Modern Structural Analysis: Modelling Process and Guidance - Hardcover

MacLeod, Iain A.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 072773279X ISBN 13: 9780727732798

Publisher: ICE Publishing, 2005

Synopsis

This book is essential reading for 21st century practitioners and students who need to do structural analysis. It contains a great deal of information that is not available in any other book on the subject. This is because the conventional view of structural analysis is rooted in the early part of the 20th century in the pre-computer era rather than present time.

About this title

Product Description

Reveals how the emphasis for the structural engineer has changed from analysis to model synthesis, from contexts where the outcomes are unique to contexts where uncertainty plays a role. This book addresses the needs of structural design engineers and focuses on processes for using software than on the solution process used by the software.

Synopsis

"Its carefully constructed content successfully redresses the imbalance in risk between the finite element process based around generally determinate calculation output which has itself been derived from a possibly non-determinate understanding of the actual modelling process. In the Introduction, the author suggests that all structural engineers and all civil engineers who use structural analysis will find the contents of the book to be useful. I think that he is right". - Michael Dickson FIStructE Director, Design and Technology Board, Buro Happold President, Institution of Structural Engineers 2005-06. This book is essential reading for 21st century practitioners and students who need to do structural analysis.It contains a great deal of information that is not available in any other book on the subject. This is because the conventional view of structural analysis is rooted in the early part of the 20th century in the pre-computer era rather than present time. A main feature of this text is the information on modelling process, which is omitted in traditional books.

Another important feature is the inclusion of what the author calls validation information, which is used to assess whether a model is capable of satisfying the objectives of the analysis. The author reveals how the emphasis for the structural engineer has changed radically from analysis to model synthesis, from contexts where the outcomes are unique to contexts where uncertainty plays a dominant role. The paradigm shift has not been identified in education and hence it is not well understood in practice.This book: deals with structural analysis in a way that addresses the needs of structural design engineers; focuses more on processes for using software than on the solution process used by the software; shows how an understanding of behaviour can be significantly improved by a reflective approach to the analysis modelling process; and details issues for basic and intermediate level analysis modelling - with emphasis on the modelling of skeletal frames. The risk of a disaster causing serious harm due to inadequate modelling cannot be eliminated; it can only be minimised. But for it to be minimised, the modelling process discussed within this book needs to be formally adopted.While there is a significant danger that software can be used in the absence of competence, the reality of computer use for modelling is that it has made the work more intellectually challenging.

Iain MacLeod states that to operate successfully in environments of significant uncertainty requires intellectual power of the highest order. This is the realm of modern structural analysis, the realm of the professional engineer.Iain MacLeod has worked as a design engineer and consultant in the UK and Canada and in design research with the Portland Cement Association in Illinois, USA. He was Professor of Structural Engineering at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow for 23 years and Professor and Head of Department at Paisley University. He is a former Lecturer at the University of Glasgow and now has an appointment as Emeritus Professor at the University of Strathclyde. His research work has spanned a range of topics in the design of buildings, including the analysis of tall buildings, the use of IT in design and studies in design process.

Edition details

• Publisher: ICE Publishing
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 072773279X
• ISBN 13: 9780727732798
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 208