Design Of Structures In Civil Engineering, Definition, Meaning and Steps Involved
You may have heard time and time again the above term – Design of structures or structural design in civil engineering but what does the term actually mean?
Steel, timber and concrete structures are made of frames. The frame carries all the structural loads that act upon the members. Frames are made up of elements like beams, stanchions, ties, struts, etc. Connections are done to join individual members to form some of the elements as well as joining the elements together to form frames.
Structural design entails proposing and selecting sufficient member sizes that would withstand the stresses acting upon the structure, such that the structure is both safe and economical. The stresses which are in the form of shears and moments are calculated making use of various structural analysis methods.
The process of structural design may include the following:
- Proposing framing arrangements
- Estimation of structural loading
- Analysis of main frames i.e, finding the loads viz, shear forces and bending moments acting on the members
- Design of the elements, i.e., selecting suitable element sections that will adequately withstand the loads, using appropriate codes like BS 8110, BS 5950, etc., in conjunction with other manuals and textbooks.
- Production of framing reinforced arrangement and detail drawings based on the designer’s calculations and sketches.
