1. Introduction of surface structure.

General Overview of Surface Structures

Surface structures are structural elements that are able to transfer load
basicallythrough membrane stresses. Surface structures have small
thickness compare to their other dimensions. Sometimes the material is very
flexible and can take the form of the tent or air-inflated structure. In both
cases the material acts as a membrane that is subjected to pure tension.
Surface structures may also be made of rigid material such as reinforced
concrete.Rigid surface structures are sometimes called rigid shells. As such
they may be shaped as folded plates, cylinders, or hyperbolic parabolas and
are referred to as thin plates or shells. These structures act like cables or
arches since they support loads primarily in tension and compression with
very little bending. In spite of this, plate or shell structures are generally very
difficult to analyze, due to the three-dimensional geometry of their flexible
surface structures include mechanically or pneumatically pre-stressed
membrane such as reinforced concrete. . In both cases the material acts as a
membrane that is subjected to pure tension. In civil engineering, structures
where the dominant loading is usually substantially static are the most
common cause of collapse is a buckling failure. Buckling may occur locally in
a manner that may or may not trigger collapse of the entire structure, such as
outstanding flanges, in flange or web plate’s compression members, or in the
web or compression flange of girders. Today, the structural engineer may be
involved in providing special structures for launching or servicing space
vehicles, or again he may use his knowledge in assisting with the structural
design of the vehicle itself. A unique example of surface structure is a glass.
One of the unique features of glasses is their structural relaxation. The
structure and properties of a glass can change with time at a constant. The
phenomenon becomes particularly important in the glass transition
temperature range. Traditionally at low temperature such as room
temperature, the structural relaxation was assumed non-existent.
Recently, it was discovered that the surface layer of glasses exhibits much
faster structural relaxation than the bulk of the glasses. This was
demonstrated by measuring the rate of shift of IR peak wave number of silica
structural band. It was found that the surface structural relaxation is promoted
by water vapor and applied tensile stress. By extrapolating both temperature
dependence and stress dependence of the relaxation time, it was estimated
that the surface structural relaxation can be observed in a practical time scale
in wet condition under a moderate tensile stress even at room temperature.
The observed faster surface structural relaxation is expected to have
important influence on nano- sized amorphous materials. Some of the
phenomena, which are likely to involve the surface structural relaxation of
amorphous materials, are 1) mechanical strength degradation of silica glass
optical fibers and 2) oxidation of silicon. (Minoru Tomozawa)
In both cases the material acts as a membrane that is subjected to pure
tension.

GAMBAR

Such surface are true uniform-stress structural forms which are structurally
stable and adequate, and capable of supporting distributed loadings with no
changes of shape except the small deflections associated with the
deformation of the material. Of course, concentrated loadings on a flexible
membrane-being discontinuous in the loading and can be supported only by
violent localized changes of shape of the membrane similar to those changes
required of a cable
1.2. Types & Characteristics of Surface Structures:
Generally, surface structures consider the nature and tensile or compressive
strength of their member since they support load primarily in tension or
compression. They are usually shaped like cylinders or folded plates and are
basically called thin plates or shells. Their shapes hence give rise to the types
of these structures now determined (further research is still being carried out
in this field and other structural elements are being considered) namely:

i. membrane or thin structures: these usually referred to structural members

made of thin membrane fibers made of fiber glass. Membrane structures carry
load primary through tensile stresses. Pre-stressing can be either by
compression members, pressurized gases, fluids, foundations or counter-
stressing members. Thin elements are typically curved and are assembled to
large structures. They are use mostly for roof structures since they are
economical and can greatly improve the aesthetics of a building and span
over large areas.

ii. Shell structures: these are thin rigid, curved & lightweight elements similar
to those of thin structures but are made of other materials like steel, wood,
concrete etc. These structures have different element types like hyperboloid
structures, geodesic domes, etc.

iii. Plate Structures: plate structures are also light weight and thin elements
that are curved. They are made of thin plate elements that are assembled to
form large structures

http://www.scribd.com/doc/38467973/Surface-Structure
 2. PLATE STRUCTURE

Basically, a plate structure is one of the most difficult surface structure to

analyses. Analysis of their bending or buckling abilities is use to determine
their structural capabilities. An example of a plate structure is a flat concrete
slab. Plate structural usually bend in two directions. Plates are commonly
used as cover plates on wide- flange beams, as the flanges and webs of plate
girders, and as the sides of tube-shaped beams and columns. In all these
cases, serious consideration must be given to the fact that the plate may
buckle when compressed. But the plates have edge supports in the direction
of the stress, so they function as panels rather than as beams. Their ratios of
length to width are large enough that the resistance to local buckling of the
plate element depends upon its width-thickness ratio, practically independent
of its length. Because of the length of the overall section it is still significant in
determining the member's capacity

Brief History:
The concept of plate theory was actually conceived long ago in the 1700s but
it was Kirchhoof who in 1850 publish the first notable thesis on plates and
steted two basic assunptions which in later years came to be accepted as
plate-bending theory and are known as Kirchhoff’s hypothesis
In his work, he pointed out that there exist two boundary conditions on a plate
edge.

Kirchhoffs other significant contributions are the discovery of the frequency

equations of the plates and the introduction of virtual displacement methods in
the solution of plate problems. It was not however until the end of the 19 th
century that the application concept of the plate theory began to catch on
when ship builders change their construction method by replacing wood with
structural steel. This change in structural material was very fruitful in the
furtherance of the plate theory and through the contributions of various other
scientist the fundamental assumptions of the behavior of plate theory was
developed.
The Crymlyn Viaduct over the Ebbw Alley which opened in 1857 as Welsh
coal mining expanded is one of the earliest work of plate structures with
relation to the application of the plate theory concept. It was constructed of
wrought and cast iron, and remained the highest railway viaduct in the UK
until its closure in 1964 due to increased locomotive weights (1908 photo).
The advance from masonry to the slender metal compressive members which
make up each column requires substantial bracing to prevent buckling

In the general behavioral analyses of plate characteristics, fundamental

assumptions of the linear,
elastic, and small-deflection theory of bending of plates may be stated as
follows:
 the material of the plate is elastic, homogeneous, and isotropic,
 the plate is initially flat,
 the defection, (the normal component of the displacement vector ) of the
mid plane is small, compare with the thickness of the plate. The slope of the
deflected surface is very small and the square of the slope is a negligible
quantity in comparison with unity.
 The straight lines, initially normal to the middle plane before bending
remain straight and normal to the middle surface during the deformation.
One type of plate structure is the sill plate.

Sill plate
A sill plate or sole plate in construction or architecture is the bottom horizontal
member of a wall or building to which vertical members are attached. Sill
plates are usually composed of lumber. It usually comes in sizes of 2×4, 2×6,
2×8, and 2×10. In the platform framing method the sill plate is anchored to the
foundation wall. The bottom of the sill plate is kept 6 inches above the
finished grade. This is to prevent the sill plate from rotting as the finished
grade contains chemicals.