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Lecture Notes

Lecture notes for various courses I’ve given are below by subject and topic. I’d appreciate any feedback, and let me know if you find them useful.

Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) - Honours Degree in Structural Engineering

Structural Analysis - 3rd Year

The notes are on the course homepage here.

Structural Analysis - 4th Year

Similarly, these notes are on the course homepage here.

DIT - Diploma in Civil Engineering

Design of Reinforced Concrete - 3rd Year

These notes were delivered only once and so are more synopsis than detailed explanations, but may still be of use.

Fluid Mechanics - 2nd Year

Not my area of expertise, and only taught for one year, but I put a lot into it and I learned a lot from writing these notes. They cover:

  • Introduction to course
  • Introduction to fluids
  • Hydrostatics
  • Hydrodynamics: Basics
  • Hydrodynamics: Flow in Pipes
  • Hydrodynamics: Flow in Channels

University College Dublin (UCD) - Degree in Civil Engineering

Civil Engineering Design - Fourth Year

The topics covered are:

The following were developed based on Prof. Eugene O’Brien’s work:

UCD - Degree in Architecture

Structures for Architects

These notes (and more) were given to 3rd and 4th year architects.

An interesting set of notes about how structural engineering and architecture inter-relate was used to prompt discussion and interest. They are:

The notes are image intensive: hence the size,  but the message requires the imagery.

Both DIT and UCD

Structural Scheme Design

A comprehensive set of notes dealing with the preliminary design of structures, covering the following:

  • Introduction to the area
  • Overall Structural Behaviour
  • Structural Materials and Form
  • Precedence Studies
  • Preliminary Analysis
  • Preliminary Design
  • Car Park Design
  • Examples

These notes were developed in part from a course given by Prof. Eugene O’Brien.

Comments

Comment from Chris Powell-Williams
Time: June 22, 2008, 1:27 am

Dear Sir

I believe there is an error in your lecture notes on Mohr’s Theorems concerning the deflection of a cantilever under a point load at the tip (Example 2 in lecture notes). The expression should read δ(b) = PL^3/3EI .
Also the rotation @ B should read tan (ϕ(b)) = PL^2/2EI then by the small angle approximation tan (ϕ) ~ ϕ hence small tip deflection (relative to the section bending area) and then you can use your approximation that the arc length & chord length are approximately equal.

Also have you ever looked at the membrane equations for the hoop and meridional stresses in a segment of a hemispherical dome under its self weight? if the angle ϕ is defined as zero at the crown hence hoop stress is zero (meridional stress stays compressive within the quadrant), at an angle 51.82…° (cos[ϕ]=(1/2)(SQRT(5) -1) this is the golden ratio & allows for a minimum weight design for the shell as it can best utilise the properties of most materials (bar rubber & the like !). Just thought that would be interesting for your section of the roll of engineering within architecture.

Hope these ideas can be of some use.

Chris Powell-Williams

Comment from Colin
Time: June 28, 2008, 2:16 pm

Chris,
Thanks for taking the time to post. The PL^2 att he bottom of page 10 should indeed be a PL^3 as may be verified by multiplication of the previous line. Typos like this inevitably creep into notes - thanks for helping getting rid of one!
Regarding the calculation of the rotation at B - since the approximation of arc and chord length is inherent in the development of Mohr’s First Theorem (p. 5), we can directly say that for small deformations, ϕ(b) = PL^2/2EI directly, without needing to invoke the small angle approximation, tan (ϕ) ~ ϕ. Though, of course, mathematically this is fine to do.
Lastly, I appreciate your comments on shell stresses. This is definately an intersting area, though there hasn’t been time on my various courses to lecture on shells. Perhaps this will change!
Thanks again,
Colin

Comment from Messaoud
Time: July 10, 2008, 5:25 pm

Excellent set of notes!

Comment from Colin
Time: July 16, 2008, 12:53 am

Thanks Messaoud!

Comment from MAMUYE
Time: August 7, 2008, 3:20 pm

Your material is good and so much supportive for developing countries Universities.
Thankyou!

Comment from Dr. Subba Rao.P
Time: September 8, 2008, 1:39 pm

Dear sir, your efforts are realy appriciatable and useful both teachers and students as well. Regarding comments on notes, I have to yet to go through.

Comment from Neil Kempton
Time: October 24, 2008, 3:38 pm

An excellent set of notes. Very impressive!

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