Structural engineering for architects : a handbook

209 Pages·2013·16.71 MB·English

by  Evans

Structural
Engineering
for
Architects:
A Handbook
Published in 2013
by Laurence King Publishing Ltd
361–373 City Road
London EC1V 1LR
Tel [phone]
Fax [phone]
E [email protected]
www.laurenceking.com
Design copyright © 2013
Laurence King Publishing Limited
Text © 2013 Pete Silver, Will
McLean, and Peter Evans
Pete Silver, Will McLean, and
Peter Evans have asserted their
right under the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988, to
be identifi ed as the Authors of
this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this
publication may be reproduced
or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopy,
recording, or any information
storage and retrieval system,
without prior permission in
writing from the publisher.
A catalog record for this book is
available from the British Library
ISBN 978 178067 055 3
Designed by Hamish Muir
US consultant: Christopher D.
Rockey, SE, AIA, Assistant
Professor, College of Architecture,
Illinois Institute of Technology
Printed in China
Structural
Engineering
for
Architects:
A Handbook
Pete Silver
Will McLean
Peter Evans
Laurence King Publishing

Contents Introduction 06
1 Structures in nature 08 4 Case studies 110
1.1 Tree 10 4.1 Introduction 112
1.2 Spiderweb 12
1.3 Eggshell 14 4.2 1850–1949
1.4 Soap bubbles 16 4.2.1 Viollet-le-Duc’s innovative 114
1.5 Human body 18 engineering approaches
4.2.2 St. Pancras Railway Station Shed 116
4.2.3 Eiffel Tower 118
2 Theory 22 4.2.4 Forth Rail Bridge 120
2.1 General theory of structures 24 4.2.5 All-Russia Exhibition 1896 122
2.1.1 Introduction 24 4.2.6 Tetrahedral Tower 124
2.1.2 External loads 25 4.2.7 Magazzini Generali Warehouse 126
2.1.3 Internal forces 25 4.2.8 Zarzuela Hippodrome 128
2.1.3.1 Axial 26
2.1.3.2 Shear 26 4.3 1950–1999
2.1.3.3 Bending 27 4.3.1 Crown Hall, Illinois Institute 130
2.1.3.4 Torsion 27 of Technology (IIT)
2.1.3.5 Static equilibrium 28 4.3.2 Los Manantiales Restaurant 132
2.1.3.6 Simple analysis 30 4.3.3 Concrete Shell Structures, 134
2.1.3.7 Common beam formulae 36 England
2.1.4 Material properties 40 4.3.4 Geodesic Domes 136
2.1.4.1 Stress 40 4.3.5 Palazzo del Lavoro 140
2.1.4.2 Strain 44 (Palace of Labor)
2.1.4.3 Steel properties 47 4.3.6 Concrete Shell Structures, 144
2.1.4.4 Concrete properties 48 Switzerland
2.1.4.5 Timber properties 49 4.3.7 Jefferson National Expansion 150
2.1.5 Sectional properties 50 Monument (“Gateway Arch”)
2.1.5.1 Bending 50 4.3.8 Maxi/Mini/Midi Systems 152
2.1.5.2 Axial compression 52 4.3.9 Tensegrity Structures 156
2.1.5.3 Defl ection 55 4.3.10 Munich Olympic Stadium Roof 158
2.1.6 Fitness for purpose 56 4.3.11 Bini Domes—infl atable formwork 162
2.1.6.1 Vertical defl ection 56 4.3.12 Niterói Contemporary Art Museum 164
2.1.6.2 Lateral defl ection 57 4.3.13 Structural Glass 166
2.1.6.3 Vibration 57
2.1.7 Structures 58 4.4 2000–2010
2.1.7.1 Categories of structure 58 4.4.1 Ontario College of Art and Design 172
2.1.7.2 Stability 63 expansion, featuring the
2.1.7.3 Towers 71 Sharp Centre for Design
4.4.2 Atlas Building 176
2.2 Structural systems 73 4.4.3 “Het Gebouw” (The Building) 178
2.2.1 Introduction 73 4.4.4 Hemeroscopium House 182
2.2.2 Material assessments 74 4.4.5 Kanagawa Institute of Technology 186
2.2.3 Structural components 77 (KAIT) Workshop/ Table
2.2.3.1 Beam systems 78 4.4.6 Meads Reach Footbridge 190
2.2.3.2 Concrete slab systems 84 4.4.7 Pompidou-Metz 194
4.4.8 Burj Khalifa 198
3 Structural prototypes 86
3.1 Form fi nding 88 Further reading and 202
3.2 Load testing 92 resources
3.3 Visualizing forces 104 Index 204
Picture credits and acknowledgments 208
Introduction
“At the age of 17 I was told that I This book is one of those love letters
could never be an architect, as I would that one receives and only has to
never fully comprehend building decide if one wants to respond. How
structures. So that is how I came to much I wish I had come across this
study architecture, with a chip on my book in my youth—it would have
shoulder. I religiously attended all the saved so much effort spent reading so
lectures on structural engineering, many boring ones.
indeed any engineering, and found out
that it was surprisingly easy to You can take it or leave it, but since it
understand and, even better, that it is now available no one can now say
was fun. Subsequently I fell in love that ‘you will never understand
with the engineering science, not that structure.’ Take my word, this book
I have ever fully comprehended it will give another dimension to your
but—who cares? You don’t need to understanding of the planet we live on
‘understand’ love after all…. and above all…it’s fun!”
Eva Jiricna
June 2011
The aim of this book is to enable students of requirements of calculation) transcend the
architecture to develop an intuitive purely technical aspect and, intentionally or
understanding of structural engineering so not, contribute to artistic creation.”1 In these
that, in the long term, they are able to statements Morandi is no more siding with
conduct productive dialogs with structural the gifted “calculator” than with the
engineers. It is also hoped that the book will fl amboyant designer—he is merely on the
serve as a valuable reference and sourcebook side of interesting work, which may appear
for both architecture and engineering. unnervingly simple or unexpectedly
expressive.
In Giorgio Boaga’s book The Concrete
Architecture of Riccardo Morandi, published In his 1956 book Structures, Pier Luigi Nervi
in 1965, the Italian engineer Morandi explains his use of isostatic ribs, which
discusses the perceived diffi culty of the followed the stress patterns that had been
architect–engineer relationship, but refuses made visible by new photoelastic imagery
to take sides in this unhelpful argument. techniques. More recently, the detailed
More importantly, he describes how “...it is arithmetic and algebraic calculations of Finite
always possible, within certain limits, to Element Analysis (FEA) have been made
solve a problem—functionally, structurally, visible through computer graphical output—
and economically—in several equally valid an incredibly powerful tool for the more
ways” and that “...the loving care given to the intuitively minded. A step further than this is
formal details (quite independently of the structural engineer Timothy Lucas’s putative
6
explorations of a digital physical feedback The book is divided into four parts:
system, which would enable the engineer to
physically differentiate and explore the Part 1—Structures in nature describes some
structural forces through an augmented common structural forms found in nature.
physical model. Throughout the history of
technology, physical testing has been and Part 2—Theory outlines a general theory of
continues to be a vital component in the structures and structural systems that are
development of technology and design commonly applied to the built environment.
engineering strategies. Similarly, the fi eld of
biomimetics is surely only an academic Part 3—Structural prototypes introduces
formalization of a timeless process, where methods for developing and testing
we learn from the rapid prototyping of nature structural forms, including both “hands-on”
and the previous unclaimed or forgotten modelmaking and full-scale prototypes, as
inventions of man to develop new design, well as analytical computer modeling.
engineering, material, and operational
strategies. Part 4—Case studies presents a selection of
key fi gures involved in the evolution of
structural engineering and built form, from
the mid-nineteenth century to the present.
1 Boaga, G., and Boni, B., The Concrete Architecture
of Riccardo Morandi, London: Alex Tiranti, 1965, p. 10
7
1
Structures in nature
8
9