Weston Middle School
Technology/Engineering Course Materials
Forces that Act on Structures
Tower is a Structure- materials that maintain a shape ( vs decorations, etc.)
Forces that act on structures include tension and compression .
Other forces include torsion (arm twisting), bending (illustrate with sponge), and shear
All structures fail when excessive loads are placed on them.
Engineers need to know when structures will fail- knowledge of failure properties (load limits) is critical
Vocabulary of Forces:
- Load
- Tension
- Compression
- Truss
- Failure analysis
Tension- Drawing and Quartering
Torsion-Geeks
Wind Shear- Master and Commander
Ceiling Collapse- Ted Williams Tunnel
Laval Overpass Collapse-Montreal
Revised
April 2007 by Jonathan Dietz,
dietzj@mail.weston.org