Introduction to Structural Engineering

The analysis of structures has long been a subject of enquiry by intellectual man. Attempts to determine the nature of forces within structures has kept pace with man’s determination to build. Serious study commenced in the 16th and 17th Centuries with scholars such as Leonardo Da Vinci and Galileo Galilei. Rapid progress was made during the 18th and 19th Centuries, and particularly in the Industrial Revolution, when many classical theories of structural behaviour were first put forward. More recently, the advent of the digital computer has led to a re-appraisal of the theory of structures. It is now expected that computations associated with the analysis of structures will be carried out by computer.