Structural design is indispensable for creating a sustainable and efficient building. This blog provides a detailed guide covering multiple aspects of structural design.

What is Structural Design?

 Architects design the aesthetically appealing features of a project, structural engineers place their focus on strength, durability and safety.

structural design is necessary to create a safe and economical structure, ensuring that the structure is strong enough to carry the intended load.

Structural engineers do a structural analysis to determine external and internal forces that could affect the structure. Based on their analysis, engineers design a structure with proper building materials and reinforcement and many other elements to fulfil the requirements.

Don’t get confused about structural design and structural analysis both are different process

Structural Analysis: It is the process by which we get to know how a structure performs under the application of different loads and forces like stress, strain, axial force, and shear force. This process is carried out before the structural design.

 Structural Design: It is the process by which we create a safe and economical structure, it includes deciding the size of various structural members, material specifications, and the amount of reinforcement to bear the loads and forces that we have got from the structural analysis.

Who makes Structural Design?

A structural designer is responsible for the structural design of a building. Architects create the aesthetic design using software and ensure it is functional and visually appealing. In contrast, structural engineers ensure the design is safe and strong enough to withstand the capable load.

A-thorough Structural Engineer

• Structural engineers should have an excellent understanding of design principles.
• They should have a profound knowledge of construction materials.
• They should be aware of designing to counter the effects of natural disasters like floods, earthquakes, cyclones, etc.
• They need to have a good knowledge of the building codes and regulations.

Objectives of Structural Design

Structural Design of any building must satisfy some basic requirements.

• Stability to prevent sliding, overturning, or buckling of the structure, or parts of it, under the action of environmental and live loads.
• Strength to safely resist the stresses induced by loads in the various structural members. The building shouldn’t crumble under its weight.
• Serviceability to ensure satisfactory performance under service load conditions. This implies providing adequate stiffness and reinforcements to contain deflections, crack widths, and vibrations within acceptable limits.
• Aesthetics depending on the project, looks, and a visible internal structure, may also be a priority.
• Economy means that being able to satisfy requirements 1 to 3 within the budget is critical. Knowledge of various materials, their price range, and their applications is essential here.

Structural Design Process

The main objective of the structural design is to create a structure that can withstand all the applied loads and forces without any failure during the life cycle of that structure.

There are mainly 6 steps to follow for structural Design of any structure.

Conceptual Design

Conceptual design is an early phase in which designers generate high-level ideas, outline challenges, analyze feasibility, and visualize the project objective.

In the conceptual design phase, architects provide information about the building to the structural designer. 

Conceptual design is a series of ideas, and their implementation.  Architects hold multiple meetings with clients, engineers, planners, and other parties to develop the concept.

Load Analysis

Load analysis is the process in which all possible loads that a building may experience throughout its life are analyzed. Mainly there are three types of Loads on any building Live Load, Dead Load, and Environmental Load. The loads can vary depending on location, environmental conditions, soil, steel structures, etc.

Live Load: Live loads are movable loads; they can be changed anytime. It originates from the residents themselves like furniture, vehicles, machinery, and some other accessories.

Dead Load: It is the static load of a structure or building. it includes structural elements such as walls, beams, slabs, and columns, some permanent features such as MEP and HVAC systems and even roofs and plaster also come under the dead load.

Environmental Loads: Natural resources mainly cause these loads such as wind, floods, thunderstorms, Variable temperature, rusting, and many other things.

Structural Analysis

Structural Analysis is the process of investigating and assessing the performance, strength, and stability of a structure when subjected to different loads, forces, and environmental conditions.

After all these studies engineers get to know whether structures can bear various forces including human occupancy.

Structural Elements

So far if you understand what structural analysis is then it will be very easy to understand what structural elements are.

Structural elements are those parts of a building or structure that withstand and transfer the possible loads equally.

Walls, slabs, columns, beams, trusses, arches, and catenaries are some commonly used structural elements.

Sustainability

When constructing a building, sustainability is one of the most important aspects to consider. To create a sustainable building model, it is essential to minimize environmental pollution, reduce on-site waste, and use recyclable and renewable structural materials.

Construction Administration

Construction Administration is a critical process that takes place after the design has been finalized. Also known as construction observation, it ensures that the project is completed according to the design documents and contractual agreements. This process is essential for the successful completion of a construction project.

Innovation in Structural Design

Innovation in structural design is very important for improving building standards and enhancing efficiency. With time, technologies are evolving in every field.  If we talk about construction materials fibre-reinforced polymers, and high-strength concrete improve the structural performance. Building Information Modeling (BIM) is another revolutionary technology that facilitates better project management, design, and team collaboration.

Innovation and advancement in the construction industry enable architects, structural engineers, civil engineers, and all the construction professionals to create safe, and sustainable structures. By selecting the right building materials, optimizing proper structural analysis, and confirming all the safety standards we can create a structure that meets the occupant’s needs.