Causes and Prevention of Structural Failures

Prof. A. Gopala Krishnayya, Professional Engineer, Mann-Talley INC; Delaware (U.S.A) & P. Varun Chowdary, Asst. Prof. SRKIT, Vijayawada.

Introduction

The design of structures should satisfy three fundamental requirements:

1. Stability: The structure should be stable under the action of loads.
2. Strength: The structure should resist safely stresses induced by the loads.
3. Serviceability: The structure should perform satisfactorily under service loads.

Stability, strength and serviceability can only be achieved by following basic design principles. This paper presents different structural failures, so other engineers can benefit from this knowledge.