FORCES AND FORMS
IN LARGE STRUCTURES
Alfonso M. Albano, Bryn Mawr College
William Case, Grinnell College
Newton H.Copp, The Claremont Colleges
The three teaching units comprising this monograph focus on bridge
engineering. They introduce students Lo the simplified formulas
essential to understanding the dramatic forms possible with the new
material of prestressed concrete. The formulas require nothing beyond
high school mathematics and allow students to make the connection
between physical behavior of Structures and their visual forms.
The authors have designed these units for use in courses aimed at
Liberal Arts students; but engineering students would benefit from them
as well especially as introductory units in courses which proceed to
develop sophisticated modern methods of analysis for complex structures.
Each author has used the Structural Studies developed at Princeton by
Robert Mark and David Billington. These units, extending and enriching
those studies, are nevertheless independent and designed to be used on
their own.
PART I |
Equilibrium in Structures
Alfonso M. Albano
Bryn Mawr College
|
Alfonso Albano's unit, used in an introductory physics laboratory at
Bryn Mawr College, is the most basic and serves as a clear initial guide
to the physical principles which are the primary elements of structural
engineering. Bending moments of the Eiffel Tower and Cables and the
George Washington Bridge are two of the examples he uses to explain
these principles.
PART II |
New Forms in Long-Span Concrete Bridges
William Case
Grinnell College
|
William Case's unit, used as part of his full-term course on structures
at Grinnell College, presents in simplif~ed form the ideas that
generated two of the most impressive prestressed concrete bridges of the
past twenty years -- the Felsenau and Ganter Bridges.
PART III |
Los Angeles Freeway Bridges
Newton H. Copp
The Claremont Colleges
|
Newton Copp's unit, serving as part of a course on science for the
nonscientist at the Claremont Colleges, considers the more common case
of highway overpasses especially in the context of the Los Angeles
Freeway system; this applies well to the conditions around all major
cities in the United States. His discussion includes such topics as
bridge loading, bending moment calculations, and prestressing cables.
The mathematics is an application of basic algebra to calculate physical
quantities as well as an application of vectors to describe force.