Structural Engineer

Objective:

Is to design a structure that will be able to withstand all the loads to which it is subjected while serving
its intended purpose throughout its intended life span.

The loads that act on common civil engineering structures can be grouped according to their nature and
source into three classes.

1. Live load- Which is movable or moving loads

2. Dead load - Due to the weight of the structural system itself

3. Environmental load – Which are caused by environmental effects such as wind, snow, and
earthquakes.

P.646 shear and moment diagram.

Analysis of Continuous Beams

Based on the discussion presented in the preceding section, the procedure for the analysis of continuous
beams by the slope-deflection method can be summarized as follows:

1. Identify the degrees of freedom of the structure. For continuous beams, the degrees of freedom
consist of the unknown rotations of the joints.
2. Compute fixed-end moments. For each member of the structure, evaluate the fixed-end
moments due to the external loads by using the expressions given inside the back cover of the
book. The counterclockwise fixed-end moments are considered to be positive.
3. In the case of support settlements; determine the rotations of the chords of members adjacent
to the supports that settle by dividing the relative translation between the two ends of the
member by the member length the chord rotations are measured from the undeformed
(horizontal) positions of members, with counterclockwise rotations
considered as positive.
4. Write slope-deflection equations. For each member, apply Eq.(16.9) to write two slope-
deflection equations relating member end moments to the unknown rotations of the adjacent
joints.
5. Write equilibrium equations. For each joint that is free to rotate, write a moment equilibrium
equation, summation of moment = 0, in terms of the moments at the member ends connected
to the joint. The total number of such equilibrium equations must be equal to the number of
degrees of freedom of the structure.
6. Determine the unknown joint rotations. Substitute the slope-deflection equations into the
equilibrium equations, and solve the resulting system of equations for the unknown joint
rotations.
7. Calculate member end moments by substituting the numerical values of joint rotations
determined in step 6 into the slope-deflection equations. A positive answer for an end moment
indicated that its sense is counterclockwise, whereas a negative answer for an end moment
implies a clockwise sense.
8. To check whether or not the solution of simultaneous equations was carried out correctly in step
6, substitute the numerical values of member end moments into the joint equilibrium equations
developed in step 5. If the solution is correct then equilibrium equations should be satisfied.
9. Compute member end shears. For each member, (a) draw a free body diagram showing the
external loads and end moments and (b) apply the equations of equilibrium to calculate the
shear forces at the ends of the member.
10. Determine support reactions by considering the equilibrium of the joints of the structure.
11. To check the calculations of member end shears and support reactions, apply the equations of
equilibrium to the free body of the entire structure. If the calculations have been carried out
correctly, then the equilibrium equations should be satisfied.
12. Draw shear and bending moment’s diagrams of the structure by using the beam sign convention.