Basic Structural Theory [Paperback]

This book presents the ideas of structural theory rather than a review of calculation techniques.The theoretical basis by which the strength, stiffness, and stability of a building can be understood is fundamental for students, structural engineers, and architects. This book presents structural theory, rather than a review of calculation techniques. The examples are deliberately kept simple, and the mathematical foundations are sketched in three short appendices.The theoretical basis by which the strength, stiffness, and stability of a building can be understood is fundamental for students, structural engineers, and architects. This book presents structural theory, rather than a review of calculation techniques. The examples are deliberately kept simple, and the mathematical foundations are sketched in three short appendices.This text introduces the basic equations of the theory of structures. Conventional presentations of these equations follow the ideas of elastic analysis, introduced nearly two hundred years ago. The present book is written against the background of advances made in structural theory during the last fifty years, notably by the introduction of so-called plastic theory. Tests on real structures in the twentieth century revealed that structural states predicted by elastic analysis cannot in fact be observed in practice, whereas plastic ideas can be used to give accurate estimates of strength. Strength is discussed in the first part of this book without reference to equations of elastic deformation. However, the designer is concerned also with stiffness, for which elastic analysis is needed, and the standard equations (suitable, for example, for computer programming) are presented. Finally, stability is analyzed, which again is essentially an elastic phenomenon, and it is shown that a higher factor of safety is required to guard against buckling than that required to guarantee straightforward strength. The emphasis throughout is on the derivatils