Forces that act on Buildings

This article will discuss the forces that may act on a building and how they effect it.

A force on a structure is the weight or pressure exerted on a structure but can be further defined to the type of force.

This may be in the form of gravity ie the weight of a building and its contents, the wind or weather eg wind, snow or other phenomenon such as earthquakes or tremors.

Heat and cold may also act on the building and exert thermal movement on the structure but in this instance we will keep it limited to gravity and weather and may touch on seismic bracing.

The balance for stability of the building is relied upon by a structure resisting these forces.

Passive forces resist these active forces.

The forces defined

Compression = the force that causes the structural member to shorten and can result in failure due to crushing.

Tension = the force that causes elongation or lengthening of the member (tensile force).

Torsion = the force that results in a twisting action on a member.

Shear = the combination of two forces acting in opposition to each other resulting in a sliding or tearing tendency.

Elasticity = Stress/Strain

Now learn about the Foundations and Substrate