Structural engineering deals with the analysis and design of structures that support or resist loads.
Explanation and Background
Structural engineers are most commonly involved in the design of buildings and large non building structures . Structural engineers must ensure their designs satisfy given design criteria, predicated on safety (e.g. structures must not collapse without due warning) or serviceability and performance (e.g. building sway must not cause discomfort to the occupants. Buildings are made to endure massive loads as well as changing climate and natural disasters.
Structural engineering theory is based upon physical laws and empirical knowledge of the structural performance of different landscapes and materials. Structural engineers are responsible for making creative and efficient use of funds, structural elements and materials to achieve these goals.
The Structural Engineer
Structural engineers are responsible for engineering design and analysis. Entry-level structural engineers may design the individual structural elements of a structure, for example the beams, columns, and floors of a building. More experienced engineers would be responsible for the structural design and integrity of an entire system, such as a building.
Structural engineers often specialize in particular fields, such as bridge engineering, building engineering, pipeline engineering, industrial structures, or special mechanical structures such as vehicles or aircraft.
The role of a structural engineer today involves a significant understanding of both static and dynamic loading, and the structures that are available to resist them. The complexity of modern structures often requires a great deal of creativity from the engineer in order to ensure the structures support and resist the loads they are subjected to. A structural engineer will typically have a four or five year undergraduate degree, followed by a minimum of three years of professional practice before being considered fully qualified.
Structural engineers are licensed or accredited by different learned societies and regulatory bodies around the world (for example, the Institution of Structural Engineers in the UK). Depending on the degree course they have studied and/or the jurisdiction they are seeking licensure in, they may be accredited (or licensed) as just structural engineers, or as civil engineers, or as both civil and structural engineers.
Technical issues, challenges and solutions
Structural engineering specialities for buildings include:
- Earthquake engineering
- Façade engineering
- Fire engineering
- Roof engineering
- Tower engineering
- Wind engineering
- Sustainability
Structural engineers play an important role in tackling many of the challenges offered by an increased awareness about sustainability. In particular, the ones linked to achieving the carbon reduction goals set by the UK. Structural engineers are usually responsible for the specification of many of the materials that are used in large quantities in every day construction. These materials include concrete, steel and timber amongst many others. By being aware of the carbon costs associated with the use of these materials, the structural engineer, can in many instances propose alternative materials or more generally optimize the quantities used, thus achieving a reduction of the overall carbon costs. Furthermore, the structural engineer holds one of the key positions to ensure the technical and economic feasibility of the solutions adopted in most projects. These too are key aspects of sustainability.
However, the biggest challenge for today’s structural engineer and for those to come remains their own awareness of the issues and challenges surrounding sustainability and how best to approach them.
Future developments
Structural engineering remains one of the most theoretical fields of engineering. It relies on the understanding and use of long established rules and laws. Nevertheless, structural engineering is fundamentally a dynamic field. For example, it is usually the first to be affected by the developments made in material science and other field of research, its design codes and standards are continuously being revised and updated to include the latest developments. Moreover, the continuous improvement in hardware and software means that the ability to analyse more complex problems grows every day.
Structural engineers are, and will always be, in the forefront of development. They will have to strive to implement new codes and standards, such as the Eurocodes currently being adopted in the UK, use current materials in more and more demanding conditions as well as understand the behaviour of new materials and how to use them. Most importantly, structural engineers will have to be able to adapt to a developing industry and be capable of analysing and designing and even more complex structures whilst integrating the challenges offered by sustainability.
History
No record exists of the first calculations of the strength of structural members or the behaviour of structural material, but the profession of structural engineer only really took shape with the industrial revolution and the re-invention of concrete.The physical sciences underlying structural engineering began to be understood in the Renaissance and have been developing ever since.
The history of structural engineering contains many collapses and failures. Sometimes this is due to obvious negligence, in other cases structural failures require careful study, and the results of these inquiries have resulted in improved practices and greater understanding of the science of structural engineering. Some such studies are the result of forensic engineering investigations where the original engineer seems to have done everything in accordance with the state of the profession and acceptable practice yet a failure still eventuated.