Structural Design of Buildings

Paul Smith, BEng (Hons) Civil Engineering, MSc Engineering Management, CEng Chartered Engineer, has worked for over 20 years in public and private sectors, mainly on infrastructure projects. He now runs his own company, Geomex - Structural Engineers & Architectural Design Consultants which specialises in architectural design, surveying, project management and structural design.

Acknowledgements xiii About the Author xv Introduction xvii Chapter 1 The History of Buildings 1 The development of building knowledge 1 Styles of architecture and building construction 2 Chapter 2 Loadings and Aspects of Structural Theory Relating to Buildings 19 Weight and mass 19 Permanent actions or dead loads 19 Variable actions or imposed loads 20 Wind load 20 Accidental actions 26 Seismic action 26 BS EN 1991: Actions on structures EC1 26 Combinations of load and factors of safety 26 Stress 27 Strain 27 Young's modulus or modulus of elasticity 27 Plastic deformation 27 Buckling 29 Local buckling 29 Second moment of area 29 Centre of gravity 30 Lateral torsional buckling 30 Neutral axis 30 Bending force 30 Shear force and bending moment 31 Deflection 31 Static equilibrium 31 Internal forces 32 Derivation of shear force 35 Derivation of bending moment 35 Derivation of deflection 36 Basic theory of bending 37 Moment of resistance 39 Combined bending and direct stress 40 External and internal statically determinate structures 40 Connections and restraints 41 Stiffness 44 Buildings and load paths 45 Chapter 3 The Construction of Buildings 49 Breathable and non-breathable construction 49 Timber frame 51 Stone 64 Modern timber frame construction 81 Solid brick construction 81 Cavity construction 82 Steel construction 84 Commercial steel portal frames 87 Precast concrete construction 88 Chapter 4 Steel 93 Steel properties 93 Lateral torsional buckling 93 The effect of end restraints on a beam 93 Bending failure 101 Local buckling 101 Shear failure 102 Web bearing and buckling 102 Deflection 102 Fire and corrosion 102 Chapter 5 Concrete 105 The history of cement and concrete 105 Cement 105 Water and workability - now known as consistence 106 Failure of concrete 107 Strength of concrete 109 Concrete mix designs 109 Creep 111 Environment 111 Air-entrained concrete 111 Accelerators and retarders 112 Plasticizers 112 Fly ash, silica flume and ground granulated blast furnace slag 112 Anti-corrosion 112 Chapter 6 Timber 113 Grading of timber 113 Moisture 113 Air-dried timber 119 Kiln-dried timber 119 Dimensions of timber 120 Shear 120 Bending 120 Deflection 121 Chapter 7 Foundations 123 Purpose of foundations 123 The history of foundations 123 Building Regulation requirements 124 Stepped foundation 125 Types of foundation 126 Piles 132 Bearing pressure 134 Bearing capacity 134 Eccentric loading on foundations 137 Climatic and moisture changes 138 Physical damage by trees 139 Underpinning 139 Chapter 8 Walls 141 The strength of walls 141 Masonry unit 141 Frost resistance and soluble salts 142 Concrete blocks 143 Mortar 143 Lime putty (non-hydraulic lime) 144 Hydraulic lime 144 Important rules in the use of lime mortars 144 Cement 145 Characteristic strength of masonry 145 Slenderness ratio 146 Flexural stiffness and the second moment of area 147 Euler load 148 Leaning walls and stability 153 Movement joints 153 Changes due to temperature changes 154 Changes due to moisture changes 154 Traditional design of walls 155 Middle-third rule 156 Timber frame walls and raking 157 Chapter 9 Floors 161 The history of floors 161 Modern solid floors 162 Suspended floors and engineered floor joists 163 Holes and notches in floor joists 163 Limecrete 168 The use of plaster and lime ash floors 168 Beam and block suspended floors and hollow core floors 171 Damp 171 Salts 172 Sulphate attack 172 Ceilings 173 Chapter 10 Roofs 175 Trussed and cu