THEORY OF STRUCTURES

Lecture # 01

Introduction
History of Structural Engineering
Why history is important? One reason why history is important it that the past has

value to our society. History is the narrative of mankind. History when presented properly lends itself to critical analysis.

History of Structural Engineering

Greek and Egyptian Temples Made of stone Employed beams and columns Many columns having little useful space between them

Greek temple built 2500 years ago

Greek temples of Poseidonia (now called Paestum) dating from the sixth century BC

The Temple of Debod built in early 2nd century BC

Egypt: Temples of Karnak built 2000 years ago

History of Structural Engineering

Arch structures were discovered prior to

Roman era. Roman Empire used arches extensively in construction. Stone arches had span of 100 ft and more

The Colosseum is one of Rome's most distinctive landmarks. Construction of this famous amphitheatre began in 72 AD

Aqueduct at Segovia in eastern Spain

The arch of Costantino built in 312 AD

History of Structural Engineering

From A.D. 500 to A.D.1500, structures that were built

continued to employ the stone arch as the major structural forms. Gothic Cathedrals Roof was supported by flying buttresses

Cathedral from North East Chichester

History of Structural Engineering

Fifteenth and Sixteenth centuries are

known as Renaissance.

Galileo (1564-1642)
Concept of force and moments

Robert Hooke (1635-1703)

Law of linear behavior of materials

Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727)

Laws of motion

Leonhard Euler (1707-1783)

Buckling of columns

Palladio
Introduced the use of truss

Modern Era
Introduction of Iron
Industrial Revolution First major structure built or iron was Severn River Bridge

Coalbrookdale. Suspension bridges Thomas Telfords Bridge over Menai Straits in Wales, Brunels Clifton Bridge in Bristol, Finleys Bridge over Merrimack River in Newburyport, Massachusetts.

Iron bridge, a cast-iron arch bridge built in 1779 across the River Severn near Coalbrookdale, Shropshire, England

Isambard Kingdom Brunel designs the Clifton Suspension Bridge at Bristol. Two hundred feet above the River Avon, the bridge is 700 feet long.

History of Structural Engineering

Rank
1. 2. 3. 4.

Building - City - Country

Burj Dubai, Dubai, UAE Taipei 101, Taipei, Taiwan Petronas Tower 1, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Petronas Tower 2, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Year
2008 2004 1998 1998

Stories
189 101 88 88

Height
850m 509m 452m 452m

5.
6.

Sears Tower, Chicago, USA

Jin Mao Building, Shanghai, China

1974
1999

110
88

442m
421m

Forms of Structures
Structural Forms

1. Cables 2. Arches 3. Trusses 4. Beams 5. Surfaces

Cables
Cables stretch well and are light, so they are useful in

large structures. They only take tension stresses. Cables can be crisscrossed and combined with surface materials to achieve light and large structures. Examples of this technique are Sun coast Dome and Georgia Dome in the United States

Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco

Cables
Grace Memorial Bridge over the Cooper River
Between Charleston, South Carolina (USA) and Mount

Pleasant, South Carolina, stands the Grace Memorial Bridge. Completed in 1929, the cantilever steel structure has a main span of 1050 ft., or 320 m. and a total length of 3.6 miles or 5.79 Kilometers. A parallel bridge, with a similar design but a shorter main span, was built in 1966. This allowed the old bridge to be converted to one-way traffic.

Arches
An arch is a curved structure capable of spanning a

space while supporting significant weight (e.g. a doorway in a stone wall). The arch is significant because, in theory at least, it provides a structure which eliminates tensile stresses in spanning an open space. All the forces are resolved into compressive stresses.

Chinese Moon Bridge

Truss
In architecture and structural engineering, a truss is a

structure comprising one or more triangular units constructed with straight slender members whose ends are connected at joints. A plane truss is one where all the members and joints lie within a 2-dimensional plane, while a space truss has members and joints extending into 3 dimensions.
All members are assumed in axial compression or

tension. Members are joined with the help of frictionless pins. Loads are applied at joints only

Beams
A beam is a structural element that carries load primarily

in bending (flexure). Beams generally carry vertical gravitational forces but can also be used to carry horizontal loads (i.e. loads due to an earthquake or wind). The loads carried by a beam are transferred to columns, walls, or girders, which then transfer the force to adjacent structural compression members

 It requires only vertical supports at ends generally.

It is a compact structure.
Its disadvantage is that it sometimes uses materials less

economically than other structural systems.

Surfaces

Membranes Plates Shells

Membranes
Thin sheets of material

Resist applied loads by tension.

Examples are tents, sails, balloons etc

Plates
Plates are flat surfaces that transfer loads by bending in a

manner similar to beams.

Shells
Shell is rigid surface that transfers loads in two directions.

The primary difference between a plate and a shell is that

the shell has curvature whereas the plate does not.

Materials
Aggregates Steel Concrete Wood Aluminum Fiber Glass Composite Materials etc.

Loads

Static Loads Dynamic Loads Loads Dead Live

Loads
Live Loads

1. Building Live Loads 2. Bridge Live Loads 3. Snow Loads 4. Wind Loads 5. Earthquake Loads etc.