MACE60035

THREE HOURS

UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER

PRINCIPLES OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING DESIGN

17 January 2019

09:45 – 12:45

Answer ALL questions

Supplementary information for Section B1 is given in pages 5.
Supplementary information for Section C is given in pages 10-12.

Electronic calculators may be used provided that they cannot store text.
Graph paper is available in the Examination Room

© The University of Manchester, 2019

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Section A (34 marks in total)

A1. Figure A1(a) and Figure A1(b) show the characteristic gravity (DL: Dead
Load, LL: Live Load) and wind loads on a three storey frame. All the
connections are assumed to be pinned and vertical bracing is used to
achieve lateral stability. Each floor height is 4m. The ULS partial safety
factors for dead and live loads are 1.35 and 1.5 respectively. The
combination factors for live load and wind load are 0.7 and 0.5 respectively.

(a) Steel/concrete composite beams are used for the floor beams. The
composite beam is constructed of an UB457x191x82 steel section with a
150mm thick solid concrete slab on top. The cross-sectional area and
overall height of the steel section are 10400mm2 and 460mm respectively.
The steel grade is S355. The design strength of concrete is 18N/mm2.
Shear connectors are uniformly spaced at 200mm centres along the beam
and the design resistance of shear connectors is 90kN.

(1) Determine the most critical load combination for the floor beams.
[2 marks]
(2) Check whether the composite beam has sufficient bending moment
resistance. The plastic modulus of the steel section is 1831cm3.
Assume there are slabs on both sides of the beam.
[13 marks]

(b) By inspection, wind load is much greater than the Effective Horizontal
Force (EHF), which is 1/200th the vertical load. Calculate the critical lateral
loads for designing the bracing system, including a sketch of loads with
values.
[9 marks]
.
(c) Due to global second order effects, the lateral loads should be increased
by multiplying magnification factors. The magnification factor for a
floor/roof can be approximately calculated using 1/(1-1/σcr) where αcr (3<
αcr <10) is the critical load factor for the relevant floor/roof. αcr is calculated
using KHh/VEd where VEd is the total vertical load on the floor/roof for the
critical lateral load combination, h is the storey height and KH is the storey
lateral stiffness. For calculating KH, Figure A1(c) shows displacements of
the structure under unit lateral loads. Calculate the magnification factors
for the roof and the first floor.
[7 marks]
(d) Explain how to achieve robustness for this class 2(B) structure.
[3 marks]

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DL=12kN/m, LL=18kN/m
4kN

DL=24kN/m, LL=30kN/m
8kN

DL=24kN/m, LL=30kN/m
8kN

10m 10m

(a) Gravity load (b) Wind load

1kN 3mm

1kN 2.2mm

1kN 1.2mm

10m

(c) Displacement under unit lateral loads

Figure A: Characteristic loads and displacements under unit loads of a

three storey frame

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Section B (33 marks in total)

B1.

(a) The frame in Figure B1 is subjected to the loads as shown. The horizontal
and vertical members have different plastic moment capacities. Neglect
the reduction in plastic moment capacity due to axial loads in the
members.

Determine the load (W) at collapse by considering several possible

collapse mechanisms.
[15 marks]

Figure B1

(b) The stress components at the critical section in the member have been
calculated to be σxx = 60 MPa, σyy = -30 MPa, and τxy =70 MPa (all other
stress components are zero). A factor of safety (SF) is 1.25 as required for
the design. The load-stress relations are linear so that the factor of safety
(SF) can be applied to either the loads or stress components.

Compare the Tresca criterion and the von Mises criterion; what minimum
yield strength (Y) should the material have in order to fulfil the design
condition?
[9 marks]

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SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION FOR SECTION B1

(where symbols have their usual meaning)

1. The principal stresses in the xy plane,

2. The effective stress according to Tresca criterion,

3. The effective stress according to von Mises criterion,

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B2. A uniform rectangular concrete slab shown in Figure B2 is fully fixed along
all four edges. A uniformly distributed load of q per unit area is applied
vertically to the slab, q = 20 kN/m2.

The slab is reinforced in the top face to provide hogging moments of

resistance of 0.6 m per unit width for bending moments about an axis
parallel to AB, and 0.48 m about an axis parallel to AD.

It is reinforced in the bottom face i.e. on the tension face at mid-span, with
two layers of reinforcement at uniform spacing, providing a sagging moment
of resistance of 1.0 m per unit width for bending about an axis parallel to AB
and 0.8 m per unit width for bending about an axis parallel to AD.

Estimate the required value of yield moment of resistance in kNm per unit
width according to yield-line theory, if the slab is to collapse by the
mechanism shown in Figure B2.
[9 marks]

Figure B2

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Section C (33 marks in total)

C1. It is proposed to construct a retaining wall, like the one shown in Figure C1,
at two sites A and B, both of which are located in seismically active areas. If
a granular soil is to be used as the backfill material behind the retaining
wall, determine the minimum soil friction angle that will be required for Sites
A and B. For your calculations use the pseudostatic method for the active
earth pressure case.

The following information is available:

Site Horizontal Horizontal Backfill Wall back-face

seismic seismic inclination,  inclination, 
acceleration acceleration (degrees) (degrees)
coefficient, kh coefficient, kv
A 0.36 0.18 5 0
B 0.25 0 10 0

[7 marks]

Figure C1

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C2. Figure C2 shows an average soil profile of a site where an important

structure is to be constructed. Preliminary tests reveal that the 4.5 m thick
‘loose sand’ layer is highly susceptible to liquefaction and is likely to liquefy
if the earthquake driving force exceeds the soil’s resistance. Using the
traditional method (and not the Eurocode method), present detailed
calculations to estimate the ground acceleration amax which if exceeded will
most likely result in the ‘loose sand’ layer to liquefy. For your calculations,
consider the following:

 The liquefaction hazard is to be estimated at the mid-thickness

of the liquefaction susceptible layer;
 Earthquake moment magnitude, M = 5; and
 Corrected SPT N-value (N1)60 = 20.

Loose sand (no fines)

Figure C2
[14 marks]

C3. Discuss the advantages and the limitations of the pseudodynamic method
applied to the estimation of seismic earth pressure over the traditional
pseudostatic method.
[6 marks]

C4. Figure C4 shows a vertical face retaining wall to be constructed for a

basement floor such that it is restrained completely. Estimate the total
lateral force coming on to this wall, if:
 The Eurocode approach is to be used;
 The height of the retaining wall, H = 5 m;
 The characteristic angle of shearing resistance, ' = 30o;
 The characteristic bulk unit weight of the soil behind the
retaining wall = 18 kN/m3;
 Static earth pressure coefficient = 0.65;

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 S = 1, ag = 0.3g, avg = 0.2g; and

 The friction between the wall and soil is ignored.

Ground level

Basement

Retaining wall

Figure C4
[6 marks]

END OF EXAMINATION PAPER

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SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION FOR SECTION C

Seed and Whitman approximation:

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