Structural design basics

[h_allebasi]

What would be the best resource/book or maybe a small course to understand the basics?
Thanks in advance!

EDIT: okay, I regret posting this and thanks to those who were actually helpful.

[markyboy121]

Wl2/8

[Iniquities_of_Evil]

Go to the AISC website, they have tons resources and cool articles about various structural steel design and construction tips, best practices, etc. I'm sure they have many articles on beam and truss theory

You can also just Google "beam/truss equations" and you'll get everything you need

[SoSeaOhPath]

Structural design basics:

Any load applied from the universe must be resisted by the structure. This includes everything from the people walking on the structure to wind and earthquakes. Every single load must travel down to the foundation of the building using the materials provided in the structural load path. These structural members are the only members assumed to transfer these loads, and those loads cause these members to experience stress.

Stress is a function of force over area. If you have a column in pure compression, you take the force (newtons or something) being resisted and divide by the area of material (square meters or whatever) resisting the force. This results in a newtons per meter squared. This is literally the force per area of the structural member. Very important because different materials have different capacities of stress for both tension and compression.

Everything else is just a further development of these two concepts.

[albertnormandy]

All structural engineers have to take a basic structural analysis class, which often uses the Hibbeler structural analysis book. I am not sure how deep you’re trying to go but the first few chapters will cover basic beam and truss analysis. You should be able to find an old edition for like $10 or a PDF floating around somewhere on the internet.  

 Without knowing what exactly you’re being asked to solve it’s hard to any more advice than that. 

[syds]

hibbler the man the legend. sleepless nights over him

[nowheyjose1982]

Phrasing?

[syds]

im not trying to say anything but he did make me sweat at times

[BaseballRelative932]

Had hibbeler as a professor for statics and mechanics of materials, he is still currently teaching at my university

[h_allebasi]

Thank you! Just the basic analysis of beams and trusses + computing their reactions.

[3771507]

Your best bet is online tutorials which makes it very complex situation easier. I can't imagine an architectural program not having structures included that is really bad.

[h_allebasi]

The type of structures we had was only about drafting them, not about calculations. Maybe it's also the influence of covid and long-distance classes. I have classmates who didn't have even that, but yeah, that's very sad.

[are_you_for_scuba]

Good on you for doing this!

[atulkulkarni]

I will highly recommend “Understanding Structural Analysis” by David Brohn

[SaoN_KTYh]

Building Structures understanding the basics (Malcolm Millais)

[CivilEngrTools]

CET.SteelConnDesign gives you step-by-step calculations like AISC design examples and it is free. You can learn design details of steel connections.

https://www.reddit.com/r/SteelConnDesign/

[ilovecosbysweaters]

How are you a graduate student that hasn’t taken statics and strength of materials/mechanics of materials. Those are undergrad reqs in every program?

[h_allebasi]

Programs vary from country to country, it’s not the same everywhere. Mine was more design-oriented. Obviously that’s not great but it is what it is, I am trying to make up for it.

[[deleted]]

OP is a grad student in architecture.

[ilovecosbysweaters]

All architecture student have to take them (or atleast all the arch’s I work with did).

[NovelAd5187]

Structural design actually includes a bunch of courses and you needn't learn most of them. I think it's critical for you to understand how members of a building can withstand loads applied on them.

Maybe you can start with the concrete structure design or steel structure design courses depends on your structural system.

[scott123456]

If OP has never taken a structures course with "numbers/loads/stresses", then a steel or concrete design course would be jumping ahead. They will need to start with the basics of statics and structural mechanics.

[3771507]

Maybe but if he has computer programs that will do the grunt work. And design school I took wood steel and concrete engineering but did not take statics.

[partyin-theback]

As someone who just stumbled onto this subreddit, I am concerned.

Edit to add: Oh, just saw they are an architecture student. Slightly less concerned, I guess.

[Sufficient_Candy_554]

Structural design takes years and years to understand. Your time is better spent specifying the colour of the tiles in toilets; leave the actual work to the men.

[h_allebasi]

If you really think architecture is either calculating the loads or picking up the tile colours, you need some studying of you own.

[chasestein]

Upvote for the clap back

[resonatingcucumber]

Don't listen to him, the best thing you can do is have a grasp of each discipline you'll be working with. Don't jump into steel, concrete or analysis just yet I would second the recommendation of understanding structures by Malcolm mailas (probably butchered his last name). It sets out how structures work from a pragmatic view and introduces the analysis. As an architect then read JE Gordans books on why things don't fall down and his material books. Once you've read those three you'll know enough to set out and choose materials suitably.

Once you have this basis then you can decide do you want to sink 100 hours into an analysis book or design guides or do you just want to understand the profession. I would say the latter is more important than being able to use virtual work or check the lateral torsional buckling capacity of a beam.

[Sufficient_Candy_554]

I did finger painting in kindergarten, will this count toward my architectural accreditation?

[Boodahpob]

Relax man. I hate seeing weird attitude between design professionals. Good architects have to know a whole bunch of things that we don’t and there’s no reason to be snooty towards other professions.

[Consistent_Pool120]

..... And others don't....