48342 Structural Behaviour and Design

All engineers who wish to practise as civil engineers in Australia must have knowledge of structural behaviour and design, including design to the relevant Australian Standards. However, practitioners in some of the fields in the broad range of civil engineering do not undertake detailed structural design or are involved in the construction of structures. These civil engineers do not require the depth involved in the detail of structural design (assessment of loads, structural analysis, structural behaviour of different structural materials and the design requirements for different structural materials, in accordance with the relevant Australian Standards). This subject introduces students in certain streams of the civil engineering offerings – civil and environmental, civil/water – to the fundamentals of structural behaviour and design of reinforced concrete, structural steel and timber elements. This builds on the knowledge and competence already achieved on the structural analysis of statically determinate structures, internal actions induced by applied loads (axial force, shear force and bending moment) and the response of elements to these internal actions, such as strain and stress distributions across cross-sections. The detail and depth of this subject does not allow the students to attain a sufficient competence to undertake the structural analysis and basic design of anything more complex than simple structural components. The students should achieve sufficient understanding of structural behaviour and design to be able to recognise the basic structural implications that are reflected in the design and construction of structures that they may encounter in their careers as civil engineers in their particular field away from structural engineering. The topics to be covered include Limit State Design philosophy, loads (G, Q, W) and load tributary areas, material design properties of reinforced concrete, structural steel and timber, method of moment distribution for structural analysis for continuous beams, behaviour and design of flexural members for strength (moment and shear) and serviceability (deflection) in reinforced concrete, steel and timber, of tensile members in steel and timber and of columns and beam-columns in reinforced concrete, steel and timber.