Aimed primarily at students of structural theory and analysis at degree or Higher National Certificate/Diploma levels, this textbook explains the theory of structures and computer applications in this field. The text begins with an introduction to the basic principles of structural theory. Although the computer does not figure prominently at this stage, nevertheless the development of the material is carried out with computers in mind. The second part of the book contains a workshop, consisting of a systematic and progressive analysis of structures from an ordered catalogue. These structures have been chosen to illustrate and test principles and to encourage readers to adopt an exploratory approach. The computer programs which follow are presented in a simple form of BASIC and are annotated sufficiently to enable adaptation to different microcomputers. The text also contains specifications and listings of the programs.

Table of Contents:
Part 1: introduction - the role of structural analysis, statical and kinematical indeterminacies, the role of the computer; structural forms and materials; stress, strain and stress resultants; basic concepts and structural theorems - flexibility and stiffness of a structure, the flexibility method, flexibilities using Castigliano's theorem, the stiffness method, stiffnesses using Castigliano's theorem, sign conventions for axes, forces and displacements; stress resultant distributions - the simply-supported beam, the relationship between load, shear and moment, the hinged beam, twisting moment diagrams and the three-dimensional force system, complete structures; the analysis of beams - cross-sectional properties, pure bending of arbitrary section beam - axes of symmetry, stress and deformation in pure bending, displacements due to bending, shear in beams, torsion in beams, thin-walled beams, non-prismatic beams; the column and the beam-column; the stiffness method - shape functions for element displacements, consistent nodal loads, evaluation of stresses and stress resultants, influence of shear strains, transformation of stiffness from local to global co-ordinates, assembly of structure stiffness matrix, boundary conditions of constraint, solution of equilibrium equations, support displacement, prestrain and thermal loading, condensation of stiffness matrix; influence lines and surfaces - the Maxwell-Betti and Muller Breslau theorems, maximum effects and envelope diagrams; plastic collapse in structures - plastic moment redistribution, the fundamentals of plastic theory, plastic analysis of continuous beams and frames, effect of axial forces in members, material and other requirements for plastic design; structural vibrations - free vibrations of single degree of freedom systems, forced vibrations of single degree of freedom systems without damping, free vibrations with viscous damping, free vibrations of multi-degree of freedom structures; approximate methods and verification techniques - moment distribution, equilibrium checks, upper and lower bounds, points of inflexion. Part 2: workshop - verification of hand calculations, assessment of approximate methods, parametric studies, studies of structural types. Part 3: computer programs - PLATRUSS.BAS; PLANFRAM.BAS. Appendices: section properties of structural members; standard displacements in prismatic beams; fixed-end moments for prismatic beams; product integrals; summary of equations in the stiffness method.