civil engineering, architecture, structural engineering, architectural engineering

1. STRUCTURAL SYSTEMS
ISTANBUL KÜLTÜR UNIVERSITY, ENGINEERING FACULTY
CIVIL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
Dr. Erdal COSKUN
THE LECTURE NOTES OF CE012 STRUCTURAL SYSTEM PRINCIPLES

2. INTRODUCTION
• Thirty thousand years ago, people
roamed from place to place hunting
animals for food and looking for
wild plants to eat. As they were
always moving, they did not build
houses.
• Much later on, they began to put
up shelters, tents made of animal
skins, and tried to protect
themselves from the weather
conditions.
• They might find caves where they
cook and sleep. Caves were better
places to live in, but tents had the
advantege of being easily moved.
Capodocia-Türkiye
2

3. BRIEF HISTORY OF STRUCTURAL
ENGINEERING
• Structural engineering has been in use since ages, and one of the greatest ancient
structures was the Pyramid of Giza that was constructed in the 26th century BC. The
major structures during the medieval period were the pyramids since the shape of the
pyramids is basically stable.
• Theoretical knowledge about the structures was limited, and construction techniques
were based on experience only. The real advancement in the structural engineering was
achieved in the 19th century during the industrial revolution when significant progress
was achieved in the sciences of structural analysis and materials science.
• No record exists of the first calculations of the strength of structural members or the
behavior of structural material, but the profession of structural engineer only really
took shape with the industrial revolution and the re-invention of concrete. The physical
sciences underlying structural engineering began to be understood in the Renaissance
and have been developing ever since.
3

4. PYRAMID OF GIZA
4

5. 5
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Babylon’s hanging gardens were constructed by King
Nebuchadnezzar II in modern-day Iraq in about 600 BCE. These
gardens may have been named after the lush vines trailing
down the tiered structure, which looked to be suspended in the
desert sky.
Temple of Artemis
One of the ancient world’s largest temples, the Temple
of Artemis in Turkey was completed in 550 BCE.
Soaring 18 m high, the temple consisted of a
colonnade of about 106 columns encircling a marble
sanctuary covered by a tiled roof.

6. 6
The building is circular with a portico of three ranks of huge granite Corinthian columns (eight in the first rank and two
groups of four behind) under a pediment opening into the rotunda, under a coffered, concrete dome, with a central
opening (oculus) open to the sky. Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon's dome is still the world's
largest unreinforced concrete dome. The height to the oculus and the diameter of the interior circle are the same,
43.3 meters. It is one of the best preserved of all Roman buildings.

7. 7
The Colosseum
Completed in 80 CE, the Colosseum was Ancient
Rome’s premier entertainment venue. Reigning
emperors hosted epic contests inside the huge
amphitheater, with gladiators (trained fighters)
battling in front of up to 50,000 people.
Chichen Itza
Built by the Mayan civilization between 1000 and 1200
CE, El Castillo is part of Mexico’s ancient Chichen Itza
site. With a temple at the top, the 24 m step-pyramid is
dedicated to the feathered-serpent god Kukulcan.

8. 8
Taj Mahal
After 12 years of construction, the Taj Mahal
complex in Agra, India, was completed in 1648. Its
centerpiece is the white marble-tiled mausoleum
dedicated to the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan’s
wife, Mumtaz Mahal.
The Great Wall of China
China’s first emperor Qin Shi Huangdi began
construction on the Great Wall in about 200 BC. With
fortified walls made of packed-dirt, stonework, and
rocks, succeeding dynasties added to the structure over
many centuries. Today, it stretches 6,508 km east to
west.

9. HAGIA SOPHIA-ISTANBUL
9
Famous in particular for its massive dome, it is considered the typical example of
Byzantine architecture and to have "changed the history of architecture.”
It was the largest cathedral in the world for nearly a thousand years, until the
completion of the Seville Cathedral in 1520.It was designed by two architects, Isidore
of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles.

10. THE GREAT ARCHITECT SINAN
(MIMAR SINAN)
• Mimar Sinan (born 1490, Turkey-
died July 17, 1588,
Constantinople [now Istanbul])
was the chief Ottoman Architect
and Civil Engineer for Sultans
Suleyman I, Selim II, and Murad
III.
• By mid-life Sinan acquires a
reputation as a valued military
engineer and is brought to the
attention of Sultan Suleyman
(1520-66) who in 1537 appoints
Sinan (aged fifty) as head of the
office of royal architects.
10

11. THE GREAT ARCHITECT SINAN
(MIMAR SINAN)
11
The diameter of the dome, which exceeds the 31 m of the
Selimiye Mosque (Edirne) which Sinan completed when he
was 80, is the most outstanding example of the level of
achievement reached by Sinan.
When Sinan reached the age of 70, he had completed the
Süleymaniye Mosque (Istanbul) complex.
This building, situated on one of the hills of Istanbul facing the
Golden Horn, and built in the name of Süleyman the
Magnificent, is one of the symbolic monuments of the period.

12. 12
MASONRY STRUCTURES
Yedikule Walls,Istanbul
Galata Tower, Istanbul

13. SHORT REVIEW OF STRUCTURAL
MECHANICS AND HISTORICAL
DEVELOPMENT
13

14. ENGINEERING MECHANICS
Mechanics, is the branch of physics concerned with the
behaviour of physical bodies when subjected to forces or
displacements, and the subsequent effect of the bodies on
their environment.
Statics - bodies at rest or moving with uniform velocity
Dynamics - bodies accelerating
– Strength of Materials - deformation of bodies under forces.
– Structural Mechanics - focus on behavior of structures
under loads.
14

15. 15
ENGINEERING MECHANICS
Rigid Body
Mechanics
Deformable Body
Mechanics
Strength of
Materials
Statics
Dynamics
Fluid
Mechanics

16. STRUCTURAL MECHANICS
• Structural mechanics deals with forces and motions of
structural systems, it is necessary to study the forces, the
motions, and the relation between them.
• It is an extension in application of mechanics of rigid and
deformable bodies.
• Rigid body is a body that ideally does not deform under a
force.
BUT !
– All material deforms.
– When deformations are small assume the body is rigid.
16

17. THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT
17
• The historical development of mechanics of materials is a fascinating blend of both
theory and experiment Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) and Galileo Galilei (1564–
1642) performed experiments to determine the strength of wires, bars, and beams.
• Leonhard Euler (1707–1783) developed the mathematical theory of columns and
calculated the theoretical critical load of a column in 1744, long before any
experimental evidence existed to show the significance of his results.

18. GALILEO'S (NOT QUITE RIGHT) THEORY
OF BENDING STRESS
18
Galileo developed a
hypothesis concerning
bending stress that
was sensible but not
correct.
A better theory was
not widely understood
until more than 60
years later.

19. SIR ISAAC NEWTON
19
• Sir Isaac Newton, (4 January 1643 – 31
March 1727) was an English physicist,
mathematician, astronomer, natural
philosopher, alchemist, and theologian
and one of the most influential men in
human history. His Philosophiæ
Naturalis Principia Mathematica,
published in 1687, is considered to be
the most influential book in the history
of science, laying the groundwork for
most of classical mechanics. In this
work, Newton described universal
gravitation and the three laws of
motion which dominated the scientific
view of the physical universe for the
next three centuries.
“If I have seen further than others, it is because
I have stood on the shoulders of giants.”

20. TIME-LINE
• 384: Aristoteles
• 1452: Leonardo da Vinci made many contributions.
• 1638: Galileo Galilei published the book "Two New Sciences" in which he examined the failure of simple
structures.
• 1660: Hooke's law by Robert Hooke. σ=E.ε , ∆l=F.l/(E.A)
• 1687: Issac Newton published "Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica" which contains the
Newton's laws of motion. F=m.a (force=mass x acceleration)
• 1750: Euler-Bernoulli beam equation.
• 1700: Daniel Bernoulli introduced the principle of virtual work.
• 1707: Leonhard Euler developed the theory of buckling of columns.
• 1826: Claude-Louis Navier published a treatise on the elastic bahaviors of structures.
• 1835: Mohr deformations of structures graphical methods.
• 1873: Carlo Alberto Castigliano presented his dissertation "Intorno ai sistemi elastici", which contains his
theorem for computing displacement as partial derivative of the strain energy. This theorem includes the
method of least work as a special case.
• 1936: Hardy Cross' publication of the moment distribution method which was later recognized as a form of
the relaxation method applicable to the problem of flow in pipe-network.
• 1941: Alexander Hrennikoff submitted his PhD thesis in MIT on the discretization of plane elasticity
problems using a lattice framework.
• 1942: R. Courant divided a domain into finite subregions.
• 1956: J. Turner, R. W. Clough, H. C. Martin, and L. J. Topp's paper on the "Stiffness and Deflection of
Complex Structures". This paper introduces the name "finite-element method" and is widely recognized as
the first comprehensive treatment of the method as it is known today.
20

21. SUPPORTS
A support contributes to keeping
a structure in place by restraining
one or more degrees of freedom.
1-ROLLER SUPPORT
Free in X-direction
Fixed in Y-direction
Free in rotation
2-PIN SUPPORT
Fixed in X-direction
Fixed in Y-direction
Free in rotation
3-FIXED SUPPORT
Fixed in X-direction
Fixed in Y-direction
Fixed in rotation
21

22. SUPPORT DETAILS
22
Steel Bridge in Budapest (Hungary)
Steel Bridge in Baja (Hungary)
PIN
ROLLER

23. LOADS
Load is an external force.
Gravity Loads
Dead loads (Static)
Live loads (Static)
Snow loads (Static)
Lateral Loads
Wind loads (Dynamic)
Earthquake loads (Dynamic)
Special Load Cases
Thermal loads
Blast loads
Impact loads
Settlement loads
23

24. STATIC LOAD VS.DYNAMIC LOAD
A static load is a mechanical force applied slowly to an
assembly or object.
A dynamic load, on the other hand, results when loading
conditions are changing with time.
-Example of a dynamic load:
Earthquake (Seismic) loads.
-Example of a static load:
Weight of a bridge.
24

25. UNCERTAINTY
• Dead loads can be predicted with some confidence.
• Live load, environmental load, earthquake load predictions are much
more uncertain.
– E.g., it is nearly impossible to say what will be the exact maximum
occupancy live load in the classroom.
– It is also difficult to say how that load will be distributed in the
room.
• Structural codes account for this uncertainty two ways:
– We chose a conservative estimate for the load:
• E.g., a “50-year” snow load, which is a snow load that occurs,
on average, only once in 50 years.
– We factor that estimate upwards just to be sure.
25

26. LATERAL LOAD-GRAVITY LOAD
26
Lateral Load Vertical Load
Deformation
Shear Force
Bending Moment

27. DYNAMIC LOADS
27

28. 28
WIND LOADS
Pressure on wind side
• Suction on lee side
• Uplift on roof leeside
1- Wind load on gabled building
2- Wind load on dome or vault
3- Protected city building
4- Exposed tall building
5- Exposed wide façade
6- Building forms can increase
wind speed

29. EARTHQUAKE LOADS
• Earthquake (Seismic) forces
are inertia forces. When any
object, such as a building,
experiences acceleration,
inertia force is generated
when its mass resists the
acceleration. We experience
inertia forces while travelling.
• Especially when standing in a
bus or train, an changes in
speed (accelerations) cause us
to lose our balance and either
force us to change our position
or to hold on more firmly.
29

30. EARTHQUAKE LOADS
• Motion originates
outside of a building.
• Effect is internal.
• Forces generated by
inertia of building.
• Mass as ground moves
below the structure.
30

31. SEISMICITY OF EUROPA AND TURKIYE
31

32. BIGGEST CHALLENGE…
32
In Türkiye, the biggest challenge of engineering is dealing with the threat of major
earthquakes.
Marmara EQ, 1999

33. EARTHQUAKE LOAD EFFECTS
33
Taiwan-1999
Türkiye-1999

34. 34
EARTHQUAKE LOAD EFFECTS
Hansin, Japan 1995

35. SETTLEMENT LOADS
35
Pissa Tower, Italy. Soil Profile of Pissa Tower

36. LOAD PATH
• Load Path is the term used to describe the
path by which loads are transmitted to the
foundations.
• Different structures have different load paths.
• Some structures have only one path.
• Some have several (redundancy good).
36

37. LOAD PATH IN AN ARCH
37
Arch
Continuity Principle

38. LOAD PATH OF EIFFEL TOWER
38
Free Body Diagrams (FBD) a sketch of all or part of a structure, detached from its support.

39. LOAD PATH OF JOHN HANCOCK
BUILDING
39
Chicago, USA

40. CABLE- STAYED, SUSPENSION BRIDGE
LOAD PATH
40

41. WHAT IS STRUCTURAL
ENGINEERING?
Structural engineering, being considered a field of specialty
within the realm of civil engineering, is the application of math
and science to the design of structures, including buildings,
bridges, storage tanks, transmission towers, roller coasters,
aircraft, space vehicles, and much more, in such a way that the
resulting product will safely resist all loads imposed upon it.
In order to develop an adequate understanding of structures
that are designed, an engineer must make justifiable
approximations and assumptions in regards to materials used
and loading imposed and must also simplify the problem in
order to develop a workable mathematical model.
41

42. EXAMPLES
Possibly the most enjoyable application of structural engineering! (Photo
by Gustavo Vanderput)
42

43. EXAMPLES
43
New York
Eiffel Tower, Paris

44. DESIGN PROCESS IN STRUCTURAL
ENGINEERING
• Select material for construction (RC, Steel, Wood).
• Determine appropriate structural system for a
particular case.
• Determine forces acting on a structure and
determine internal forces (Structural Analysis).
• Calculate size of members and connections to avoid
failure or excessive deformations (Structural Design,
RC, Steel, Wood).
44

45. STRUCTURAL REQUIREMENTS
• The parameters of equilibrium, strength and
rigidity and geometric stability are clearly crucial
for any discussion involving structural mechanics.
• It must be capable of achieving a state of
equilibrium, it must be stable, it must have
adequate strength and it must have adequate
rigidity.
• They are all, however, sufficiently distinct, and
each has its own particular explanatory power.
(See Engineering Mechanics and Strength of Materials Lecture notes)
45

46. MATERIALS SUITABLE FOR VARIOUS
FORMS OF STRUCTURE
• All reinforced concrete including precast
• All metal (e.g. mild-steel, structural steel,
stainless steel or alloyed aluminum,
• All timber
• Laminated timber
• Metal/RC combined
• Plastic-coated textile material
• Fiber reinforced plastic
46

47. RECOGNITION OF STRUCTURAL
PROBLEMS
• Very heavy and unusual loads.
• Very long spans and high-rise systems.
• Very long, or thin, or tall walls, columns, or struts.
• Long members that meet in small joints.
• Unanticipated loads or stresses.
• Probability of the building changing occupancy or
functional use.
47

48. FUNCTION AND FORM
• The architectural design and form of buildings is
influenced by the type of the building and by its
function.
• Buildings such as residential, commercial, industrial,
transport, educational, health-care, leisure and
agricultural buildings are designed with features
characteristic for the individual building type.
• Structural systems also have an interrelation with the
type and function of the buildings. As a consequence
there exist school-building, residential building and
other systems.
48

49. FUNCTION AND FORM
• Technical progress (prefabrication, mechanization, etc.)
resulted in the industrialization of building and, as a
specific form of this, ‘system building’.
• Basically we can differentiate two types of systems. The
first of these is the technical system of buildings
(Ahuja, 1997), which consists of:
• the structural system
• the architectural system
•the services and equipment (lighting, HVAC, power
security, elevators, telecommunications, functional
equipment, etc.).
49

50. FUNCTION AND FORM
• The second system is composed of:
• the process of architectural, structural and
engineering design and their documents
• economic analysis, data and results including
quantity surveying, feasibility studies, risk
analysis
• management of design, construction and use of
buildings and structures (facility management)
including cooperation of various organizations
and persons involved in the construction process.
50

51. ARCHITECTURAL AND STRUCTURAL
FORM EXAMPLES
51

52. SELECTION OF STRUCTURAL SYSTEM
CRITERIA
- Safety
- Aesthetics
- Serviceability
- Reuse-Sustainability
- Constructability
- Economy-Cost
52

53. STRUCTURAL ARRANGEMENTS

54. DEFINITION OF STRUCTURE
• Structural system is one of the life-support
systems in a building.
• People die from errors in structural design. It has
life and death consequences.
• Building structure is the controlled flow of force
through routes formed by resistive materials in
order to shelter three dimensional space.
• The layout of the routes along which the forces
flow is the basis used to name alternative
structural systems, and from which a designer
will normally choose.
54

55. COMPONENTS OF A BUILDING STRUCTURE
1) Loads are the forces acting on a
building.
2) The superstructure is the part of
the resistive building frame above the
ground.
3) The lateral support system resist
horizontal loads such as wind or
earthquake.
4) The foundation is the part of the
force resistive frame below the
ground line.
5) Soil and Geology are the material
into which all the loads must
ultimately dissipated. (Geotechnical
Issues)
55

56. STRUCTURES ARE NEEDED FOR THE
FOLLOWING PURPOSES
• To enclose space for enviromental control;
• To support people, equipment, materials etc
at requried locations in space;
• To contain and retain materials;
• To span gaps for the transport of people,
equipment, materials etc.
56

57. STRUCTURAL ARRANGEMENTS
There are three basic structural arrangements: (Heinrich Engel
Classification)
• Post-and-beam structures are assemblies of vertical and horizontal
elements. Post-and-beam structures are either load bearing wall
structures or frame structures.
57

58. STRUCTURAL ARRANGEMENTS
• Semi-form-active structures have forms whose geometry is neither post-
and- beam nor form-active. The elements therefore contain the full range
of internal force types (i.e. axial, bending moment and shear force).
58

59. A TRADITIONAL EXAMPLE FOR SEMI-
FORM-ACTIVE STRUCTURES
The yurt (Turkish word) is the traditional house of the nomadic peoples (Turk, Mongolian) of
Middle Asia.
It consists of a highly sophisticated arrangement of self-bracing semi-form-active timber
structural elements which support a non-structural felt skin. It is light and its domed shape,
which combines maximum internal volume with minimum surface area, is ideal for heat
conservation and also minimizes wind resistance.
59

60. STRUCTURAL ARRANGEMENTS
• Fully form-active structures are systems of flexible or rigid
planes able to resist tension, compression or shear, in which
the redirection of forces is effected by mobilization of
sectional forces
• Included in this group are compressive shells, tensile cable
networks and air supported tensile-membrane structures.
• Form-active structures are almost invariably statically
indeterminate and this, together with the fact that they are
difficult to construct, makes them very expensive in the
present age, despite the fact that they make an efficient use
of structural material.
60

61. FULLY FORM-ACTIVE STRUCTURES
61
Cable nets, grid-shells, tensile membranes, hyperbolic parapoloids--these
things offer the promise of significant material efficiency and dramatic forms
by leveraging the intrinsic stability of doubly curved geometries.

62. NETS AND MEMBRANES
62
Frei Otto: German Pavilion @ Expo 67 in Montreal Frei Otto: Detail of Munich Olympic Complex, 1972

63. HIGH-RISE STRUCTURES
Istanbul

64. “A building whose height creates different conditions in
the design, construction, and use than those that
exist in common buildings of a certain region and
period.”
The Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat
64

65. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF
HIGH-RISE BUILDINGS
65
Emporis Corporation April 2004
Tall Buildings in Regions ( 1982).
Tall Buildings in Regions (2006).

66. HIGH-RISE STRUCTURES
• The present time the tallest building is not in the USA or another
industrialized country but in a developing country.
• From the ten tallest buildings in the world four only are in New York
and Chicago with the others being located in cities in developing
countries (Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong).
• To construct that high, a number of technical problems had and
have to be solved. In the forefront of these stands structural safety.
This includes not only sufficient compressive strength of the
superstructure and foundation but also safety against earthquake,
strong wind, impact action (aircraft crash, explosion, etc.), human
discomfort from vibration and horizontal movement.
66

67. HIGH-RISE STRUCTURES
• Structural design development has resulted in new types of structure. The
new potentials in structural design were, on the one hand, results in
science and engineering knowledge and, on the other hand, new demands
of clients.
• This was the case, for example, with building higher buildings and with
longer spans. The overall pattern of architectural and structural design has
been the interrelation of techniques, construction technology, artistic
ambition and functions.
• The ability to form and shape a high-rise building is strongly influenced the
structural system.
• Building weight and cost increase nonlinearly with increasing height due
to lateral loads.
• Efficient structural and material systems are needed to reduce weight and
cost.
67

68. STRUCTURAL SYSTEMS OF
HIGH-RISE BUILDINGS
A rough classification can be made with respect to effectiveness in resisting lateral
loads.
• Moment resisting frame systems (Resists lateral deformation by joint rotation)
• Braced frame, shear wall systems (Lateral forces are resisted by axial actions of
bracing and columns )
• Core and outrigger systems (Lateral and gravity loads supported by central core)
• Tubular systems
– Framed tubes
– Trussed tubes
– Bundled tubes
• Hybrid systems (Combine advantages of different structural and material systems)
Structural system development of tall buildings has been a continuously evolving
process.
68

69. COMPARISON OF STRUCTURAL
SYSTEMS
69

70. EARLY SKYSCRAPERS
70
Flatiron Building
Structure: Steel Frame
Height: 285 ft
Year: 1903
Façade: Non-structural limestone

71. EARLY SKYSCRAPERS
71
Empire State Building
Structure: Steel Frame, Vertical
Truss
Height: 1,250 ft (1453 ft to top of
spire)
Year: 1931

72. TUBULAR SYSTEMS
• Majority of structural elements around
the perimeter.
• Sides normal to lateral load resist bending.
• Sides parallel to lateral load resist shear.
• Closely spaced exterior columns.
• Minimize number of interior columns.
72
Various Plan Types of Tubular Systems
13- Load-bearing external wall - Perimeter frame
17- Core box column 450 mm square
20- Floor slab
WTC

73. SEARS TOWER, CHICAGO, USA
73

74. HANCOCK AND ONTERIE BUILDINGS USA
74
Steel, 344 m RC, 174 m
The strength of the building’s structural system is expressed in its facade.
Fazlur Rahman Khan,The Einstein of Structural Engineering

75. BURJ KHALIFA (BURJ DUBAI)
75

76. BURJ KHALIFA TOWER MODELS
76
Source: Irwin, P.A. and Baker, W.F. “The Burj Dubai Tower Wind
Engineering, Structure magazine, NCSEA/CASE/SEI, June 2006, pp. 28-31.

77. CN TOWER TORONTO,CANADA
Standing 553.3 meters tall, it was completed in 1976, becoming the world's tallest free-standing
structure and world's tallest tower. It held both records for 34 years until the completion of the Burj
Dubai in Dubai and Canton Tower in Guangzhou.
77

78. TRANSAMERICA BUILDING, SAN
FRANCISCO, USA
78
The Vierendeel Truss

79. WEST COAST TRANSMISSION
BUILDING, VANCOUVER,CANADA
Multi-story building with suspended
floors. In this 12-story building, the
floors are hung from the top of the
central 270-ft. high concrete core by
six sets of continuous steel bridge
cables.
The arrangement of the cables can be
seen at the top of the building. Floors
were erected from the top down. The
core is 36 ft. X 36 ft. in section, and
can be seen at both top and bottom
of the building.
79

80. BMW BUILDING, GERMANY
• The main tower consists of four vertical
cylinders standing next to and across from each
other. Each cylinder is divided horizontally in its
center by a mold in the façade. Notably, these
cylinders do not stand on the ground, they are
suspended on a central support tower.
• During the construction, individual floors were
assembled on the ground and then elevated.
The tower has a diameter of 52.30 meters. The
building has 22 occupied floors, two of which
are basements and 18 serve as office space.
80

81. TAIPEI 101, TAIWAN
The Taipei 101 tower has 101 stories above ground and five underground.
Upon its completion Taipei 101 claimed the official records for:
Ground to highest architectural structure : 508 m Previously held by the Petronas Towers 451.9 m
Ground to roof: 449.2 m. Formerly held by the Willis Tower 442 m.
Ground to highest occupied floor: 438 m
81

82. TAIPEI 101, TAIWAN
Taipei 101 is designed to withstand the typhoon winds and earthquake tremors common in
its area of the Asia-Pacific. Planners aimed for a structure that could withstand gale winds of
60 m/s and the strongest earthquakes likely to occur in a 2,500 year cycle.
82

83. COMPARISON OF SKYSCRAPERS
83

84. LONG SPAN STRUCTURES

85. LONG-SPAN STRUCTURES
• Spaces with a large
surface with or without
internal columns and
bridges with long spans
have been constructed
since ancient times.
• Domes, up to the
nineteenth century, had
a maximum span of 50
meters and it is only
relatively recently that
the progress in
technology has allowed
this restriction to be
exceeded to the extent
that in the twentieth
century space coverings
with spans of 300 meters
and suspension bridges
with a span of 2000–
3000 meters were being
constructed.
85

86. LONG-SPAN STRUCTURES
• The last 150 years have not only
brought with them a gradual
increase in span (and height) but
also a considerable number of new
structural schemes and
architectural forms for covering
spaces: shells, vaults, domes,
trusses, space grids and
membranes (Chilton, 2000).
• A great variety of domes have been
developed: Schwedler, geodesic,
and lamella folded plate domes.
• Shells may be not only domes but
also cylindrical and prestressed
tensile membrane structures. Then
up to the present time, a great
variety of new structures were
added to the list of wide-span
structures: steel, aluminium,
timber, membranes, space trusses
(with one, two or three layers) and
tensile structures (Karni, 2000).
86

87. LONG-SPAN STRUCTURES
Following the Pantheon dome in
Rome, in the early second
century AD, it was not until 1700
years later that domes of similar
size were built and it was only in
the twentieth century that the
span of the Pantheon was
surpassed.
87

88. SOLID BEAM
• The weight of a beam is proportional to its depth, which must increase as
span increases. Thus, the ratio of self-weight (dead loads) to live loads
carried becomes less favorable as span is increased.
• The relationship between structural efficiency and intensity of applied
load, which is the other significant factor affecting ‘economy of means’,
can also be fairly easily demonstrated.
88

89. SOLID BEAM VS. TRUSS
As the span of beam increases
it becomes more
uneconomical to use solid
beam (heavy).
An open beam or truss similar
to is used.
Just as for a simple beam
under vertical loading, the
forces in the upper chord
members are compressive and
those in the lower chord
tensile. Shear forces are
resisted by the web members
and the forces in these may be
either tensile or compressive.
89
Truss

90. COMMON PLANE TRUSSES
90
Detail of pin-jointed truss connection.

91. APPLICATIONS OF PLANE TRUSSES
• Light weight trusses still dominate the residential
and small commercial building market.
• Heavy steel trusses are widely used for small to
medium size bridges, large warehouse roofs,
aircraft hangers, factories, train stations, and
sport facilities such as basketball arenas and
gyms.
• Bridges are the most nonarchitectural application
for truss systems. Wheter for rail road, trusses
are used worldwide as soon as normal beam
spans are exceed.
91

92. APPLICATIONS OF TRUSSES
92
Puhket-Thailand

93. APPLICATIONS OF TRUSSES
93
Bayonne Bridge, New York, USA Span 510 m.

94. THE VIERENDEEL TRUSS
94
• The Vierendeel truss is a truss where the members are
not triangulated but form rectangular openings, and is
a frame with fixed joints that are capable of transferring
and resisting bending moments.
• Regular trusses comprise members that are commonly
assumed to have pinned joints, with the implication that no
moments exist at the jointed ends.
• This style of truss was named after
the Belgian engineer Arthur Vierendeel, who developed the
design in 1896. Its use for bridges is rare due to higher
costs compared to a triangulated truss.
• This is preferable to a braced-frame system, which would
leave some areas obstructed by the diagonal braces.

95. VIERENDEEL TRUSS APPLICATION
95
Konsol Uygulaması
Seattle, Washington, USA

96. SPACE TRUSSES
• Generally square inverted pyramid
modules connected at the top and bottom
layers provide the most commonly used
Space Frame structures. Pipes, spherical
node, cone, bolt and sleeve are the
common components.
• There are various types of connection
nodes patented by various companies in
the world.
• Two popular nodes are solid spherical
nodes per Mero system Germany and
hollow spherical node per Unibat.
96

97. GALATASARAY STADIUM,ISTANBUL
97
Steel, span 228 m

98. SABIHA GOKCEN AIRPORT,
ISTANBUL
98
Arch form steel truss system, span 272m

99. BOX GIRDER
99
Bridge box girder

100. DOUBLE TEE FLOOR SLABS
100
Precast Structure,Span 39.00 m

101. RESTAURANT AT XOCHIMILCO
MEXICO CITY
101
• The intersecting hyperparabaloids of
Felix Candela's restaurant at
Xochimilco, Mexico City.
• You can see from the diagram above
how the structure is formed from the
'saddle' shape of the 'hypars.' The
'hypar' structure means the seemingly
complex curves can all be constructed
using straight lines, as the diagram
above also helps to demonstrate.
• Candela's ingenuity here means the
visible 'free edges' of the concrete
shell are as thin as just forty
millimeters.

102. SHELL STRUCTURES
Hypar shells, near San Francisco,
USA.
Hypar roof, Court House Square.
Designed to house a shop, Denver,
USA.
102

103. SHELL STRUCTURES
103
Olimpic Stadium, Rome, Italy
Luigi Nervi

104. SHELL STRUCTURES
104
Australia, Sydney Opera House

105. DOMES
105
A type of a Schwedler dome.

106. PURE ENGINEERED STRUCTURES
106

107. THE SUPER DOME LOUISIANA, USA
107

108. TGC STATION AT THE AIRPORT OF LYON,
FRANCE
108

109. CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO
SPAN
• Small Span Bridges (up to 15m)
• Medium Span Bridges (up to 50m)
• Large Span Bridges (50-150m)
• Extra Large ( Long ) Span Bridges (over
150m)
109

110. COALBROOKDALE BRIDGE, UK
110

111. LUPU BRIDGE, SHANGHAI,CHINA
• The Lupu Bridge of Shanghai is the longest
steel arch bridge in the world. Its 550-
meter-long arch span is 32 meters longer
than that of the New River Gorge Bridge in
the US state of West Virginia.
• With 2.2 billion yuan (US$266 million) of
investment. A six lane bridge Construction
began in October 2000 and it was
completed in June 2002.
• Similar to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the
Lupu Bridge also functions as a sightseeing
attraction.
111

112. FATIH SULTAN MEHMET BRIDGE, ISTANBUL,
TURKIYE
112
Suspension Bridge, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, 1510 m span, 64 m
height, finished 1988.

113. ALAMILLO BRIDGE SEVILLE, SPAIN
113
Alamillo Bridge, 1987-92 Seville, Spain Calatrava

115. A CANTILEVER BRIDGE
• A cantilever bridge is a bridge built using cantilevers, structures that project horizontally into
space, supported on only one end. For small footbridges, the cantilevers may be
simple beams; however, large cantilever bridges designed to handle road or rail traffic
use trusses built from structural steel, or box girders built from prestressed concrete. The
steel truss cantilever bridge was a major engineering breakthrough when first put into
practice, as it can span distances of 460 m, and can be more easily constructed at difficult
crossings by virtue of using little or no falsework.
115

116. THE PIERRE PFLIMLIN BRIDGE,
FRANCE-GERMANY
The Pierre Pflimlin bridge being constructed over the river Rhine between Germany and
France. Photo of the eastern pylon, taken from the French side of the river (southwest,
Eschau), with the cantilever construction almost 2/3rds of the maximum length. Visible
behind the bridge is the approach viaduct and a cement works on the German side
(Altenheim).
116

117. 117

118. APPENDIX

119. HOW FAR CAN I SPAN ?
119

120. HOW FAR CAN I SPAN ?
120

121. STEEL BEAM AND COLUMN SECTIONS
121

122. CONNECTION DETAILS
122

123. STRUCTURAL ARRAGEMENTS FOR
MULTI-STOREY FRAME STRUCTURES
123

124. COMPOSITE FLOOR DETAILS
124

125. 125
FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS
• Units
– Length – need to know position
and geometry of objects
– Time – need to determine
succession of events
– Mass – related to amount of
stuff in a body, found using
gravitational attraction
– Weight – force due to gravity
acting on a mass, W=mg, where
g=9.8m/s2
• Basic Quantities
– Force – push or pull on a body,
can be direct (contact) or
indirect (no contact)
– Moment – turning effect caused
by a force applied at some
distance away from the axis of
rotation
• Engineering Concepts
– Idealizations – all real problems are
simplified to some degree
– Particle – mass acting is if it were
concentrated at a singe point
– Rigid Body – particle collection in a
shape that doesn’t change with applied
force
– Concentrated Force – force acting as if it
were at a single point
• Newton’s Laws
– Newton’s First Law – bodies in motion
(or at rest) stay in motion (or at rest)
unless acted on by an unbalance force
– Newton’s Second Law – F=ma
– Newton’s Third Law – every action has
an equal and opposite reaction

126. REFERENCES
West, H., (1993) Fundamentals of Structural Analysis, John Wiley &Sons, Inc..
Sebestyen, G., (2003 ) New Architecture and Technology, Architectural Press.
Engel, H., (1968) Structure Systems, Iliffe Books, London.
Eugenkurrer, K., (2010) The History of the Theory of Structures From Arch Analysis to Computational Mechanics, 2008 Ernst & Sohn
Verlag fur Architektur und technische Wissenschaften GmbH & .Co. KG, Berlin.
Ahuja, A., (1997) Integrated M/E Design: Building Systems Engineering, Chapman & Hall.
Chilton, J., (2000) Space Grid Structures, Architectural Press, Butterworth.
Karni, E., (2000) Structural-Geometrical Performance of Wide-Span Space Structures, Architectural Science Review, 43.2, June.
Beedle, L., (Ed.-in-Chief) and Armstrong, Paul J. (Ed.) (1995) Architecture of Tall Buildings, McGraw-Hill, Inc.
Wahl, I., (2007) Building Anatomy, McGraw-Hill,Construction.
Ali and Moon, K.S., (2007) Structural Developments in Tall Buildings: Current Trends and Future Prospects, Architectural Science
Review Volume 50.3, pp 205-223.
• Buyukozturk, O., (2004) High-Rise Buildings: Evolution and Innovations, Keynote Lecture, CIB2004 World Building Congress, Toronto,
Ontario Canada.
http://www.structuremag.org
http://en.structurae.de
http://www.celebratingeqsafety.com/
http://www.thefunctionality.com
http://www.2doworld.com
http://nisee.berkeley.edu/godden/
Various websites from which images have been extracted.
126

127. TÄNAN VÄGA
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR
ATTENTION
127
ISTANBUL KÜLTÜR UNIVERSITY, ENGINEERING FACULTY
CIVIL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
e.coskun@iku.edu.tr