How Structures Work

David Yeomans is an engineer, an historian and a teacher. He has taught in several schools of architecture in the United Kingdom and the United States, has been a consultant on World Heritage Sites and has written widely on the history of building structures. He is vice chairman of the Construction History Society.

• Preface from the First Edition xPreface to the Third Edition xvi1 Brackets and Bridges 1Cooper’s tragedy 2The Forth Bridge 4Members in compression 6The Quebec Bridge 8Forces in a bracket 9The design process 13Stresses 142 Stiffening a Beam – Girder Bridges 16The simple truss 22Tension trusses 27Girder bridges: The Forth Bridge 313 Arches and Suspension Bridges 33Building an arch 35Blackfriars Bridge 37Pontypridd Bridge 39The forces in an arch 39Practical issues 41Forces within the arch ring 43Edwards’s failure 48An unexpected failure 49Arch with point load 50Iron and concrete arches 51The suspension bridge 54Arches in buildings: Flying buttresses 57Arches in walls 604 Bringing the Loads to the Ground – The Structural Scheme 63Introduction 63The alternatives 64Nature of the loads 66Choices 68‘Flow of forces’ or action and reaction 71Describing the structure 73Structures are three‐dimensional 75Statically indeterminate structures 765 Safe as Houses? – Walls 79Bricks and mortar 81Point loads and openings 85Cavity walls 88Thick walls 90Foundation loads 93Horizontal loads 94Rafter thrusts 98Foundation stresses 1016 Frames – A Problem of Stability 103Timber framing 104Construction of a barn 108Bracing forces 111Bending in the post 112Light frame construction 113The coming of iron 115The frame today 122The multistorey frame 126Columns 1307 Floors and Beams – Deflections and Bending Moments 134The need for science 140Floors and deflections 140The forces in the beam 142Strain 143Galileo’s cantilever 145Finding the stresses 147From cantilever to beam 148Iron and steel beams 150Cast iron 150Reinforced concrete beams 153Continuous beams 155Shear 159Two‐way floors 160Other structures in bending 163Prestressing 1688 Providing Shelter – Roofs 173Common rafter roofs 174Purlin roofs 179Longitudinal stability 185The roof truss 188The coming of iron 190Three‐dimensional roofs 1929 Structures in a Three‐Dimensional World 198Vaults 198The pointed vault 202Elaborations on the basic vault form 203Building vaults 206Domes 207Some historical examples 212The modern three‐dimensional structure 216Anticlastic forms 220Structures in tension 222Structures for their time and place 22410 Materials and Workmanship 226Walling materials 227Timber 228Iron and steel 229Compatibility of materials 233Material development and design 23411 Additional Thoughts 235Friction 235Tension structures 238The ‘cantilever’ stair 243Modelling 247Appendix: Some Elements of Grammar 251Glossary 257Index 267