Learning Outcomes
-Link the structural form to the architectural design
-Understand the basic load and support conditions. Calculate the support reactions of statically determinate structures
-Understand the basic principles related to the static behaviour of truss and frame structures
-Formulate and analyse statically determinate plane trusses
-Calculate the internal forces and draw the N, Q, M diagrams for statically determinate frame structures
-Understand the basic principles of the strength of materials
Course Content (Syllabus)
Load bearing structures - historical development. The scope of structural analysis. The Architect and the Structural Engineer. The types of loads acting on a structure. The basic stress states: tension, compression, shear, bending, torsion. The structural model concept and the idealization of structures. Support types (pin, roller and fixed supports). Mechanisms, statically determinate and statically indeterminate structures. Composition of forces, free-body diagram and equilibrium equations. Calculation of the support reactions of plane determinate structures. Gerber beams. Three-hinged frames. Axial forces in the members of plane determinate trusses (method of joints, Ritter method). The method of sections. Internal forces of statically determinate plane frame structures (axial and shear forces, bending moments). N, Q, M diagrams and their properties. Strength of materials - basic concepts. The concept of influence lines.