Course of
Structure I
BSc.
in Architectural Sciences
Ist
Faculty of Architecture - Politecnico di Torino
Course type: BSc
course - Introductory Course
Point (ECTS ) 4
Scope and form: Lectures.
Duration of
Course: 40 hrs (lectures)
Type of
assessment: Written and oral examination.
Optional
Prerequisites: none
General course
objectives:
The basis of
mechanics must be the same for a civil engineer as for an architect, but the
teaching pedagogy and its timing can not be necessarily the same, because of
the different final levels of probing, the different educational project, the
different role played during the design process. Keeping in mind this
statement, the proposed pedagogy propound the alternation of theoretical
teaching and application to the architectural design since the very beginning
of the studies in architecture. Such approach allows to reach two main goals:
to progressively improve the students’ analysis tools of the mechanical
behavior of the structures, and to quickly apply them to the multidisciplinary
design practice.
The first objective is firstly
pursued during the Course at the 1st year of the BSc. In Architectural Sciences. It is
intended to define
since the first year a real comprehension of the physical phenomena and a
satisfying control of the elementary modelling tools (elements in statics) so
to permit the conscious, critical and creative application of construction
norms and design schemes. In order to achieve this objective a particular
emphasis is put on the relationship between the mechanical model and the goals
of the analysis, having recourse to both physical and analytical models, to
fully extended course notes rich in visual material and examples, to a closed
control of the level of learning by means of periodic short tests.
The main objectives of the Course
are:
-
the knowledge of the structural typology on the basis of the structural
material and construction systems;
-
the individuation, for some structural typologies, of a mechanical model
and of the corresponding free-body diagram;
-
the analysis of the free-body diagram, with the determination of the
reacting forces and of the diagrams of the internal forces by applying the
equilibrium conditions, limited to the statically determinate plane structures.
Content:
-
Introduction to buildings morphology:
a.
masonry and wood structures.
b.
steel structures;
c.
reinforced concrete structures;
-
Forces, two-dimensional force systems, moments, couples, distributed
forces. The equilibrium conditions in plane and space. Constraints and
corresponding reaction forces.
-
Beam. Systems of beams (frames, Gerber beam). Internal forces diagrams.
Qualitative drawing of the deformed shape on the basis of the bending moment
diagram.
-
Trusses: definition, method of joints, method of sections (Ritter’s
method).
-
Basic concepts and mechanical general requests for materials and
buildings: strength, ductility, stiffness, stability, durability.
-
Introduction to steel structures: material, constructive elements,
joints.
-
Introduction to reinforced concrete structures: material, function and
placing of the reinforcement bars.
-
Structural typologies for long-span structures:
a.
introduction to long span structures: the limit of the beams; the
historical evolution of long-span typologies.
b.
arches: mechanical advantages with respect to the beam, pressure line,
closing string, shaping a three-hinged arch. Examples
c.
suspended structures: static analysis of the flexible cable; restraining
methods for funicular structures, boundary structures. Examples.
d.
trussed structures: plane trusses, spatial trusses, trussed arches.
Examples.
e.
Cable-stayed structures: stays arrangements, towers shapes,
simplified analysis method for the preliminary design (force polygon),
cable-stayed bridges with no backstay. Examples.
Expected
Competences
At the end of the Course, the
student will be able to recognize the structural forms more frequently employed
in Architecture and to give a satisfactory interpretation of their mechanical
behaviour by means of statically determinate mechanical systems.
