Procedure of Structural Design

by Educademy CE on January 22, 2017

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The primary objective of structural analysis and design is to produce a structure capable of
resisting all applied loads without failure during its intended life. If improperly designed,
elements of a structure would fail causing serious consequences such as large expenses or
ultimately losses in lives which cannot be compared with any cost.
Once the architectural engineer sets the function and layout of the structure, the role of
the structural engineer begins which can be summarized in the following steps to develop
a safe, functional and economic structures.

Example of architectural plan

STEP 1: CONCEPTUAL DESIGN

In this stage, initial design of the building elements (e.g. slabs, beams, columns etc.) is
performed based on code recommendations.
It starts with selecting the appropriate columns locations and orientation in such a way that
they do not interfere with the architectural drawings. For example, you do not want a
column to be in the middle of a room or something like that. Also, one should consider that

at least 30% of the total number of columns to be in either x- or y- directions to give

adequate earthquake resistance of the building.
After that, the type of structural system is selected. For instance, the slab might be chosen to
be solid slab, hollow block or flat slab etc. Accordingly, the location of beams are
determined.
STEP 2: DETERMINING THE INTERNAL FORCES OF EACH ELEMENT
After finishing the initial design, the exact dimensions of each building element shall be
determined. First, an analysis model is created for the building with its initial dimensions as
determined from STEP 1 on an analysis software such as SAP 2000.
All the loads that act on the structure have to defined in the model such as dead loads, live
loads, wind and earthquake loads etc.
From the model, the internal forces [Normal Force, Shear Force, Bending
Moments] on each elements is calculated.

Example of a model

Example of a model

Example of internal stresses in a slab

STEP 3: ITERATIVE DESIGN
Now you have the straining actions on the elements based on the initial sizing and simply,
you can use them to design according to the relevant code. The design process became so
easy by using some spreadsheets or any other software that facilitates the design.
Next, the analysis model should be modified to the new dimensions obtained from the
previous design and the analysis is re-run. Internal forces are obtained and design is made
again based on the new forces.

This iterative process is repeated until the element design be the same in two following
iterations.

Example of a design spreadsheet

STEP 4: FOUNDATION DESIGN
After the final dimensions of members are found, the foundation system type can be
selected taking in consideration, the bearing capacity of the soil and the loading coming
from the structure.
STEP 5: DRAFTING
In this step, the structural plans are created. These plans should be fully detailed such that
the construction process in the site can proceed smoothly and not delayed due to missing
data in the drawings.

Example of structural drawings

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Tagged conceptual design, Procedure of Structural Design, Process of Structural Design,role of

structural designer