Structural Engineering

Thus far, we have applied fundamental formulas to determine the stresses in different structural members neglecting high stress regions. In reality, components contain shoulders, rounds, holes, grooves, ect. When such features are present, a highly localized stress region exists. An analyst/structural engineer needs to account for these features because in some cases, the stresses can …

Stress Concentration Factors: A Fundamental Example Read More »

The stress analysis of a tapered or varying cross section beam is slightly different than a uniform beam when it comes to bending stress analysis. This is because the area moment of inertia varies along the length of the beam. However that is really the only difference. The same solid mechanics and statics fundamentals still …

Stresses in a Tapered Beam Read More »

Anyone that has done finite element analysis has been exposed to stiffness matrices. Each term in a stiffness matrix represents the structures ability to resist deformations under different types of loads. Types of deformations that are considered include 1) nodal displacements and 2) nodal rotations if your talking about FEA. But the concept still applies …

What is Structural Stiffness?? Read More »

A beam is considered indeterminate if there a more unknowns than equilibrium equations. When this occurs, one can feel at a loss at what to do or how to proceed. But it really is simple and I am going to provide an example to show you how easy it is. We often classify indeterminate beams …

Indeterminate Beam Structures to the First Degree Read More »

In college we focus on finding the internal loads of static systems. We rarely are asked to find the internal loads of a dynamic system. It may seem daunting at first and one may question where to start. However it is really simple and we actually build onto the static approach. Consider the following problem: …

Structural Analysis Of Systems under Inertial Loads Read More »