A Concise Explanation and Importance of Structural Engineering

Introduction

Structural engineering, by definition, deals with design and construction of buildings. Every building has to be meticulously designed and planned for maximum safety, cost effectiveness and practicality while retaining sufficient strength to last for a long time and the ability to handle modifications to the structure without fail.

It has been an important branch of engineering for centuries, with newer and advanced construction and design principles giving way to old and legacy methods. Today, machines help in more than half of the tasks, but manpower today is still as important as it was a century ago.

Primary Components of Structural Engineering

While structural engineering involves a large amount of tasks and analysis, they can be broadly classified into two major parts: design and analysis.

 Design: It involves putting necessary parts of a building in place. Everything that is to be constructed, such as foundation, walls, beams, columns, roof structure, reinforcements, materials to be used, approximate ration of cement and concrete mixtures, retaining walls etc. is designed individually, in accordance with the safety protocols in place. An unsuitably designed building can collapse without warning, and is dangerous.

 Analysis: It involves taking various factors into account when designing the building structure, such as wind velocity, maximum load bearing capacity etc. along with proper adherence to safety, design and building codes as specified by the local city or area council. Improper analysis may lead to an unsafe building which might not be able to withstand loads or winds.

Importance of Structural Engineering

Designing a building is a tedious task, and requires extensive research and planning. Everything from the quality of soil to wind factor to strength of beams and columns needs to be properly researched. Any inadequate research or design can lead to building failures, weakness or easy collapse under strong winds. One major example is a bridge, which needs to take strong winds into consideration when designing. If not taken, then the bridge may give away under strong winds.

Structural engineers are responsible for building safety above everything else, to avoid any fatal collapses which can harm the occupants. Every city council has their own sets of rules for buildings under their jurisdiction area, and designers and builders are to follow those codes when designing and constructing the building or structure.

Not only safety, but designers also have to look for ways to prevent waste of money in unnecessary areas, without compromising on the quality of materials or building.