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CIVIL ENGINEERING:
Civil Engineering is a broad field of engineering that deals with the planning, construction,
and maintenance of fixed structures, or public works, as they are related to earth, water, or
civilization and their processes. Most civil engineering today deals with roads, railways,
structures, water supply, sewer, flood control and traffic. In essence, civil engineering may be
regarded as the profession that makes the world a more agreeable place to live in.
STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING:
In the field of civil engineering, structural engineering is concerned with structural design
and structural analysis of structural components of buildings and non-building structures. This
involves calculating the stresses and forces that affect or arise within a structure, and designing
structural components that are able to withstand those forces. Major design concerns are building
seismic resistant structures and seismically retrofitting existing structures.
Structural engineers ensure that their designs satisfy a given design intent predicated on
safety (i.e. structures do not collapse without due warning) and on serviceability (i.e. floor
vibration and building sway are not uncomfortable to occupants). In addition, structural engineers
are responsible for making efficient use of funds and materials to achieve these over-arching
goals. Typically, entry-level structural engineers may design simple beams, columns, and floors
of a new building, including calculating the loads on each member and the load capacity of
various building materials (steel, timber, masonry, concrete). An experienced engineer would
tend to render more difficult structures, considering physics of moisture, heat and energy inside
the building components.
Structural loads on structures are generally classified as: live loads such as the weight of
occupants and furniture in a building, the forces of wind or weights of water, the forces due to
seismic activity such as an earthquake, dead loads including the weight of the structure itself and
all major architectural components and live roof loads such as material and manpower loading
the structure during construction. Structural engineers mainly fight against the forces of nature
like winds, earthquakes and Tsunamis. In recent years, however, reinforcing structures against
sabotage has taken on increased importance.
ENGINEERING DESIGN:
The task of the engineer is to identify, understand, and integrate the constraints on a
design in order to produce a successful result, which is called engineering design. It is usually not
enough to build a technically successful product; it must also meet further requirements.
Constraints may include available resources, physical or technical limitations, flexibility for future
modifications and additions, and other factors, such as requirements for cost, and the ability to
market, produce, and service. By understanding the constraints, engineers derive specifications
for the limits within which a viable structure may be produced and operated.
Engineers typically attempt to predict how well their designs will perform to their
specifications prior to full-scale production. They use, among other things: prototypes, scale
models, simulations, destructive tests, nondestructive tests, and stress tests. Creating an
appropriate mathematical model of a problem allows them to analyze it (sometimes definitively),
and to test potential solutions. Usually multiple reasonable solutions exist, so engineers must
evaluate the different design choices on their merits and choose the solution that best meets their
requirements.
Engineers as professionals take seriously their responsibility to produce designs that will
perform as expected and will not cause unintended harm to the public at large. Engineers
typically include a factor of safety in their designs to reduce the risk of unexpected failure.
However, the greater the safety factor, the less efficient the design may be.
As with all modern scientific and technological endeavors, computers and software play an
increasingly important role. Numerical methods and simulations can help predict design
performance more accurately than previous approximations. Computer models of designs can be
checked for flaws without having to make expensive and time-consuming prototypes. Of late, the
use of finite element method analysis (FEM analysis or FEA) software to study stress,
temperature, etc has gained importance. In addition, a variety of software is available to analyze
dynamic systems.
EARTHQUAKE:
Earthquakes are phenomena that result from the sudden release of stress in rocks that
radiate seismic waves. At the Earth's surface, earthquakes may manifest themselves by a
shaking or displacement of the ground and sometimes tsunamis, which may lead to loss of life
and destruction of property.
Most naturally occurring earthquakes are related to the tectonic nature of the Earth. Such
earthquakes are called tectonic earthquakes. The Earth's lithosphere is a patch-work of plates in
slow but constant motion caused by the heat in the Earth's mantle and core. Plate boundaries
glide past each other, creating frictional stress. When the frictional stress exceeds a critical value,
called local strength, a sudden failure occurs. The boundary of tectonic plates along which failure
occurs is called the fault plane. When the failure at the fault plane results in a violent
displacement of the Earth's crust, the elastic strain energy is released and elastic waves are
radiated, thus causing an earthquake.
loss of life through a variety of agents of damage, including fault rupture, vibratory ground motion
(shaking), inundation (tsunami or dam failure), various kinds of permanent ground failure
(liquefaction, landslides), and fire or a release of hazardous materials.
Most large earthquakes are accompanied by other, smaller ones that can occur either
before or after the main shock; these are called foreshocks and aftershocks, respectively. While
almost all earthquakes have aftershocks, foreshocks occur in only about 10% of events.
Of course, real buildings do not respond as simply as described above. There are a
number of important characteristics common to all buildings which further affect and complicate a
building's response in terms of the accelerations it undergoes, and the deformations and
damages that it suffers.
The impact of an earthquake is determined by these factors:
Geologic conditions - distance from the epicenter, path of the seismic waves, types
of soil, water saturation of soil
Earthquakes can cause more damage and more deaths in some parts of the world
primarily because
population density.
Soil beneath the building. Buildings constructed on soft soil force may suffer from a
stronger ground motion, and those on hard rocks are subject to high frequency
waves.
Regional topography. Buildings on a hill are likely to slide down as the earthquake
strikes.
The number of earthquakes the building has previously had and the kinds of
damage suffered, if any. While the building may seem undamaged under weak to
moderate earthquakes, the resulting small damages and cracks make it more
vulnerable to future events.
Intended function of the building (e.g. hospital, fire station, office building). If the
building is an important one, or the buildings performance is essential in case of
destructive earthquakes, the engineers should design a stronger building which, on
the other hand, will be more expensive.
diaphragms
shear walls
braced frames
base isolation
These same elements are also basic parts of an architect's structural "vocabulary." The
choice of the appropriate lateral load resisting system for any particular building is thus highly
dependent upon the architectural concept of the building.
Of course, a building always possesses floors and a roof. But the earthquake resistant
characteristics of these basic elements are highly variable. Not only that, the building's horizontal
elements can be supported by a wide variety of wall and frame types or wall-frame combinations,
the choice of which is usually dictated by considerations other than earthquake resistance. For
instance, some buildings such as a warehouse or a parking garage must have a large open floor
space--which means that roof and floors of such structures will not be provided with as much
vertical support from beneath as they might be otherwise.
The engineer-designer in charge of making a building earthquake resistant must therefore
choose a combination of structural elements which will most favorably balance the demands of
earthquake resistance, building cost, building use, and architectural design.
DIAPHRAGMS
Diaphragms are horizontal resistance elements, generally floors and roofs that transfer the
lateral forces between the vertical resistance elements (shear walls or frames). Basically, a
diaphragm acts as a horizontal I-beam. That is, the diaphragm itself acts as the web of the beam
and its edges act as flanges.
SHEAR WALLS
Shear walls are vertical walls that are designed to receive lateral forces from diaphragms
and transmit them to the ground. The forces in these walls are predominantly shear forces in
which the fibers within the wall try to slide past one another.
When you build a house of cards, you design a shear wall structure, and you soon learn
that sufficient card "walls" must be placed at right angles to one another or the house will
collapse.
BRACED FRAMES
Braced frames act in the same manner as shear walls, but they may offer lower resistance
depending on their details of their design and construction. Bracing generally takes the form of
steel rolled sections, circular bar sections, or tubes. Vibration may cause the bracing to elongate
or compress, in which case it will lose its effectiveness and permit large deformations or collapse
of the vertical structure. Ductility therefore must be designed into the bracing to create a safe
assembly.
BASE ISOLATION
It is easiest to see this principle at work by referring directly to the most widely used of
these advanced techniques, which is known as base isolation. A base isolated structure is
supported by a series of bearing pads which are placed between the building and the building's
foundation (See Figure 6). A variety of different types of base isolation bearing pads have now
been developed.
building's vibrations. Damping is the fundamental property of all vibrating bodies which tends to
absorb the body's energy of motion, and thus reduce the amplitude of vibrations until the body's
motion eventually ceases.
Metallic Dampers: utilize the deformation of metal elements within the damper
Viscoelastic Dampers: are devices that show both stiffness and damping, and
utilize the controlled shearing of solids
Viscous Dampers: are devices that show only damping, and utilize the forced
movement of fluids within the damper
FLOORS:
2 mm Lauan Plywood 30 cm 30 cm - The structure has 5 stories
Mass: 275 g (0.6 lb )
Additional Mass: 490 g (1.08 lb )
COLUMNS:
5 mm -Diameter Hardwood Dowels At least 4, up to 16 columns are allowed
Area: 17.81 mm
CONNECTIONS:
Wood Glue or Hot Melt Glue
EXPLANATION OF PROPERTIES:
Now, we briefly introduce the properties listed above, to point out their performance to the
engineer, who is responsible in the selection of appropriate components and configurations.
MASS: is a property of a physical object that quantifies the amount of matter and energy it
contains. Unlike weight, the mass of something stays the same regardless of location. During an
earthquake, the ground acceleration results in inertial forces to be produced in masses present in
the structure. The more the mass, the more the force will be, and hence, stronger elements are
required to handle it during an earthquake.
AREA: is a physical quantity expressing the size of a part of a surface. Larger areas of the
same material normally produce more resistance to loads, but the shape of the part is also
important in determination of its stiffness.
AREA MOMENT OF INERTIA: is a property of a shape that is used to predict its
resistance to bending and deflection. Shapes of the same areas and materials may have different
moments of inertia, implying different resistance to external forces.
MODULUS OF ELASTICITY: is the mathematical description of an object or substance's
tendency to be deformed when a force is applied to it. Theoretically, it can be defined as the
amount of force required to reduce the length of an object with unit area and length to zero. As
this definition suggests, stiffer materials exhibit higher values elasticity modulus.
DAMPING: is any effect that tends to reduce the amplitude of oscillations of an oscillatory
system. All structures demonstrate damping in a variety of ways, as no oscillation will last forever
in any system. Damping ratio is a numerical quantity showing the damping as a percentage of a
critical damping, which is enough to prevent any oscillation in the system. Real values of damping
in civil engineering structures range from 2% to 10% of the critical value, depending on the
material and geometric properties, as well as excitation severity. Supplemental damping for
reduction of oscillation is possible through installation of special devices called dampers in the
building.
NATURAL FREQUENCY: is the oscillation rate at which the structure tends to oscillate.
This property depends on the material and geometric properties of the elements, as well as the
overall configuration of structure, connection properties, and the amount of mass present in the
building. A specific structure demonstrates several natural frequencies and their corresponding
mode shapes (oscillation form). When the natural frequency of the excitation gets closer to the
natural frequency of the building, resonance occurs, which results in increased drifts and
accelerations of the structure.
EARTHQUAKE RECORDS:
The earthquakes that are selected to be applied to the building are the 1940 El Centro,
1994 Northridge, and 1995 Kobe records. These data are actually recorded during the abovementioned earthquakes. The first one happened in Imperial Valley, CA, and was one of the first
earthquakes to be accurately recorded by the pre-installed instruments. The other two are
stronger than El Centro, but they happen less frequently. Each earthquake has specific properties
that make it different from others, and may affect the building in a very different way.
The problem is now to design a building, using the material whose properties were
mentioned above, to suffer the least damage under these earthquakes. As the El Centro record is
weaker than the others and its probability of occurrence is more, the building should be designed
to remain undamaged. The other two earthquakes, however, are too strong for a building to
remain undamaged, as it is too expensive to design a building that survives any earthquake. So
standards generally require the buildings to be designed in such a way that they dont collapse
under strong earthquakes, but they may have some damage at the end. This shows the
importance of the inelastic deformation capacity of a building that allows it to deform, but not
collapse.
TESTING BUILDINGS:
A variety of experimental methods exist for testing buildings or building components under
the effect of earthquakes. These methods range from application of forces by actuators to largescale shake table tests.
In a shake table test, a reduced-scale model of building will be placed on a platform that
can simulate a pre-recorded earthquake by moving in horizontal and vertical directions. Simplified
versions of these shake tables are able to move in one direction only, and have limited force and
displacement capacity. As Figure 11 shows, there are some additional masses attached to each
floor, to represent the effect of entities present in any building, such as walls, appliances and
furniture. The deformations and accelerations of test structures are measured by the instruments
that are mounted on the system. These measurements give valuable information to the engineer,
that helps predict the structural behavior under a real earthquake.