵃᵐᶦᶜ ᵖʳᵉˢˢᵘʳᵉ
𝜌⁼ᵈᵉⁿˢᶦᵗʸ ᵒᶠ ᶠˡᵘᶦᵈ
V=wind velocity
SEATWORK No. 1