Fundamentals of Structural Analysis
As an engineer or architect involved with the design of buildings, bridges, and other structures, you will be required to make many technical decisions about structural systems. These decisions include (1) selecting an efficient, economical, and attractive structural form; (2) evaluating its safety, that is, its strength and stiffness; and (3) planning its erection under temporary construction loads.
To design a structure, you will learn to carry out a structural analysis that establishes the internal forces and deflections at all points produced by the design loads. Designers determine the internal forces in key members in order to size both members and the connections between members. And designers evaluate deflections to ensure a serviceable structure—one that does not deflect or vibrate excessively under load so that its function is impaired.
Analyzing Basic Structural Elements
During previous courses in statics and strength of materials, you developed some background in structural analysis when you computed the bar forces in trusses and constructed shear and moment curves for beams. You will now broaden your background in structural analysis by applying, in a systematic way, a variety of techniques for determining the forces in and the deflections of a number of basic structural elements: beams, trusses, frames, arches, and cables. These elements represent the basic components used to form more complex structural systems.
Moreover, as you work analysis problems and examine the distribution of forces in various types of structures, you will understand more about how structures are stressed and deformed by load. And you will gradually develop a clear sense of which structural configuration is optimal for a particular design situation.
Further, as you develop an almost intuitive sense of how a structure behaves, you will learn to estimate with a few simple computations the approximate values of forces at the most critical sections of the structure. This abilitywill serve you well, enabling you (1) to verify the accuracy of the results of a computer analysis of large, complex structures and (2) to estimate the preliminary design forces needed to size individual components of multimember structures during the early design phase when the tentative configuration and proportions of the structure are being established.
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