Structural engineering Simple Definition
Structural engineers make sure that buildings don’t fall down and bridges don’t collapse that is the structural engineering
Profession as a Structural Engineering
Structural engineers are responsible for engineering design and structural analysis. Entry-level structural engineers may design the individual structural elements of a structure, such as the beams and columns of a building. More experienced engineers may be responsible for the structural design and integrity of an entire system, such as a building.
Structural engineers often specialize in particular types of structures, such as buildings, bridges, pipelines, industrial, tunnels, vehicles, ships, aircraft, and spacecraft. Structural engineers who specialize in buildings often specialize in particular construction materials such as concrete, steel, wood, masonry, alloys, and composites, and may focus on particular types of buildings such as offices, schools, hospitals, residential, and so forth.
Structural engineering has existed since humans first started to construct their structures. It became a more defined and formalized profession with the emergence of architecture as a distinct profession from engineering during the industrial revolution in the late 19th century. Until then, the architect and the structural engineer were usually one and the same thing – the master builder. Only with the development of specialized knowledge of structural theories that emerged during the 19th and early 20th centuries, did the professional structural engineers come into existence.
The role of a structural engineer today involves a significant understanding of both static and dynamic loading and the structures that are available to resist them. The complexity of modern structures often requires a great deal of creativity from the engineer in order to ensure the structures support and resist the loads they are subjected to. A structural engineer will typically have a four or five-year undergraduate degree, followed by a minimum of three years of professional practice before being considered fully qualified. Structural engineers are licensed or accredited by different learned societies and regulatory bodies around the world (for example, the Institution of Structural Engineers in the UK). Depending on the degree course they have studied and/or the jurisdiction they are seeking licensure in, they may be accredited (or licensed) as just structural engineers, or as civil engineers, or as both civil and structural engineers. Another international organization is IABSE(International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering). The aim of that association is to exchange knowledge and to advance the practice of structural engineering worldwide in the service of the profession and society.
Structural engineers also must understand and calculate the stability, strength, rigidity and earthquake-susceptibility of built structures for buildings and nonbuilding structures. The structural designs are integrated with those of other designers such as architects and building services engineer and often supervise the construction of projects by contractors on site. They can also be involved in the design of machinery, medical equipment, and vehicles where structural integrity affects functioning and safety. See glossary of structural engineering.
Structural engineering theory is based upon applied physical laws and empirical knowledge of the structural performance of different materials and geometries. Structural engineering design uses a number of relatively simple structural concepts to build complex structural systems. Structural engineers are responsible for making creative and efficient use of funds, structural elements and materials to achieve these goals.
Structural Engineering Timeline
Galileo Galilei published the book Two New Sciences in which he examined the failure of simple structuresIsaac Newton published Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica which contains the Newton’s laws of motionLeonhard Euler developed the theory of buckling of columns
- 1452–1519 Leonardo da Vinci made many contributions
- 1638: Galileo Galilei published the book Two New Sciences in which he examined the failure of simple
- 1660: Hooke’s law by Robert Hooke
- 1687: Isaac Newton published Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica which contains the Newton’s laws of motion
- 1750: Euler–Bernoulli beam equation
- 1700–1782: Daniel Bernoulli introduced the principle of virtual work
- 1707–1783: Leonhard Euler developed the theory of buckling of columns
- 1826: Claude-Louis Navier published a treatise on the elastic behaviors of structures
- 1873: Carlo Alberto Castigliano presented his dissertation “Intorno ai sistemi elastici”, which contains his theorem for computing displacement as the partial derivative of the strain energy. This theorem includes the method of “least work” as a special case
- 1874: Otto Mohr formalized the idea of a statically indeterminate structure.
- 1922: Timoshenko corrects the Euler-Bernoulli beam equation
- 1936: Hardy Cross’ publication of the moment distribution method, an important innovation in the design of continuous frames.
- 1941: Alexander Hrennikoff solved the discretization of plane elasticity problems using a lattice framework
- 1942: R. Courant divided a domain into finite subregions
- 1956: J. Turner, R. W. Clough, H. C. Martin, and L. J. Topp’s paper on the “Stiffness and Deflection of Complex Structures” introduces the name “finite-element method” and is widely recognized as the first comprehensive treatment of the method as it is known today
Structural failures and Learning
The history of structural engineering contains many collapses and failures. Sometimes this is due to obvious negligence, as in the case of the Pétion-Ville school collapse, in which Rev. Fortin Augustin ” constructed the building all by himself, saying he didn’t need an engineer as he had good knowledge of construction” following a partial collapse of the three-story schoolhouse that sent neighbors fleeing. The final collapse killed 94 people, mostly children.
In other cases structural failures require careful study, and the results of these inquiries have resulted in improved practices and a greater understanding of the science of structural engineering. Some such studies are the result of forensic engineering investigations where the original engineer seems to have done everything in accordance with the state of the profession and acceptable practice yet a failure still eventuated. A famous case of structural knowledge and practice being advanced in this manner can be found in a series of failures involving box girders which collapsed in Australia during the 1970s.
