Classic and/or Good Textbooks? 3

[Archie264]

A post by AELLC caused me to look up Russell S. Fling. This caused me to find his textbook, "Practical Design of Reinforced Concrete" on sale on Amazon for a trifling sum ($4 or $5, maybe?). At first perusal it appears to be excellent! I wish it had been the textbook I studied under, in fact. Apparently Russell Fling was an accomplished practitioner who owned his own consulting firm for many years and was president of ACI between 1976 & 1977. With that background it doesn't surprise me that he was able to write such a good book.

The book I got used to be part of a university's library. I think libraries are divesting themselves of books, which can then be had for a song. So...what other books out there are worth snapping up? There's only so much room on my bookshelf but there's always room for a good one...

Some recommendations I have include the following:

"Soil Mechanics in Engineering Practice" by Terzaghi & Peck
"Structural Analysis" by Harold I. Laursen
"Theory of Plates & Shells" by Timoshenko & Woinowski-Krieger
"Data Book for Civil Engineers" by Elwyn E. Seelye

What others? Care to share your secrets? What say ye-all?

 

[oldestguy]

One that is a classic: "Pile foundations" by Robert D. Chellis. Mine is dated 1951

Professor Spangler of Iowa State wrote much along with Marston on conduits in the ground, including tunnel design. If you have not used Spanglers' "Imperfect Ditch" design, you have not lived.

 

[TehMightyEngineer]

Oldestguy: Do you have any other geotechnical books. As a structural I don't see much beyond basic foundations but would love to have some good references.

Maine EIT, Civil/Structural.

 

[Hokie93]

Pirate: I have found "Foundation Engineering" by Peck, Hanson, and Thornburn (second edition, copyright 1974) to be an excellent reference for the analysis and design of foundations. The book is comprehensive and practical.

 

[AELLC]

"Pirate: I have found "Foundation Engineering" by Peck, Hanson, and Thornburn (second edition, copyright 1974) to be an excellent reference for the analysis and design of foundations. The book is comprehensive and practical."

I have the exact book, one owner (me) - $17.50, bought 1974.

But it is not for sale.

The definition of a structural engineer: overdesign by a factor of 1.999, instead of the usual 2.

 

[TehMightyEngineer]

Awesome, added to the list.

Maine EIT, Civil/Structural.

 

[AELLC]

Is there any book that will clearly explain how to set up a matrix (stiffness) analysis for a simple portal frame or continuous beam with option of cantilever span at one or both ends?

I have "Matrix Computer Analysis of Structures" (1966) by Moshe F. Rubenstein, but I don't understand it.



The definition of a structural engineer: overdesign by a factor of 1.999, instead of the usual 2.

 

[CELinOttawa]

Theory of Matrix Structural Analysis by JS Przemieniecki is very in depth as well as detailed... Structural Analysis by Jeffrey P. Laible is more plug and shug with worked examples and Fortran subroutines written for you...

Remember that there are numerous "flavours" of matrix analysis... I'm willing to bet you mean the "Direct Stiffness Method", and Chapter 9 of Laible would be perfect to teach you that.

 

[AELLC]

I just want the "Matrix for Dummies" version.

I know I understood it - sort of - back at University, but I haven't used it in Real World since.

I tried to "reverse engineer" the Beamanal Excel spreadsheet, but it eludes me, and Beamanal doesn't have the cantilever span option. I have to "trick" it to get a decent result.

The ultimate goal is to have this working on Excel but as much smaller file size (in MB) than Beamanal.

The definition of a structural engineer: overdesign by a factor of 1.999, instead of the usual 2.

 

[CELinOttawa]

I have one I adapted from the free Microstran excel spreadsheet, but it is both in OpenOffice format and MINE... Lol.

For the record, Laible is pretty easy to follow, but won't do the thinking for you. I'll keep your search in mind, you never know what'll turn up searching the net. Heck maybe there is a "For Dummies" version now; they have just about everything else!

Didn't you have work to do today? *evil smiles*

 

[AELLC]

Yes I am working, a "medium-difficulty" 2-story custom house.

I take frequent 10 minute breaks, will you allow me that , huh? (j/k)

It's not like I am 22 yrs old, grrrrr.

The definition of a structural engineer: overdesign by a factor of 1.999, instead of the usual 2.

 

[TehMightyEngineer]

But it's Saturday! You should be at home studying for the SE exam like I am.

Maine EIT, Civil/Structural.

 

[AELLC]

I can't find any free Microstran - can you please upload it to here? My Excel 2010 should be able to convert it from OpenOffice.

I want to see if it works better than Beamanal

The definition of a structural engineer: overdesign by a factor of 1.999, instead of the usual 2.

 

[AELLC]

Pirate, you are studying too much, it is Sunday. I work at home, so it's not so bad.

Last time I took that kind of test, it was 1983, I don't want to do it again.

The definition of a structural engineer: overdesign by a factor of 1.999, instead of the usual 2.

 

[TehMightyEngineer]

It's Sunday?...oh...yeah...

Can this exam be over yet please?

[/end thread derail]

Maine EIT, Civil/Structural.

 

[CELinOttawa]

Hey AELLC: Here you go, well the original versions at least:

http://www.microstran.com.au/freestuff.htm

First two files.

 

[IDS]

AELLC - have you looked at the series of blog posts starting here:

http://newtonexcelbach.wordpress.com/2009/01/31/frame-analysis-with-excel-1-single-beam/

"This is the first of a series of posts in which I will develop a structural frame analysis program operating within Excel. The first few stages will be mostly spreadsheet based, with later stages using VBA routines to analyse data generated in the spreadsheet, and ultimately linking to external dll programs to do the heavy number crunching involved in the solution of complex frames."

There are also a number of posts looking at continuous beam analysis using Macaulay's method. Look in Download by category, or search for Macaulay.

CelinOttowa - Thanks for the Microstran link.

Doug Jenkins
Interactive Design Services

http://newtonexcelbach.wordpress.com/

 

[IDS]

And for paper books, I like:

Theory of Elastic Stability by Timoshenko and Gere.

Is (or at least was) available new in paperback at a very reasonable price.

Doug Jenkins
Interactive Design Services

http://newtonexcelbach.wordpress.com/

 

[AELLC]

IDS -

I studied that but go nowhere because I don't understand VBA.
My old Structural Analysis book makes no mention of Macualay's method, so I haven't a clue there.

The Beamanal seemed more suited for my purposes, and I have a "temporary system" I devised in my Excel design workbook that seems to be practical (for now) - in fact, it is now being used in this custom house I am doing today that has 2 and 3-span floor trusses and various 2 and 3-span girder trusses.

The definition of a structural engineer: overdesign by a factor of 1.999, instead of the usual 2.

 

[BigH]

There are a few threads on Geotechnical books in the forums - search. However, I suggest the following:
1. M.J. Tomlinson - Foundation Design and Construction
2. M.J. Tomlinson - Pile Design and Construction
3. Tchebotarioff's foundation book
4. Agree with Terzaghi and Peck - much more practical and easier to read than the later edition with Mesri
5. White's book on Underpinning
6. Cedergren's book Seepage, Drainage and Flow Nets

 

[Archie264]

AELLC,

In my opinion your "Matrix for Dummies" course and software can be found here:

http://www.cedengineering.com/courseoutline.asp?cid=240

It is an online professional development course entitled "Finite Element Structural Analysis on an Excel Spreadsheet", written by Richard Campbell, PE, SE. In my opinion it is excellent. Note that on that site you can download both the explanation and the spreadsheet for free. And if you need professional development units for your licensure go ahead and take the course for the reasonable fee listed.

BE AWARE: I think there might be an error in the uniform load portion of it but it's been a while since I've played with it so maybe I'm wrong.

The key, though, is that it is a usable FE program that removes the black box effect...it lets the user be engaged with the calculations in a way that is better than I've seen in any other case. I customized my version of it and now have two versions: one that can use 16 nodes / 37 members and one that is 80 nodes / 240 members. The later uses the limit of Excel's matrix multiplication capabilities and takes 20 seconds to run. But, I rarely use that one. As the author noted, many frames can be modeled with just a few members and engineers sometimes get carried away over-modeling things.

Also be aware, if you're going to play around with it it may take some time so from a pure business perspective you'd be better simply buying any number of commercial FE software packages. But for understanding FE, this is a good one to play with. Good luck.