Structural Engineering & Statics
where the load goes
Concept

Sustained load — where it appears

The part of the loading that stays, and therefore the part that creeps, shrinks and settles rather than merely being resisted.

Named by 2 essays across 2 fields — each of them below, with the objects they name alongside it.

1 d10 d100 d2.7 yr27 yr0123time under loaddeflection ÷ the deflection on day one1 year: ×3.005 years: ×3.29the deflection the calculation gives

The deflection that arrives three years late

A concrete beam that passes every check on the day it is built goes on deflecting for a decade, and ends up three times where it started. Nothing about the load changed, and nothing about the strength was ever in question.

materials · creep 1234403020100-10-20-30-40stage in the beam's lifeshape (mm, sag positive)against noneagainst wetagainst deadagainst total

Built to the wrong shape on purpose

A cambered beam is fabricated curved upward so that load bends it down to something like straight. Nothing in the analysis changes, no stress anywhere is altered, and almost every mistake made with it is a bookkeeping mistake about which loads count.

deflection · camber

Named alongside it

The objects these essays reach for when they reach for this one.

CreepDeflectionServiceabilityComposite actionConstruction sequenceCracked sectionDeflection limitEffective modulusElastic modulusFlexural rigidityImposed deformationModular ratio

All concepts