Structural Member Essay

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Structural Members A structural member is a structural element that is interconnected in such a way so as to constitute a structure. Structural members are the primary structure of a building. To make a stable building, it has to be depend on the designer’s drawing, also the materials that used to build the building. Below are the three main structure that common appears in the building, which are beam, retaining wall and column. 1.0 BEAM A beam is a structural element that is capable of withstanding load primarily by resisting bending. The bending force induced into the material of the beam as a result of the external loads, own weight, span and external reactions to these loads is called a bending moment. Beams are characterized by their profile (shape of cross-section), their length, and their material. Beams are traditionally descriptions of building or civil engineering structural elements, but smaller structures such as truck or automobile frames, machine frames, and other mechanical or structural systems contain beam structures that are designed and analyse in a similar fashion. 2.0 RETAINING WALL A retaining wall is a structure designed and constructed to resist the lateral pressure of soil when there is a desired change in ground elevation that exceeds the angle of repose of the soil. A basement wall is thus one kind of retaining wall. But the term usually refers to a cantilever retaining wall, which is a freestanding structure without lateral support at its top. These are cantilevered from a footing and rise above the grade on one side to retain a higher level grade on the opposite side. The walls must resist the lateral pressures generated by loose soils or, in some cases, water pressures. Every retaining wall supports a “wedge” of soil. The wedge is defined as the soil which extends beyond the failure plane of the soil type

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