Postgraduate Course: Structural Form Function and Design Philosophy (European Masters) (PGEE10010)
Course Outline
| School | School of Engineering |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 12 |
ECTS Credits | 6 |
| Summary | This course gives an introduction to the full discipline of structural design and analysis, identifying key ideas that are used in different courses within the complete degree programme, and putting them in proper relationship to one another. It also covers many items that do not appear anywhere else in the degree programme but which are nonetheless critical to an overall understanding of structures and their design. It deals with the functional role of different kinds of structure, the structural forms that are required to address these roles, the dominant factors in the behaviour of each kind of structure and the consequent simplifications that can be used to lead to an understanding of the behaviour. It then deals with the philosophy of design, limit state concepts, ductility and stability and their implications for simplifications that are possible in design calculations. It then deals with different classes of analysis of structures and the kinds of results that can be obtained from each, finishing with fundamental theorems of structural mechanics and their application to different classes of problem. |
| Course description |
18 lectures, 9 tutorials,
LECTURES
L1 Overview of structural analysis
Introduction: key differences between determinate and redundant structures; methods of determining level of redundancy in trusses and frames.
Section A: Introduction
L1 Introduction: conceptual framework for civil engineering design and evaluation
Section B: Limit state design concepts
L2 Loads and actions on structures and their representation for design: statistical treatment of loads
L3 Statistical treatment of strengths, and their relationship to loads
Section C: Material behaviour and structures
L4 Behaviour of materials and relationship to structural behaviour
L5 Brittle and ductile behaviour in structures and in materials
Section D: Limit states and the design of structures
L6 Limit states and the design of structures: ultimate limit states
L7 Limit states and the design of structures: ultimate and serviceability limit states
Section E: Different structural behaviours and analysis
L8 Structural analysis and its role
Section F: Structural form and its key aspects
L9 Simplifications used for understanding in design
L10 Axial force and bending dominated structures
L11 Curved line structures
L12 Three dimensional structures
Section G: Structural functions and structural form
L13 Structural functions I
L14 Structural functions II
L15 Structural forms
Section H: Fundamental theorems of structural analysis
L16 Virtual Work
L17 Strain Energy and the Total Potential
L18 Summary and recapitulation
TUTORIALS
Tutorial 1 Simple Force Path Sketching
Examining a photograph of a structure and determining the patterns of force transfer within it.
Tutorial 2 Concepts for structural form;
Simple structural problems to demonstrate the differences between structures in bending and truss action; 3D structural arrangements, arches
Tutorial 3 Structural forms and loads
Limit State Design concepts and comparisons between truss and frame structures.
Tutorial 4 Limit states and loads on structures
Different materials used in structures with series and parallel load paths and their effect on the ductility of the system.
Tutorial 5 Ductility and brittleness
Different materials used in structures with series and parallel load paths and their effect on the ductility of the system.
LABS
Experiment 1 Portal Frame
A rectangular portal frame with pinned bases is tested. One base has a slider to make the frame determinate, but forces can be applied to the slider to restore the support to its original position. Superposition is used to explore the behaviour of a pinned base frame with one redundancy.
Experiment 2 Two Pinned Arch
An arch with pinned ends is tested. One base has a slider to make the arch determinate, but forces can be applied to the slider to restore the support to its original position. Superposition is used to explore the behaviour of a two-pinned arch.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | 0 |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2015/16, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
120
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 9,
Formative Assessment Hours 2,
Summative Assessment Hours 5.6,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
81 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
70 %,
Coursework
30 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Degree Exam: 100% |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours & Minutes |
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| Main Exam Diet S1 (December) | Structural Form Function and Design Philosophy (European Masters) | 2:00 | | | Resit Exam Diet (August) | | 2:00 | |
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course the student should be able to:
- describe different standard structural forms and explain the manner in which they can be used to deal with functional requirements;
- describe the dominant load carrying processes in different structural systems, and the way in which these influence design concepts;
- describe the kinds of simplified analysis that are appropriate to each structural system, explaining why each is appropriate, and defining the critical factors that dominate in controlling the strength of each system;
- explain limit state analysis, its objectives, statistical basis and the role of safety factors;
- explain the concept of ductility, identifying the difference between the ductility of a material and the ductility of structural behaviour, quoting examples where these differ from each other in one structure;
- explain the concept of structural instability, including the difference between stability of an element and stability of a structural system;
- describe linear and non-linear analyses that can be made of structures, their roles in design and the manner in which the results must be interpreted for safe design;
- use the fundamental theorems of structural mechanics to solve simple problems in elasticity.
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Reading List
Jennings, A.
Structures: from theory to practice
Spon Press (2004)
Francis, A.J.
Introducing Structures
Pergamon (1980)
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Stuctural Engineering |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Michael Rotter
Tel: (0131 6)50 5718
Email: |
Course secretary | Mrs Lynn Hughieson
Tel: (0131 6)50 5687
Email: |
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