Structural Engineering

Defn: a structure is an assemblage of materials

whose purpose is to carry a set of loads, or forces,
from one place to another

Characteristics of a structure:
• Designed to carry loads in space
• Usually supported either on the ground or on
another structure with reaction forces generated
at the support points (exceptions, e.g. aeroplane)
• Applied loads and reactions cause forces to be
generated within the members of the structure
• Structural members must not collapse or
deform excessively under these forces

Structural Engineer is responsible for:

• Identification + evaluation of forces + moments
• Prediction of stresses + displacements

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• Material selection
• Size + shape of structural units
• Interface with other structures
• Safety

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Types of Forces

Permanent Actions (Dead Load):

Variable Actions (Live Load):

Static Load:

Dynamic Load:

Impact Load:

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Factor of Safety: to allow a margin of safety in
design to cover the uncertainty assoc. with a load,
the load is multiplied by a factor of safety
e.g. Permanent Actions: BS = 1.4, EC = 1.35
Variable Actions: BS = 1.3, EC = 1.5

Idealisation of Loads

Load can be defined in terms of its magnitude, the

direction in which it acts and the area over which
it acts.
Loads usually denoted by P or W.

Three Main Idealised Cases:

1. Point/Concentrated Loads:

e.g. car on a bridge.

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2. Uniformly Distributed Load: known as a UDL.

e.g. traffic jam on a bridge, self-weight of a

structure.
3. Non-uniformly Distributed Load:

e.g. force of water on a dam.

Supports
Defn: the contact points via which forces are
transmitted within or between structures. Type of
support is very important in determining how the
structure carries the loads.

Types of Supports:
1. Pinned Support –

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2. Roller Support –

3. Fixed Support –

Forces and Moments

Force [P] is measured in Newtons [N]

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1 N = the force required to impart an acceleration
of 1 m/s to a mass of 1 kg (i.e. 1 N = 1 kg m/s2).
Object placed on structure => imparts a vertical
force (its weight) equal to its mass x acceleration
due to gravity (9.81 m/s2), i.e. P = m x g

Forces on a body can also give rise to moments.

Moments tend to cause the body to rotate about
an axis, e.g. pushing a door
Moment of a force about an axis [M] =

Forces acting on a structure cause it to deform.

The deformations are expressed in terms of
defections and rotations about a point or axis.

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Force Resolution

Need to be able to resolve forces into components

along any pair of perpendicular axes (usu. x + y)

Example: Find the magnitude and direction of the

resultant force acting on A, the node of a truss,
due to the following 3 forces

A 40 KN
15 KN

25 KN

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Equilibrium of Forces

Newton’s Laws of Motion:

1. A particle will remain at rest or moving with a
uniform velocity unless acted upon by an
external force
2. The acceleration of a particle is proportional to
the force acting on it
3. To every action, there is an equal and opposite
reaction
1st Law defines static equilibrium

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A system is in static equilibrium if the sums of all
the forces and all the moments at one point are
equal to zero.
For 3-d system: Σ Px = 0 Σ Mx = 0
Σ Py = 0 Σ My = 0
Σ Pz = 0 Σ Mz = 0
where, Px is the component of any force in the x-
direction, and Mx is the moment of a force P about
the x-axis, etc.

For 2-d system: Σ Px = 0

Σ Py = 0
Σ Mz = 0

Example: particle or point mass

15 KN

θ 30°
45°
10 KN

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Moments:

Moment due to Point Load:

d
M=Fxd
F

Note: anti-clockwise moments are +ve

clockwise moments are -ve

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Moments due to Distributed Load:
Find the total force and assume it acts at the mid-
point of the UDL.

3kN/m 12 kN
A

4m 2m 2m

Therefore, MA = 12 kN x 2 m = 24 kNm

Or,
Load, F = W.x = 3x
MA = 3x.d
= ∫ F dx x
4 4
x=4 => MA = ∫ 0 3x dx = [3x /2]0 = 24 kNm
2

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Moment on Retaining Wall due to Soil Pressure:
-non-uniformly distributed load

5m

12 kN/m A

FR = Area of = ½(12)(5) = 30 kN
FR will act at centroid of , located 1/3 of the
height above the base, i.e. 5/3 m above the base.
Ö MA = 30 kN . 5/3 m = 50 kNm

Exercise:

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Free Body Diagrams

A free body diagram is simply a sketch of all or

part of a structure, with all of the forces due to
external loads, reactions, etc. indicated by arrows.

V1 V2

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 Determination of Reactions

Structural supports play vital role in determining

how structure carries loads and how it deforms.
To analyse a structure, need to consider what
deformations can occur at the supports and what
forces they exert on the structure.

Consider the beam below:

P P
A B C
a)
Pin Roller Fixed

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• Pinned support at A => prevents vert. + horiz.
deflections but allows beam to rotate. Reaction
provided by support will be RA at some angle θA
but simpler to consider its components HA + VA.
• Roller support at B => Allows rotation and
horiz. movement, therefore provides only vert.
reaction, VB. Prevents upwards and downwards
movement at B.
• Fixed support at C => prevents vert. + horiz.
deflections at C. Also prevents rotation.
Therefore, in addition to vert. + horiz. reactions,
VC + HC, moment reaction, MC, is also induced.

Stability and Determinacy of Reactions

• For support reactions of a structure to be

calculated they must form a statically
determinate set, i.e. the no. of independent equi-

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 librium eqns must equal the no. of unknown
reactions
• For 2-d structures – 3 equilibrium eqns are
available => statically determinate set will
comprise 3 unknowns
• Less than 3 reactions => not enough unknowns
to satisfy the 3 eqns => structure is unstable
• More than 3 reactions => eqns cannot be
completely solved. System said to be statically
indeterminate or redundant. E.g. 5 unknowns,
assign 2 values and solve, soln entirely dependent
on chosen values. Redundant systems can be
solved but requires sophisticated techniques.

Examples:

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Calculation of Reactions

For statically determinate structures, reaction

forces are calculated by solving equilibrium eqns

Example: Calculate the support reactions for the

beam below.

40 kN/m 60 kN
A B

5m 2.5 m
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Draw free body diagram:

60 kN
40 kN/m
HA

VA VB

NB: results may be checked by seeing whether

moments about some other point, say B, sum to 0.

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Internal Forces in Structures
• For structure to transmit external loads to
ground, internal forces must be developed
• Aim of design is to produce structure capable of
carrying all these internal forces
• Internal forces at a pt. can be found by splitting
at the pt. and drawing free body diagrams.

P1 P2
A B

P1 S P2
M
HA T T

VA M S VB

• Internal forces take the form of axial forces, T,

shear forces, S, and bending moments, M

Axial Force:
• Act along the axis of the member.

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• May be tensile or compressive.
• Tensile – always pull inwards from member
ends and are taken as +ve
• Compressive – always push outwards towards
member ends and are taken as -ve

P T T P

Cut

Analysing Simple Structures

Examples: Trusses and Frames
Analysing Trusses:
• Defn:

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•

Warren Truss

Howe Truss

Stability and Determinacy:

• System is statically determinate if no. of
unknown forces = no. of equilm eqns
• Each bar in truss carries only an axial force. If
there are b bars and truss is supported by r
reactions => total unknown forces = b + r
• Truss is in equilm => sum of forces at each joint
is zero. For plane truss we cut out each joint and
resolve the forces in 2 dimensions => 2 eqns for
each joint. For j joints, total no. of eqns = 2j

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• For 2-d truss to be statically determinate eqn
below must be satisfied
b + r = 2j
• b + r < 2j : structure is unstable or a mechanism
– insufficient forces to hold members in place –
free to collapse or move uncontrollably
• b + r > 2j : structure is statically indeterminate
or redundant – not enough eqns to find all forces

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 Resolution at Joints:
There are various methods of calculating member
forces in a truss, Resolution at Joints is simplest.

1) Cut out joint and treat member forces at cuts as

external loads
2) Solve equilm eqns
3) Move progressively from one joint to next

Example: Find the forces in the Warren truss. All

members have equal length, 1m, so that inclined
bars make an angle of 60° with horizontal

10 kN 20 kN 10 20
B C B C
TAB

A
A D D
E HA E
VA VD

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1) Find support reactions:
ΣPx = 0 : HA = 0
ΣMD = 0: (20)(0.5) + (10)(1.5) – (VA)(2) = 0
=> VA = 12.5 kN
ΣPy = 0 : 12.5 + VD – 10 – 20 = 0
=> VD = 17.5 kN

2) Find axial forces in bars. Initially assume all

forces are tensile. Resolve forces at each joint

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Joint D:
TCD
Vert: 17.5 + TCDSin60° = 0
60°
=> TCD = -20.21 kN TDE
Horiz: -TDE –TCDCos60° = 0 17.5

=> TDE = -(-20.21)Cos60°

=> TDE = 10.11 kN

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Joint C:
Vert: -20 – TCESin60° -TCDSin60° = 0 20
TBC
=> TCE = -20 – (-20.21)Sin60°
60° 60°
Sin60° TCE TCD
=> TCE = -2.88 kN

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