The current and official versions of the course specifications are available on the web at .
Please consult the web for updates that may occur during the year.
Structural engineering design is a continually evolving process. The development of computer analysis tools has had a massive impact on what engineers do in their day to day work. Twenty or thirty years ago structural engineers needed proficiency in a wide range of manual calculation methods to analyse structures. A set of "design calculations" at the time was likely to include extensive pages of detailed numerical workings. Some may argue that proficiency with such hand calculation methods remains useful to a design engineer but such skills are no longer essential. What is essential is a sophisticated and informed understanding of how to model a structure in a computer so that the model conforms both with reality and with the expectations of the design codes. Using a process of learning by discovery, the student is guided through a series of discussions and investigative computer modelling exercises. These demonstrate how very minor modelling changes can lead to very different "answers". The course looks in considerable detail at approximate methods of analysis that can be used both to enhance the students understanding of a structural system and as a check of computer analysis results. The course takes the opportunity to use computer modelling to investigate various structural phenomena and to consolidate and extend undergraduate understanding of design principles. There is significant emphasis placed on the development of meaningful computer aided design calculations that record modelling assumptions and the primary analysis output.
