Failure in Structural Systems

Abstract

Failure in a structural system can arise from a number of causes such as excessive flexibility or unacceptable dynamic response, but an important cause of structural failure is material failure. In previous chapters the failure of different structural materials under a variety of loading conditions is described. The focus in this chapter is on how material failure leads to the failure of a structural system. This, will be examined by the use of three different examples. The first example analyzes failure of a simple planar truss due to either brittle or time independent ductile metal failure, while the second example analyzes failure of a beam due to time independent ductile metal failure. The third example investigates time dependent ductile or creep buckling in an axially constrained column.