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    Engineering Structures 101: Structural Engineering: From The Beginning

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    vkontoyianni1446
    This document provides an overview of structural engineering history from ancient structures like Newgrange in Ireland and Stonehenge in England from 3000 BC to 1500 BC. It then covers ancient Egyptian structures like the pyramids of Giza built between 2686-2181 BC using stone blocks. Other ancient structures discussed include temples in Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome. Key developments in structural forms are highlighted like the arch, which the Romans perfected and used widely in aqueducts like the Pont du Gard in France. The document contrasts Roman and Gothic arch styles.

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    Engineering Structures 101: Structural Engineering: From The Beginning

    Uploaded by

    vkontoyianni1446
    34 views49 pages
    This document provides an overview of structural engineering history from ancient structures like Newgrange in Ireland and Stonehenge in England from 3000 BC to 1500 BC. It then covers ancient Egyptian structures like the pyramids of Giza built between 2686-2181 BC using stone blocks. Other ancient structures discussed include temples in Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome. Key developments in structural forms are highlighted like the arch, which the Romans perfected and used widely in aqueducts like the Pont du Gard in France. The document contrasts Roman and Gothic arch styles.

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    Engineering

    Original Title

    Beams Arches Domes

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    This document provides an overview of structural engineering history from ancient structures like Newgrange in Ireland and Stonehenge in England from 3000 BC to 1500 BC. It then covers ancient Egyptian structures like the pyramids of Giza built between 2686-2181 BC using stone blocks. Other ancient structures discussed include temples in Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome. Key developments in structural forms are highlighted like the arch, which the Romans perfected and used widely in aqueducts like the Pont du Gard in France. The document contrasts Roman and Gothic arch styles.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    34 views49 pages

    Engineering Structures 101: Structural Engineering: From The Beginning

    Uploaded by

    vkontoyianni1446
    This document provides an overview of structural engineering history from ancient structures like Newgrange in Ireland and Stonehenge in England from 3000 BC to 1500 BC. It then covers ancient Egyptian structures like the pyramids of Giza built between 2686-2181 BC using stone blocks. Other ancient structures discussed include temples in Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome. Key developments in structural forms are highlighted like the arch, which the Romans perfected and used widely in aqueducts like the Pont du Gard in France. The document contrasts Roman and Gothic arch styles.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    of 49

    Engineering Structures 101

    Structural Engineering:
    From the Beginning
    ProfessorMartinFahey
    Head,SchoolofCivil&ResourceEngineering
    UniversityofWesternAustralia
    (email:[email protected])

    Newgrange, Ireland, 3200 BC


    80 m diameter burial mound, Boyne Valley (where I grew up!), 40 km
    from Dublin, built by pre-Celtic neolithic people (Tuatha de Dannan?)

    Newgrange, Ireland, 3200 BC


    Exterior view of entrance, and interior of burial chamber. Note stone lintel.
    At sunrise on summer solstice (21 June) sun shines through window above
    entrance, down the long passage, and strikes an altar at the centre of the chamber.

    Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, England. Between 3000 BC


    and 1500 BC. Purpose?

    Stonehenge:
    Stone beams supported by stone columns

    Mesopotamia:
    (Land between two rivers - the
    Euphrates and the Tigris)
    Start of modern civilisations?
    about 7000 BC.
    Very fertile then - now desert
    (Iran/Iraq)

    Ziggurat (temple) at Ur, 2125 BC


    Mesopotamia
    (Sumerians, 3500 to 1900 BC)

    Pyramids of Khafre &


    Khufu at Giza, Egypt
    (Old Kingdom: 26862181BC)

    Great Pyramid of Khufu, Giza, Egypt (Old Kingdom: 2686-2181BC). Angle 5152
    146 m high, 2.3 million stone blocks, each 2.5 tonnes. Base is almost perfect square,
    229 m sides. Aligned perfectly with cardinal points (N,S,E,W)

    Climbers on the Great Pyramid at Giza (note sizes of blocks)


    Originally, smooth surface - faced with limestone - now
    weathered away

    Bent Pyramid at Dahshur, Egypt, 2680-2565 B.C


    Angle changes from 54 to 43 degrees (foundation/stability problems?). If it had
    been completed to original plan, it would have been the biggest pyramid in
    Egypt.

    Temple of Horus, Edfu, Egypt (3 stages between 237 BC and 57 BC)

    Beams: Tension and Compression


    Top half of beam in compression:
    Rock: strong in compression

    Bottom half of beam is in tension:


    Rock: weak in tension
    Maximum tensile stress mid-span
    Value varies in proportion to L2
    Therefore, beams must be short if poor tensile
    strength
    Egyptian & Greek columns close together
    - column spacing < 2 x beam depth
    - very cluttered space

    Galileo's Discorsi, his Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences, were published in Leyden in
    1638. The second new science is concerned with the mechanics of motion; the first gives the
    first mathematical account of a problem in structurai engineering. Galileo wishes to compute
    the breaking strength of a beam, knowing the strength of the material itself as measured in the
    tension test shown in the illustration. The drawing does not encourage belief that Galileo ever
    made such a test (although Galileo himself never saw the illustration - he was blind by the time
    the book was printed). The hook at B would have pulled out of the stone long before the
    column as a whole fractured. In the same way, it is thought that Galileo did not in fact drop
    balis of diffrent weights from the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It is not known that Galileo ever
    designed crucial experiments of this sort, in order to prove or disprove a theory. What he did
    was to make crucial observations, from which ensued brilliant advances in every subject he
    touched.
    Jacques Heyman The Science of Structural Engineering Imperial College Press

    This is the famous illustration for Galileo's basic


    problem - the breaking strength of a beam. Again, the
    drawing is not really representational, although there
    is a wealth of circumstantial detail. In this case the
    hook C may well have been able to carry the load, but
    the masonry at AB looks insufficient to resist the
    turning moment at the wall.
    It is interesting to note that Galileo actually got the
    statics completely wrong he did not understand that
    the stresses on the cross section had to give zero net
    horizontal force.

    Temple of Horus, Edfu, Egypt

    Temple of Horus, Edfu, Egypt


    Hypostyle Hall
    (hall of many columns)

    Parthenon, Athens, Greece, 447 BC. Deep stone beams, over closely-spaced columns

    The Parthenon stands atop the Acropolis, in Athens, Greece

    Parthenon

    Doric
    capital

    Ionic
    capital

    Corinthian
    capital

    Three types of columns (three orders) used in Greek buildings: Doric, Ionic and
    Corinthian
    The top (capital) of each column type is different
    - in fact, whole style & proportions of each are different

    Parthenon: Doric order; stone architrave, frieze and cornice

    Compacted clay

    Tiles
    Wooden beams
    Wooden planks

    Stone architrave

    Stone columns

    Roof structure of Greek Temple - very short spans

    A simple masonry arch is made from identical


    wedge-shaped voussoirs - it is built on
    falsework, since it cannot stand until the last
    stone, the keystone, is in place.
    Once
    complete, the falsework (the centering) may
    be removed, and the arch at once starts to thrust
    at the river banks. Inevitably the abutments
    will give way slightly, and the arch will spread.
    Figure (b), greatly exaggerated, shows how the
    arch accommodates itself to the increased span.
    The arch has cracked between voussoirs - there
    is no strength in these joints, and three hinges
    have formed. There is no suggestion that the
    arch is on the point of collapse - the three-hinge
    arch is a well-known and perfectly stable
    structure. On the contrary, the arch has merely
    responded in a sensible way to an attack from a
    hostile environment (gravity). In practice, the
    hinges may betray themselves by cracking of
    the mortar between the voussoirs, but larger
    open cracks may often be seen.

    Arches:
    Achieving large spans while
    avoiding tension

    An arch supports vertical forces by generating compression between


    the voissoirs of the arch. The arch abutment must be capable of
    supporting the resulting horizontal thrust.

    An arch with three hinges can be stable - in fact many arches are
    built this way deliberately

    Four hinges are required in an arch for collapse. Picture shows


    snap-through failure

    A stone beam with small span-to-depth ratio (such as those in the


    Parthenon) may act as a three-pin arch if it cracks at the centre, and
    may not necessarily collapse

    Pont du Gard, Nimes, southern France. Aqueduct.


    Built by Romans, -15 BC to 14 AD. The Romans
    perfected the use of the arch, and used it widely.

    This aqueduct, over the river Gard, is 275 metres long and 49 m high. Part of an aqueduct
    nearly 50 km long that supplied Nimes with water. On its first level it carries a road and at
    the top of the third level, a water conduit, which is 1.8 m high and 1.2 m wide and has a
    gradient of 0.4 per cent.

    Possible falsework (or centering) scheme used for the Pont du Gard

    Pont du Gard: The three levels were built in dressed stone without mortar. The
    projecting blocks supported the scaffolding during construction.

    Elements of a Roman Arch Bridge

    Aqueduct, Segovia, Spain. Built by Romans, 1st century AD.


    39 m high

    Segovia, Spain

    Pons Fabricus (Ponte Fabrico), Rome, Tiber. Built in 62 B.C. by


    L.Fabricius. Oldest surviving bridge in Rome. Still used by
    pedestrians

    Pons Fabricus (Ponte Fabrico), Rome, Tiber. Built in 62 B.C. by


    L.Fabricius. Oldest surviving bridge in Rome. Still used by
    pedestrians

    Pont St Martin, Aosta, Italy. 25


    BC. Longest span Roman Arch
    bridge (32 m).

    Anji, (or Great Stone) Bridge, Jiao River, China, 610 AD, Li Chun.
    Still in use. Described by Ming Dynasty poet as new moon rising above
    the clouds, a long rainbow drinking from a mountain stream.

    Colleseum, Rome,
    70-80 AD, Emperor
    Vespasian

    187 m long, 155 m wide, 49 m high

    Arch of Titus, Rome, AD 81.


    Triumphal Arch, celebrating victory in war

    Arc de Triomphe, Paris


    Commissioned in 1806 by
    Napoleon I, shortly after his
    victory at Austerlitz, it
    was not finished until
    1836

    Culverts and underpasses: soil provides support (pressure from all


    sides - circular shape efficient).

    Roman Arch compared to Gothic Arch

    4/5B
    B
    Roman Arch:
    semi-circular
    (Romanesque architecture)

    B
    Gothic Arch: Pointed.
    Example shown is a quinto
    acuto - two circular segments
    with radius = 4/5 of the base

    Gothic a quinto acuto arch


    Inverted hanging chain shape
    (pure compression - no bending). Arch in
    this shape would have no bending in any
    part.

    Hanging chain (catenary) shape


    (Pure tension - no bending)

    An inverted catenary (chain) is the ideal shape for an arch. Gothic arch a quinto
    acuto is very close to ideal shape - therefore can be very thin and still be stable

    For stability, a circular Roman arch supporting only its own weight
    must be thick enough to contain an equivalent inverted catenary
    arch
    Therefore, Romanesque architecture typically very massive (heavy)

    Romanesque: Church of Sainte-Foy, Conques, France, 1050-1120

    Romanesque: Church of Sainte-Foy, Conques, France, 1050-1120

    La Madeleine, Vezelay,
    France: interior, nave,
    1120-1132. Typical
    Romanesque church

    Sources

    The pictures contained in this presentation were either


    downloaded from the Internet, or scanned in from books. The
    sources are too numerous to list.

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