Computation of deflection of structures is necessary for the following reasons:

i.

If the deflection of a structure is more than the permissible, the structure will not look aesthetic and
will cause psychological upsetting of the occupants.

ii.

Excessive deflection may cause cracking in the materials attached to the structure. For example, if
the deflection of a floor beam is excessive, the floor finishes and partition walls supported on the
beam may get cracked and unserviceable.

11. Distinguish between pin jointed and rigidly jointed structure.

Pin jointed structure (Truss)
The joints permit change of angle between
connected members.

Rigidly jointed structure (Beam/Frame)

The members connected at a rigid joint will
maintain the angle between them even under
deformation due to loads.

The joints are incapable of transferring any

Members can transmit both forces and moments
moment to the connected members and vicebetween themselves through the joint.
versa.
The pins transmit forces between connected
members by developing shear.

Provision of rigid joints normally increases the

redundancy of the structures.

12. Which of the two arches, viz. circular and parabolic is preferable to carry a uniformly distributed
load? Why?
Parabolic arches are preferably to carry distributed loads. Because, both, the shape of the arch and the
shape of the bending moment diagram are parabolic. Hence the intercept between the theoretical arch and
actual arch is zero everywhere. Hence, the bending moment at every section of the arch will be zero. The
arch will be under pure compression which will be economical.
13. Explain with a sketch, the normal thrust and radial shear in an arch.
Let us take a section D of an arch. Let be the inclination
of the tangent at D. If H is the horizontal thrust and V
the vertical shear at D, from the free body of the arch,
it is clear that V and H will have normal and
radial components given by,
N = H cos + V sin
R = V cos - H sin
Here the direction of the normal thrust and the radial shear
is constantly changing from one end of the arch to the other, due to the curved shape of the arch, unlike
shear force and axial thrust in straight beam.