Structural Consultant Practice-II

Module - I
Introduction
A structure comprises several components that are connected to one another and function
to transfer the loads to the soil successfully.
Modern structural engineering offers a broad and in-depth body of knowledge that can
precisely predict the performance of various forms and materials used in structures to
withstand loads and stresses.
In civil engineering, structures are broadly classified into eight different types:
1. Load-bearing structures
2. Truss structures
3. Frame structures
4. Cable and arch structures
5. Pre-engineered structures
6. Mass structures
7. Tensile structures
8. Composite structures

1. Load-Bearing Structure
Load-Bearing Structure

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A load-bearing structure is a type of structure that contains the parts of a building that safely
carries and distributes the load to the ground. As a result of the roof and floor being directly
supported in a load-bearing structure, the structure's weight is transferred to the walls.

Wall footings are suitable and inexpensive for 2-4 stories, where the walls transfer their
weight to the soil beneath them.

Nowadays, only temporary or small-scale construction is supported by load-bearing

structures.

Advantages of Load-bearing Structures

1. The structure built is extremely sturdy and solid.

2. These buildings are highly fire-resistant.
3. Masonry pieces come in various colors and textures, allowing endless creativity.
4. These structures do not require a lot of planning.
5. They have a pleasing appearance.
6. Tools and equipment for masonry buildings are affordable.
Disadvantages of Load-bearing structures

1. These structures perform badly during earthquakes.

2. They involve extensive use of masonry units. Their construction demands more work.
3. Due to the expensive masonry units used to construct these buildings, they
are unreliable.
4. These types of structures are heavier.
5. These structures have very low thermal insulating capabilities.

2. Truss Structure

Structures having a large span and little depth are known as trusses. A truss is made up of
thin, triangle-shaped components that are placed in a certain sequence. A planar truss, often
used for bridges, has all of its parts in the same plane. There are three-dimensional
components that make up a space truss. The truss converts weights into tension and
compression forces, which bend the truss. Due to these benefits, the truss comprises long
and thin segments and utilizes less material than the beam.
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 Truss Structure

Using a truss, one can build structures that span areas as large as 122 meters (400ft) or 9
meters (30 ft). The application of loads at the joints and the assumption that the members
are joined at the joints using frictionless connections are also features of truss analysis.

3. Frame Structure
A beam and a column are joined by a pin or other fixed connection to form a frame.
The structure is indeterminate for stiff joint connections, and frames may be stretched into
two or three dimensions.
Types of Framed Structure in civil engineering.
3.1 Rigid Frame Structure
On-site construction takes place for these frames. They increase stability and effectively
resist rotation for many types of building structures.

3.2 Braced Frame Structure

By bracing the diagonal members used to resist sideways forces, this frame structure resists
lateral forces. The structure is braced by inserting diagonal structural members into the
rectangular areas of a structural frame.

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Rigid Steel Frame Structure

Braced Frame Structure

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4. Cable and Arch Structure

In situations when trusses are not feasible, long spans are supported by cables, which
significantly increase the cost and scale of the structure. These structures are utilized for
spans greater than 46 meters (150ft) and can bear weights in tension. These are used in
bridge structures, and the use of cables is limited by their weight, sag, and anchorage method.

Cable and Arch Structure

Arches are composed of curvilinear members that rest on supports. They are used for large-
span structures and other construction with wide spans, including aircraft hangars.

5. Pre-Engineered Structure

Pre-engineered buildings (PEBs) are designed by a supplier or manufacturer using a single

design that can be constructed using various materials and fabrication techniques to meet
various structural and aesthetic design requirements.

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 Pre-engineered Structure

Pre-engineered structures have the advantage of being simple to assemble, sturdy, and
easily adaptable. Unfortunately, they are far more expensive than other building types, and
the design must be square or rectangular.

6. Mass Structure

A mass structure is made by assembling similar materials into a certain form or pattern.
Despite being constructed using low-quality materials, they are often quite thick. They are
formed by piling materials in a certain pattern or shape.

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Examples of artificial mass structures are sandcastles, dams, pyramids, and other man-made
structures, while examples of natural mass structures include coral reefs, mountains, and
other natural mass structures.

7. Tensile Structure
A structure with only tension and no compression or bending is known as a tensile structure.
The most common type of thin-shell structure is tensile. Using membranes like PTFE-coated
fiberglass or PVC, these structures provide designers and end users with various
aesthetically appealing free-form canopy designs.

Tensile Structure

Examples of tensile membrane structures are sports facilities, warehousing and storage
structures, and exhibition halls.

8. Composite Structures

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A load-bearing structure and a frame structure combine to form a composite structure. While
internal column and beam structures may support floors and ceilings, exterior walls can be
load-bearing structures.

Composite Structure

These structures are often used as industrial sheds or warehouses with long spans.

Advantages of Composite Structures

1. Heat and electricity are not a concern for composite buildings.

2. Composite structures are lighter than conventional ones, making them simpler to
carry and erect.
3. Engineers may design buildings to suit their demands since these structures are
versatile.
Disadvantages of Composite Structures

1. High raw material costs and usually high fabrication and assembly costs, poor
strength in the out-of-plane direction where the matrix carries the primary load.
2. Composite structures are susceptible to impact damage and have greater difficulty
repairing them than metallic structures.

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Types of Building Materials Used in Construction

Building material is any material used for construction purpose such as materials for house
building. Wood, cement, aggregates, metals, bricks, concrete, clay are the most common type of
building material used in construction. The choice of these are based on their cost effectiveness
for building projects. Many naturally occurring substances, such as clay, sand, wood and rocks,
even twigs and leaves have been used to construct buildings. Apart from naturally occurring
materials, many man-made products are in use, some more and some less synthetic. The
manufacture of building materials is an established industry in many countries and the use of these
materials is typically segmented into specific specialty trades, such as carpentry, plumbing, roofing
and insulation work. This reference deals with habitats and structures including homes.

1. Natural Construction Materials

Construction materials can be generally categorized into two sources, natural and synthetic.
Natural materials are those that are unprocessed or minimally processed by industry, such as
lumber or glass. Synthetic materials are made in industrial settings after much human
manipulations, such as plastics and petroleum based paints. Both have their uses. Mud, stone, and
fibrous plants are the most basic materials, aside from tents made of flexible materials such as
cloth or skins. People all over the world have used these three materials together to create homes
to suit their local weather conditions. In general stone and/or brush are used as basic structural
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components in these buildings, while mud is used to fill in the space between, acting as a type of
concrete and insulation. A basic example is wattle and daub mostly used as permanent housing in
tropical countries or as summer structures by ancient northern peoples.

2. Fabric
The tent used to be the home of choice among nomadic groups the world over. Two well known
types include the conical teepee and the circular yurt. It has been revived as a major construction
technique with the development of tensile architecture and synthetic fabrics. Modern buildings can
be made of flexible material such as fabric membranes, and supported by a system of steel cables
or internal (air pressure.)

3. Mud and clay

The amount of each material used leads to different styles of buildings. The deciding factor is
usually connected with the quality of the soil being used. Larger amounts of clay usually mean
using the cob/adobe style, while low clay soil is usually associated with sod building. The other
main ingredients include more or less sand/gravel and straw/grasses. Rammed earth is both an old
and newer take on creating walls, once made by compacting clay soils between planks by hand,
now forms and mechanical pneumatic compressors are used. Soil and especially clay is good
thermal mass; it is very good at keeping temperatures at a constant level. Homes built with earth
tend to be naturally cool in the summer heat and warm in cold weather. Clay holds heat or cold,
releasing it over a period of time like stone. Earthen walls change temperature slowly, so artificially
raising or lowering the temperature can use more resources than in say a wood built house, but the
heat/coolness stays longer. Peoples building with mostly dirt and clay, such as cob, sod, and adobe,
resulted in homes that have been built for centuries in western and northern Europe as well as the
rest of the world, and continue to be built, though on a smaller scale. Some of these buildings have
remained habitable for hundreds of years.

4. Rock

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Rock structures have existed for as long as history can recall. It is the longest lasting building
material available, and is usually readily available. There are many types of rock through out the
world all with differing attributes that make them better or worse for particular uses. Rock is a very
dense material so it gives a lot of protection too, its main draw-back as a material is its weight and
awkwardness. Its energy density is also considered a big draw-back, as stone is hard to keep warm
without using large amounts of heating resources. Dry-stone walls have been built for as long as
humans have put one stone on top of another. Eventually different forms of mortar were used to
hold the stones together, cement being the most commonplace now. The granite-strewn uplands of
Dartmoor National Park, United Kingdom, for example, provided ample resources for early
settlers. Circular huts were constructed from loose granite rocks throughout the Neolithic and early
Bronze Age, and the remains of an estimated 5,000 can still be seen today. Granite continued to be
used throughout the Medieval period (see Dartmoor longhouse) and into modern times. Slate is
another stone type, commonly used as roofing material in the United Kingdom and other parts of
the world where it is found. Mostly stone buildings can be seen in most major cities, some
civilizations built entirely with stone such as the Pyramids in Egypt, the Aztec pyramids and the
remains of the Inca civilization.

5. Thatch
Thatch is one of the oldest of materials known; grass is a good insulator and easily harvested.
Many African tribes have lived in homes made completely of grasses year round. In Europe, thatch
roofs on homes were once prevalent but the material fell out of favour as industrialization and
improved transport increased the availability of other materials. Today, though, the practice is
undergoing a revival. In the Netherlands, for instance, many of new builds too have thatched roofs
with special ridge tiles on top.

6. Brush
Brush structures are built entirely from plant parts and are generally found in tropical and
subtropical areas, such as rainforests, where very large leaves can be used in the building. Native
Americans often built brush structures for resting and living in, too. These are built mostly with
branches, twigs and leaves, and bark, similar to a beaver's lodge. These were variously named
wickiups, lean-tos, and so forth.

7. Ice
Ice was used by the Inuit for igloos, but has also been used for ice hotels as a tourist attraction in
northern areas that might not otherwise see many winter tourists.

8. Wood
Wood is a product of trees, and sometimes other fibrous plants, used for construction purposes
when cut or pressed into lumber and timber, such as boards, planks and similar materials. It is a
generic building material and is used in building just about any type of structure in most climates.
Wood can be very flexible under loads, keeping strength while bending, and is incredibly strong
when compressed vertically. There are many differing qualities to the different types of wood, even
among same tree species. This means specific species are better for various uses than others. And

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growing conditions are important for deciding quality. Historically, wood for building large
structures was used in its unprocessed form as logs. The trees were just cut to the needed length,
sometimes stripped of bark, and then notched or lashed into place. In earlier times, and in some
parts of the world, many country homes or communities had a personal wood-lot from which the
family or community would grow and harvest trees to build with. These lots would be tended to
like a garden. With the invention of mechanizing saws came the mass production of dimensional
lumber. This made buildings quicker to put up and more uniform. Thus the modern western style
home was made.

9. Brick and Block

A brick is a block made of kiln-fired material, usually clay or shale, but also may be of lower
quality mud, etc. Clay bricks are formed in a moulding (the soft mud method), or in commercial
manufacture more frequently by extruding clay through a die and then wire-cutting them to the
proper size (the stiff mud process). Bricks were widely used as a construction material in the 1700,
1800 and 1900s. This was probably due to the fact that it was much more flame retardant than
wood in the ever crowding cities, and fairly cheap to produce. Another type of block replaced clay
bricks in the late 20th century. It was the Cinder block. Made mostly with concrete. An important
low-cost material in developing countries is the Sandcrete block, which is weaker but cheaper than
fired clay bricks.

10. Concrete
Concrete is a composite building material made from the combination of aggregate (composite)
and a binder such as cement. The most common form of concrete is Portland cement concrete,
which consists of mineral aggregate (generally gravel and sand), portland cement and water. After
mixing, the cement hydrates and eventually hardens into a stone-like material. When used in the
generic sense, this is the material referred to by the term concrete. For a concrete construction of
any size, as concrete has a rather low tensile strength, it is generally strengthened using steel rods
or bars (known as rebars). This strengthened concrete is then referred to as reinforced concrete. In
order to minimise any air bubbles, that would weaken the structure, a vibrator is used to eliminate
any air that has been entrained when the liquid concrete mix is poured around the ironwork.
Concrete has been the predominant material in this modern age due to its longevity, formability,
and ease of transport.

11. Metal
Metal is used as structural framework for larger buildings such as skyscrapers, or as an external
surface covering. There are many types of metals used for building. Steel is a metal alloy whose
major component is iron, and is the usual choice for metal structural construction. It is strong,
flexible, and if refined well and/or treated lasts a long time. Corrosion is metal's prime enemy when
it comes to longevity. The lower density and better corrosion resistance of aluminium alloys and
tin sometimes overcome their greater cost. Brass was more common in the past, but is usually
restricted to specific uses or specialty items today. Metal figures quite prominently in prefabricated
structures such as the Quonset hut, and can be seen used in most cosmopolitan cities. It requires a
great deal of human labor to produce metal, especially in the large amounts needed for the building

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industries. Other metals used include titanium, chrome, gold, silver. Titanium can be used for
structural purposes, but it is much more expensive than steel. Chrome, gold, and silver are used as
decoration, because these materials are expensive and lack structural qualities such as tensile
strength or hardness.

12. Glass
Clear windows have been used since the invention of glass to cover small openings in a building.
They provided humans with the ability to both let light into rooms while at the same time keeping
inclement weather outside. Glass is generally made from mixtures of sand and silicates, and is very
brittle. Modern glass "curtain walls" can be used to cover the entire facade of a building. Glass can
also be used to span over a wide roof structure in a "space frame".

13. Ceramics
Ceramics are such things as tiles, fixtures, etc. Ceramics are mostly used as fixtures or coverings
in buildings. Ceramic floors, walls, counter-tops, even ceilings. Many countries use ceramic
roofing tiles to cover many buildings. Ceramics used to be just a specialized form of clay-pottery
firing in kilns, but it has evolved into more technical areas.

14. Plastic
Plastic pipes penetrating a concrete floor in a Canadian highrise apartment building The term
plastics covers a range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic condensation or polymerization
products that can be molded or extruded into objects or films or fibers. Their name is derived from
the fact that in their semi-liquid state they are malleable, or have the property of plasticity. Plastics
vary immensely in heat tolerance, hardness, and resiliency. Combined with this adaptability, the
general uniformity of composition and lightness of plastics ensures their use in almost all industrial
applications today

15. Foam
Foamed plastic sheet to be used as backing for firestop mortar at CIBC bank in Toronto. More
recently synthetic polystyrene or polyurethane foam has been used on a limited scale. It is light
weight, easily shaped and an excellent insulator. It is usually used as part of a structural insulated
panel where the foam is sandwiched between wood or cement.

16. Cement composites

Cement bonded composites are an important class of construction material. These products are
made of hydrated cement paste that binds wood or alike particles or fibers to make precast building
components. Various fibrous materials including paper and fiberglass have been used as binders.
Wood and natural fibres are composed of various soluble organic compounds like carbohydrates,
glycosides and phenolics. These compounds are known to retard cement setting. Therefore, before
using a wood in making cement boned composites, its compatibility with cement is assessed.
Wood-cement compatibility is the ratio of a parameter related to the property of a wood-cement
composite to that of a neat cement paste. The compatibility is often expressed as a percentage
value. To determine wood-cement compatibility, methods based on different properties are used,

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such as, hydration characteristics, strength, interfacial bond and morphology. Various methods are
used by researchers such as the measurement of hydration characteristics of a cement-aggregate
mix; the comparison of the mechanical properties of cement-aggregate mixes and the visual
assessment of microstructural properties of the wood-cement mixes. It has been found that the
hydration test by measuring the change in hydration temperature with time is the most convenient
method. Recently, Karade et al. have reviewed these methods of compatibility assessment and
suggested a method based on the ‘maturity concept’ i.e. taking in consideration both time and
temperature of cement hydration reaction.

17. Building Materials in Modern Industry

Modern building is a multibillion dollar industry, and the production and harvesting of raw
materials for building purposes is on a worldwide scale. Often being a primary governmental and
trade keypoint between nations. Environmental concerns are also becoming a major world topic
concerning the availability and sustainability of certain materials, and the extraction of such large
quantities needed for the human habitat.

18. Virtual Building Materials

Certain materials like photographs, images, text may be considered virtual. While, they usually
exist on a substrate of natural material themselves, they acquire a different quality of salience to
natural materials through the process of representation.

19. Building Products

When we talk about building products we refer to the ready-made particles that are fitted in different
architectural hardware and decorative hardware parts of a building. The list of building products
exclusively exclude the materials, which are used to construct the building architecture and supporting
fixtures like windows, doors, cabinets, etc. Building products do not make any part of a building rather
they support and make them working.

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