FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND PLANNING

BASIC STRUCTURES
CONSTRUCTION DESIGN SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES

INTRODUCTION
This section will introduce some of the basic structural principals that may be encountered in
domestic construction.

REFERENCES
Charleson A, 2005, Structure as architecture : a source book for architects and structural engineers
(721 Char)
Ching F, 2009, Building Structures Illustrated (624.1771 Chin)
Hanaor A, Principles of Structure, 1998 (624.1771 Hana)
MacDonald A, 1997, Structural Design for Architecture (624.1771 Macd)
Meijs M and Knaack M, 2008, Components and connections : principles of construction

TERMS
Most of the following terms will be known to you from previous subjects and are defined here in
simpler terms for review:
• Load: A force applied to a structure by the environment or by an object, including the structure
itself.
• Dead Load: Load resulting from the self-weight of the permanent structure.
• Live Load: Load arising from the function of the structure and of components whose location
is not fixed. These include people, furniture, goods, vehicles etc.
• Wind Load; Load imposed by moving air hitting the structure.

• Force: Influence on a body, causing or attempting to cause the movement of that body. It is
defined as Load x Gravity and expressed in kilonewtons.
• Tension: causes elongation of the member and results from a pulling or stretching force.
Timber and steel act well in tension, masonry and concrete do not.
• Compression: causes shortening of the member and results from a pushing or crushing force.
Masonry and concrete behave well in compression.
• Shear: is a force acting perpendicular to the member’s axis. It tends to tear across the beam
at the support point and can punch through plate structures.
• Bending: is a rotational force that causes the member to deform. This deformation causes
elongation on one side of the member and shortening on the opposing side

• Stress: is a measure of force over area.

• Deflection is a measure of sag in a beam from the horizontal.

LOAD, EQUILIBRIUM & STABILITY

Buildings are subjected to:
• Gravitational loads – caused by the weight
of the building itself and of its contents,
acting downwards
• Wind loads – acting horizontally as well as
vertically
• Seismic loads – acting vertically as well as
horizontally

A structure, therefore, must be able to resolve

these forces and transfer the load to its
foundations.

Force system in a buildings structure. The gravitational load on the roof is conducted, via the roof truss &
the walls, to the foundations where it is balanced by reactions from the foundations.

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The structure must, therefore, fulfil four basic requirements:
• Equilibrium: The structural solution to the applied forces is to achieve a stable state of static
equilibrium to all of these loads. Equilibrium is achieved when the reactions at the foundations
exactly balance and counteract the load. If these forces are not in equilibrium, then the structure
would want to change its position in response to the load.
Equilibrium requires the proper configuration of structural elements.

• Stability is the ability of the structural arrangement, which is in equilibrium, to accommodate small
changes without suffering a significant change in shape.
Stability is ensured by adequate bracing

• Strength: in which structural elements of adequate strength are provided to cater for the internal
forces generated in load transference when the peak load is applied to the structure.
Strength is ensured by structural elements of sufficient size.

• Rigidity: is concerned with keeping the natural propensity of a material to deform in response to
load within acceptable limits.
Rigidity and strength are dependent on the properties of the structural material and size of the
cross sections.

The frame on the left is capable of achieving equilibrium under the loading but is unstable. The
diagonal brace on the right diagram allows it to achieve stable equilibrium

POST & BEAM STRUCTURES

The basic structural form in domestic construction is the post and beam structure. In simple terms
these structural forms may be identified as horizontal spanning members (beams) supported on
vertical posts (columns) or planes (walls). This basic system repeats itself throughout the main
structure of the domestic house form. For example, a concrete strip footing acts as a continuously
supported beam, concrete stumps act as columns with bearers spanning across acting as simply
supported or continuously supported beams.

Post and beam structures fall into two sub-sets:

• Skeleton frames, which consist of a grid of columns that in turn support beams. To this
skeleton are attached the floor, wall and roof cladding. This minimises the structural volume of
the building and offer relative freedom in internal planning as wall and cladding elements are
not required to be load bearing. Steel or concrete are the common materials for minimum
sizing, although larger section timber pole structures may also be configured.
• Panel structures, are the more familiar domestic system. Here the wall planes provide vertical
support to horizontal or angled floor and roof planes. In timber framed construction, the wall is
a composite of closely spaced vertical elements (wall studs), that support roof planes of closely
spaced elements (rafters). Panel structures do not offer the same amount of planning freedom
due to the need for load bearing walls. However, structural materials of low or moderate
strength, such as masonry or timber, may be used because the structural volume is large and
therefore the elements are subjected to lower levels of internal force.

BEAMS
A beam in its structural sense is defined as a bar acting in bending and shear. There are three
basic support systems:

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• Simply supported: a member supported by two support points usually at each end of the
member. A window lintel is an example of a simply supported beam.
• Continuously supported: a member supported at three or more support points, usually at
equidistant centres. Such support systems generally deflect less than simply support systems
over the same span as the supports act together to offer more restraint from deflection. A floor
joist acts as a continuously supported beam.

• Cantilever: a member supported at one

end by a fixed support, the other end
being free of support. A projecting first
floor deck is an example of a cantilever.
The distance of a cantilever is limited
by:
• the load on the cantilever and the
backspan
• the beam depth
• the backspan distance

Beams primarily fail in bending, generally when the tensile stress at the base of the beam exceed
the capacity of the member. Deflections of beams are generally designed within certain tolerances,
however, often timber beams will still perform their structural function even though the amount of
deflection may be unacceptable. A common example of such deflections are found in sub-floor
framing using engineered beams, where pedestrian traffic may cause the beam to deflect but not
fail.

COLUMNS
Columns are vertical structural support members that primarily act in compression, although they are
susceptible to bending forces that cause failure. To compensate for this factor columns are designed
with consideration to their cross section as a proportion of their length. The most common cross
sectional shapes are square or rectangular, although circular cross sections are the most structurally
efficient.

There are two basic structural jointing systems. A rigid joint prevents the rotation of the connecting
members and therefore are structurally stronger than members that are connected as pinned joints
which still permit relative rotation of the members at the ends.

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Timber columns are considered to have pinned
joints at their ends as it is not possible to
restrain movement due to the relatively weak
and pliable nature of timber and its grain
structure. A rigid joint may be obtained by
anchoring the column in a steel sleeve or by
extending the column through the end
restraining point.

TIMBER STRUCTURES
Timber is a lightweight material that is often favoured as a structural material because it is easy to
work and reduces the dead load of the building. The panel configuration of timber framed houses is
such that these frames are made up of individual closely spaced parallel elements that act collectively.
This means that each individual element carries relatively little load. The spacing of the structural
elements is determined by the span capability of the material and by the need to ensure that each
timber element carries a relatively low load level. This is why, when large spans are required the
system becomes uneconomical.

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However, traditional domestic construction has evolved a structural system that partially resolves this
dilemma in small scale by developing a hierarchical arrangement of elements. A traditional domestic
roof frame demonstrates this well. A rafter in a conventionally framed roof will often not be able to
carry the roof load unless the timber size is substantial. Further, the angled member places an
additional horizontal force on the walls having a tendency to push them out. These problems are
overcome in two ways, firstly a support member (purlin) is provided mid-span of the rafter, which is
propped off an internal wall. This has the effect of halving the span of the rafter as load is distributed
via the purlin and prop onto additional internal wall supports. This reduces the load on the external
walls. Secondly, the rafters are tied together through the use of additional timbers (collar ties) that
prevent the rafters from spreading. This is a basic form of triangulation, which seeks to minimise
lateral forces on the external walls. Ceiling joists located at the point of connection of the rafter and
wall, act to tie the opposing walls together and almost eliminate any lateral thrust.

The sophisticated development of this system is the fully triangulated truss roof, where the constituent
elements carry internal axial forces rather than bending. These systems exert no horizontal loads on
supporting walls.

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