Macatangay, Jasper P.

CE 401 – Civil Engineering Orientation

CE-2109 Essay No. 4
19-02747 October 19, 2020

Renowned Support System

Engineering had been around since the dawn of time. Such field, created ways in order to
lessen the complexity of life. One of the most prominent field on Engineering is Civil Engineering,
an engineering field tasked on the maintenance and creation of the built and physical environment.
Through mere observation, an individual might wonder how some of the world’s mega
infrastructures or wonders were created, and how was it able to maintain its glory, considering
different factors which might cause decrement for its beauty and sustainability. For a very long
period of time Engineers together with other fields work diligently in order to create a livable and
functional space which meet the aesthetic sector without setting aside the concept of safety and
sustainability. The presence of a well-designed support structure enabled such marvelous buildings
and infrastructures to withstand the changes the world itself faces. Within such wonders, a support
system is present, consisting of beams, girders, columns, and a whole lot more components, such
frames or support system decrease or neglect possible lateral movements brought by abrupt
shaking and give first impressions of how a building might possibly look. With regards to such
support system, Structural Engineering, a field or branch of civil engineering had been around for
some time, with the task of creating the framework of structures, and designing those structures to
withstand the stresses and pressures of their environment and remain safe, stable and secure
throughout their use. In other words, structural engineers make sure that buildings don't fall down
and bridges don't collapse.

Comparison and contrast between a human body and the construction field would give an
overview of the key roles a structural engineer do. Architects are mainly concern on the physical
appearance of the body, how would it look and what would be its shape, while structural engineers
work on the other hand could be seen on the vital role the skeletal system gives to an individual.
Structures must be able to withstand the conditions present on the location where it was built. A
house must have a roof in order to provide shade against the sun and rains, while bridges must be
able to withstand the amount of forces exerted by the moving bodies which passes across it, and
same goes for every building with a requirement that it must be able to withstand different
occurrences of devastating calamities such as typhoon, earthquake, and even volcanic eruptions to
name a few. Hence, structural engineers, consider all of the mentioned and possible factors and
provide technical advice about a project. Structural engineering is a branch of civil engineering
that involves the application of the laws of physics and mathematics. It a depth analysis of
pressures, stress, and moments in order to precisely create structural designs that will enable
certain structures to withstand any given conditions. Structural engineers give high value to the
safety of public through analysis and accurate prediction of different shapes and materials used to
resist loads and stresses in structures. They give high consideration to the different building codes
and materials used to further ensure safety.

Structural engineers perform two vital processes in the creation and maintenance of the
built physical environment mainly analyzing and designing. During the analysis stage, structural
engineers determine the forces in each element in a structure when the configuration of elements
is already defined while during the design stage, configuring elements to resist forces whose values
are already known is done. With that being said, a structural engineer must have a depth analysis
on the basics of physics and mathematics and its application on real life in order to avoid hazardous
incidents. Analysis and Design are complementary procedures in the overall process of designing
new structures. After performing a preliminary design, structural engineers estimate the final
configuration of elements of a structure, but only until an analysis is performed can the forces in

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those elements be known. After performing an analysis, the element forces are known, and the
elements can be designed more precisely.

Aside from the mentioned roles done by structural engineers, one of its task is to analyze
blueprints, and topographical and geological data. Such tasks are done in order to ensure how the
soil or land in the location where a structure will be built would not greatly affect the project. If
certain factors might affect changes or considerations are done with regards to the plan specifically
the structural plan in order to further ensure safety and ability of the structure to withstand certain
conditions. During the construction phase structural engineers inspect project sites to monitor
progress and ensure the project is being constructed according to design specifications. An
important role done by structural engineers specifically on the Philippines since most of the
contractors utilizes substandard materials in order to increase their gain. Number of projects were
continuously rehabilitated and were never finished just because of this mentality done mostly by
Filipino contractors, hence, through the tasks done by a structural engineer such occurrences are
avoided. Moreover, a structural engineer must also know the properties of various materials, such
as their density, hardness, tensile strength, bulk modulus and bending strength. They need to be
able to calculate how different materials will perform under stresses such as compression, tension,
bending and twisting, as well as under various environmental conditions of temperature, pressure,
corrosive gases and liquids, and even radiation. Structural engineering is a very good example of
the real life application of school tasks or topics. They continuously analyze, studies, and do
number of researches in order to have a deeper analysis and understanding of what it takes to create
an effective structural design that shall not only withstand certain conditions but also time.

In conclusion, structural engineering is a subfield of civil engineering which focuses on the

framework of structures through numbers of plans and designs which ensures safety within
structures. Such profession contributes two vital roles on the construction field or process namely
analyzing and designing. On the analyzing stage, structural engineers study and determine
precisely the stresses and forces present in order to arrive at a design that shall ensure safety and
be able to withstand the conditions that could be present in a certain location where a structure is
located. Safety is one of the primary concern of structural engineers, without this profession the
houses or structures an individual is located is prone to collapses and devastation brought by
certain natural calamities and hazards.

References:

Lucas, J. (2014). What is Structural Engineering? Available at:

https://www.livescience.com/47816-structural-engineering.html
El-Mogy, M. (2018). What is Structural Engineering? Available at:
https://structuralengineeringbasics.com/what-is-structural-engineering/
SEAOC. (2016). What is Structural Engineering? Available at:
https://www.seaoc.org/page/whatisase#:~:text=Structural%20Engineering%20is%20a%20specia
lty,evaluations%2C%20and%20observe%20construction%20sites.

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