Concept
Settlement — where it appears
2 essays name this object, across 2 fields. What follows is each of them, and the objects they name alongside it.
One support too many, and what it costs to know
Add a redundant restraint and the load has two routes to the ground. Equilibrium cannot say how it splits, and the answer turns out to depend on stiffness — which is a different kind of question.
The beam that sits on the ground
Every other beam in this collection is held at points. A footing is held everywhere, by something that pushes back in proportion to how far it is pushed — and that single change hands the structure a length it did not choose. Two or three of those lengths from the column, nothing knows the load happened.
Named alongside it
The objects these essays reach for when they reach for this one.
CompatibilityCharacteristic lengthElastic foundationIndeterminacyLoad pathMoment redistributionReaction distributionStiffnessStiffness attracts loadSubgrade modulusSupport settlement