Introduction to materials science for structural designers
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Abstract
Materials are one of the instruments structural engineers use to design and create structures. Besides the obvious aesthetic aspect of material selection, there is a functional aspect related to the use of materials to full structural needs in the design of structural elements. The structural element needs to meet requirements for displacement, strength and safety. This translates into minimum properties for the material in terms of
- Young’s modulus
- tensile, compressive and shear stress
- fracture toughness (as a standard measure of structural material safety).
Although this can be reduced to mere numbers, as illustrated in Figure 5.1 for the major structural materials, an understanding of these numbers will help to make correct design choices. In addition, the twenty-first century structural designer has a responsibility to make choices that minimise eco-impact and as such this aspect also requires some understanding of eco properties.