Structural engineering is a sub-discipline of civil engineering in which structural engineers are trained to design the 'bones and joints' that create the form and shape of human-made structures. 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.
Engineered wood, also called mass timber, composite wood, human-made wood, or manufactured board, includes a range of derivative wood products which are manufactured by binding or fixing the strands, particles, fibres, or veneers or boards of wood, together with adhesives, or other methods of fixation to form composite material. The panels vary in size but can range upwards of 64 by 8 feet and in the case of cross-laminated timber (CLT) can be of any thickness from a few inches to 16 inches (410 mm) or more. These products are engineered to precise design specifications, which are tested to meet national or international standards and provide uniformity and predictability in their structural performance. Engineered wood products are used in a variety of applications, from home construction to commercial buildings to industrial products. The products can be used for joists and beams that replace steel in many building projects. The term mass timber describes a group of building materials that can replace concrete assemblies.
Limit State Design (LSD), also known as Load And Resistance Factor Design (LRFD), refers to a design method used in structural engineering. A limit state is a condition of a structure beyond which it no longer fulfills the relevant design criteria. The condition may refer to a degree of loading or other actions on the structure, while the criteria refer to structural integrity, fitness for use, durability or other design requirements. A structure designed by LSD is proportioned to sustain all actions likely to occur during its design life, and to remain fit for use, with an appropriate level of reliability for each limit state. Building codes based on LSD implicitly define the appropriate levels of reliability by their prescriptions.
The Eurocodes are the ten European standards specifying how structural design should be conducted within the European Union (EU). These were developed by the European Committee for Standardization upon the request of the European Commission.
A structural load or structural action is a force, deformation, or acceleration applied to structural elements. A load causes stress, deformation, and displacement in a structure. Structural analysis, a discipline in engineering, analyzes the effects of loads on structures and structural elements. Excess load may cause structural failure, so this should be considered and controlled during the design of a structure. Particular mechanical structures—such as aircraft, satellites, rockets, space stations, ships, and submarines—are subject to their own particular structural loads and actions. Engineers often evaluate structural loads based upon published regulations, contracts, or specifications. Accepted technical standards are used for acceptance testing and inspection.
Cold-formed steel (CFS) is the common term for steel products shaped by cold-working processes carried out near room temperature, such as rolling, pressing, stamping, bending, etc. Stock bars and sheets of cold-rolled steel (CRS) are commonly used in all areas of manufacturing. The terms are opposed to hot-formed steel and hot-rolled steel.
BS 5400 was a British Standard code of practice for the design and construction of steel, concrete and composite bridges. It was applicable to highway, railway and pedestrian bridges. It has now been replaced by the European standard, BS EN 1991-2_2003 and other Eurocodes for the design of steel and concrete structures.
In the Eurocode series of European standards (EN) related to construction, Eurocode 2: Design of concrete structures specifies technical rules for the design of concrete, reinforced concrete and prestressed concrete structures, using the limit state design philosophy. It was approved by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) on 16 April 2004 to enable designers across Europe to practice in any country that adopts the code.
In the Eurocode series of European standards (EN) related to construction, Eurocode 3: Design of steel structures describes how to design steel structures, using the limit state design philosophy.
In the Eurocode series of European standards (EN) related to construction, Eurocode: Basis of structural design establishes the basis that sets out the way to use Eurocodes for structural design. Eurocode 0 establishes Principles and requirements for the safety, serviceability and durability of structures, describes the basis for their design and verification and gives guidelines for related aspects of structural reliability. Eurocode 0 is intended to be used in conjunction with EN 1991 to EN 1999 for the structural design of buildings and civil engineering works, including geotechnical aspects, structural fire design, situations involving earthquakes, execution and temporary structures.
In the Eurocode series of European standards (EN) related to construction, Eurocode 7: Geotechnical design describes how to design geotechnical structures, using the limit state design philosophy. It is published in two parts; "General rules" and "Ground investigation and testing". It was approved by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) on 12 June 2006. Like other Eurocodes, it became mandatory in member states in March 2010.
In the Eurocode series of European standards (EN) related to construction, Eurocode 1: Actions on structures describes how to design load-bearing structures. It includes characteristic values for various types of loads and densities for all materials which are likely to be used in construction.
In the Eurocode series of European standards (EN) related to construction, Eurocode 4: Design of composite steel and concrete structures describes how to design of composite structures, using the limit state design philosophy. It was approved by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) on 4 November 2004. Eurocode 4 is divided in two parts EN 1994-1 and EN 1994-2.
In the Eurocode series of European standards (EN) related to construction, Eurocode 8: Design of structures for earthquake resistance describes how to design structures in seismic zone, using the limit state design philosophy. It was approved by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) on 23 April 2004. Its purpose is to ensure that in the event of earthquakes:
In the Eurocode series of European standards (EN) related to construction, Eurocode 9: Design of aluminium structures describes how to design aluminium alloy structures. It complies with the principles and requirements for the safety and serviceability of structures, the basis of their design and verification that are given in EN 1990 – Basis of structural design. It sets requirements for structural integrity, including strength, serviceability, durability and fire resistance.
In the Eurocode series of European standards (EN) related to construction, Eurocode 6: Design of masonry structures describes how to design buildings and civil engineering works, or parts thereof, in unreinforced, reinforced, prestressed and confined masonry, using the limit state design philosophy. It was approved by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) on 23 June 2005.
Robustness is the ability of a structure to withstand events like fire, explosions, impact or the consequences of human error, without being damaged to an extent disproportionate to the original cause – as defined in EN 1991-1-7 of the Accidental Actions Eurocode.
Metal profile sheet systems are used to build cost efficient and reliable envelopes of mostly commercial buildings. They have evolved from the single skin metal cladding often associated with agricultural buildings to multi-layer systems for industrial and leisure application. As with most construction components, the ability of the cladding to satisfy its functional requirements is dependent on its correct specification and installation. Also important is its interaction with other elements of the building envelope and structure. Metal profile sheets are metal structural members that due to the fact they can have different profiles, with different heights and different thickness, engineers and architects can use them for a variety of buildings, from a simple industrial building to a high demand design building. Trapezoidal profiles are large metal structural members, which, thanks to the profiling and thickness, retain their high load bearing capability. They have been developed from the corrugated profile. The profile programme offered by specific manufacturers covers a total of approximately 60 profile shapes with different heights. Cassettes are components that are mainly used as the inner shell in dual-shell wall constructions. They are mainly used in walls today, even though they were originally designed for use in roofs.
The Joint Committee on Structural Safety (JCSS) is an international scientific and technical association concerned with research, development and best practice in structural reliability in civil engineering. This includes methods for calculating the reliability of structures, but also the discussion and development of recommendations on acceptable reliability.
