David Brohn Training

UnderstandingStructural Modelling

Capturing TheIntellectual Property

UnderstandingStructural Modelling

Capturing TheIntellectual Property

The computer and the training of structuralengineers

The near universal use of computers for analysis and design providetools that were unavailable only 20 years ago. Now structuralengineers can analyse and design virtually any structure, but ... doyoung engineers understand how to create a safe model for thecomputer analysis?

Experienced engineers are now recognising that they possess skills ofunderstanding structural modelling and in particular, structuralbehaviour, that the young engineers who will replace them will notnecessarily acquire.

The very real risk is that the young engineer will use the computer asan alternative to understanding the behaviour of the structuralsystem.

Three courses have been developed to address this issue.The firstcourse, Understanding Structural Behaviour was developed by DrDavid Brohn for the Arup Partnership in the early 1980’s. The coursehas been run since that time for many of the world’s leading firms ofstructural designers.

Two further courses have been developed; Understanding StructuralDesign and Understanding Computer Analysis. These courses takethe principles developed in the Behaviour course and apply them tothe key issues.

The SCOSS Report

The Standing Committee on Structural Safety has issued the 15thBiennial Report and in the section 4.1.10 ‘Introducing concepts ofrisk in structural analysis in undergraduates’, the report identifiesthe following strategies;

� observe real structures � implement sensitivity analysis� derive specification for model � understand mathematical model� validate models � do simple calculations.� verify results

The results of tests carried out over many years show that youngengineers do not generally possess these skills. The UnderstandingStructural Modelling courses are designed to address them.

David Brohn Training

Understanding Structural Modelling Course 1: Understanding Structural Behaviour

Duration: 2 days

Having taught this course for over 25 years, there is no doubt thatyoung engineers do not generally have a good understanding ofstructural behaviour. Consequently there is the very real risk is thatthe young engineer will use the computer as an alternative tounderstanding the behaviour and modelling of the structural system.

At the end of the course, delegates should be able to apply aqualitative approach to the solution of a range of framed structures,apply checking protocols for computer output and establish a reliableinterpretation of the results, apply the qualitative approach to theapproximate analysis of structures as an aid to the creation of thestructural model and determine appropriate protocols for thedevelopment of these skills in the design office.

Course overview� The key theorems in structural analysis; equilibrium and elasticity� First and second order theorems of analysis� The development of qualitative skills for structural modelling� The behaviour of beams, complex beams and frames� Interpreting computer output� Case studies

This course is supported by the textbook, ‘Understanding StructuralAnalysis’, 3rd Edition by David Brohn. The book includes a free copyof QSE Plane and QSE Space.

David Brohn Training

Understanding Structural Modelling Course 2: Understanding Structural Design

Duration: 2 daysEssential pre-requisite: Attendance at the ‘UnderstandingStructural Behaviour’ Course

The combination of the ‘Understanding Structural Behaviour’ courseand ‘Understanding Structural Design’ is an excellent preparation forthe Chartered Membership examination of the Institution ofStructural Engineers.

The dominance of the computer in the design office has made a highlevel of numerical analytical skills redundant. With the power ofanalytical software on each desk, every engineer is able to analysevirtually any structure. This now presents a new challenge to thoseresponsible for the training of young engineers; have they understoodthe modelling process that created the analytical model of thestructure and are they sure that it is weaker than the real structure?

The process of structural modelling, from the real structure to theanalytical model does not depend upon computer analysis, althoughtesting various solutions is very much part of that process.

Using an understanding of structural behaviour, this course appliesthis skill to the key aspects of structural design.

At the end of the course, delegates should be able to; explain theprocess of structural modelling from the real structure through to thecomputer model, identify and explain major systems of maintainingoverall stability, the reduction of complex structures to a simpler form,key modes of failure in structural elements and systems.

Course overview� A review of the modelling process� Fundamental behaviour of structural elements� Overall structural equilibrium� The behaviour of three-dimensional structures� Look, interpret and explain the behaviour of real structures � Reduce complex structures to simpler forms� Case studies

David Brohn Training

David Brohn Training

Understanding Structural Modelling Course 3: Understanding Computer Analysis

Duration: 2 daysEssential pre-requisite: Attendance at the ‘UnderstandingStructural Behaviour’ Course

The power of the computer to carry out the analysis of the mostcomplex structural systems has developed with great rapidity overthe last 20 years. Now with the advances in design post-processorsand the complexity of the new design codes, it will be rare fordesign calculations to be carried out by hand.

There are many factors that influence the behaviour and therefore thedesign strength of elements and these are an essential understandingthat the computer is unable to assess. The safe use of the computerrequires that the designer has a robust, independent understanding ofstructural behaviour and the ability to arrive at approximate values forkey design parameters, against which the results of the computer canbe checked.

Attendance at the Understanding Structural Behaviour courseprovides these basic skills and this course will focus those skills onthe approximate analysis which should be carried out prior to thecomputer analysis and the correct assessment of supports, releasesand other key aspects of input.

Participants will receive a fully functional copy of QSE and STAADsoftware.

At the end of the course, delegates should be able to; reduce complexstructures to identify the main load-bearing and stability systems,determine the approximate analysis of key values, determine the correctuse for supports, rigid links, offsets, compression and tension members,apply checking protocols for computer output and establish a reliableinterpretation of the results, determine the appropriate methods for finiteelements, P-delta (secondary effects), modal analyses and partialreleases for semi-rigid connections, apply the theory of superposition.

Course overview� The identification of the appropriate analysis engine; 1st, 2nd order

and finite element� Reduce complex structures� The approximate analysis of structures� Overall equilibrium� Restraints, rigid links, offsets, compression and tension members� Theory of superposition� The interpretation of the computer analysis output

Who will benefit from the courses?Graduate Engineers preparing for the Chartered Membershipexamination of the Institution of Structural Engineers; also, recentlyqualified graduate Civil or Structural Engineers and more experiencedengineers, especially those needing a refresher course.

Capturing the Intellectual Property

Does the phrase, ’Every time we start a new project, we re-inventthe wheel’ sound familiar?

Some of the most valuable assets for a firm of structural engineers arethe design skills and solutions that went into past projects. But unlessyou are a very unusual organisation, those job files will start with adrawing of the structure as built.

The record of the sketches of the process by which the structuralmodelling achieved the optimum solution are either in the memory ofone of your engineers or the waste bin.

New Paradigm Solutions have a way forward that has been tested andfound to be successful. It is based on the skills developed in theStructural Modelling courses that identify a clear means ofcommunicating and recording the structural solution.

But we recognise that each organisation will wish to approach thisissue in the way that best suits their systems.

Please contact us for further details.

Tutors

David M Brohn PhD CEng FIStructE

In the early 1970’s, David Brohn devised a test for an understanding of structural behaviour. Thecontrol group for the test was the graduate entry to the Arup Partnership. The results revealed asurprising deficiency and the course ‘Understanding Structural Behaviour’ was devised for thePartnership and revealed that even engineers of many years experience are less than secure inapplying this understanding.

He has continued to provide the training course for many of the world’s leading firms ofstructural engineers.

BiographyDavid Brohn started work at the Arup Partnership on the design of the shells for Sydney OperaHouse. A Diploma in Concrete Technology and PhD at the University of Leeds followed thisunique experience. There followed five years with consultants in Bristol and then the role ofPrincipal Lecturer at what is now the University of the West of England. It was here and a year atHong Kong Polytechnic where the teaching methods to develop an understanding of structuralbehaviour were first developed and tested. These ideas were put into practice when he foundedQSE Ltd to develop a new approach to software for structural analysis and design.

Ian Duncan BSc MSc CEng MICE FIStructEStructures

After graduating, Ian joined Arup in London where he worked for ten years, five of which wereworking principally on the Barbican Arts Centre in the City, before taking a teaching post at UCCardiff.

Four years later, in 1979, he was invited to run the Bristol Office of Buro Happold. Principalprojects during the period '79-'89 were the British Embassy and Housing, Riyadh with TrevorDannatt & Partners; Kowloon Park development, Hong Kong, including Olympic swimming pooland footbridge with Derek Walker & Partners; Offices for Solid State Logic in Oxford with MichaelHopkins Partnership and Munich Tierpark Aviary with Jorg Gribl.

In November 1989 Ian started the practice now known as Structures One. In addition to hisprincipal role as Design Director of the engineering practice, Structures 1, he also teaches atBristol University. He was Chair of the IStructE local committee in 1990, has twice been electedto the IStructE Council, and is involved locally in various professional and interest groups.

In June 2006, he became a consultant to Structures 1 and will focus on special engineeringprojects, new course development at Bristol University and the development of new graduateand professional development training courses with New Paradigm Solutions.

Consultancy

The 401 Centre • 302 Regent Street • London W1B 3HHT: 0845 458 9468 •Email:enquiries@newparadigms.co.ukwww.newparadigms.co.uk