Indispensable Books for Structural Engineers

[CWEngineer]

Are there any handbooks, guides or books out there that you guys think are indispensable for a Structural Engineer and its a must have.

THANKS For Your Feedback

 

[archeng59]

obviously the AISC, ACI, National Design Standards for Wood and AITC handbooks. plus, Gaylord & Gaylord Structural Engineering Handbook, Roark's Formulas for Stress and Strain, PCA Design Handbook, James Amrhein's Masonry Design Guide, Omer Blodgett's Design of Welded Structures. there are likely others, but those are the ones I could come up with quickly.

 

[samdamon]

Quick couple of other suggestions for references-

"Practical Design of Reinforced Concrete" Russel S. Fling
very useful book.

"CRSI Design Handbook" (lots of handy tables for concrete design)

"Masonry Design and Detailing" Christine Beall (Is not a 'design' text despite the title, but still extremely useful for an engineer who works with masonry)

"Design of Wood Structures" Donald Breyer

Two other interesting works about engineering in general:

"Slide Rule" by Nevil Shute. An autobiography about a british engineer who worked on dirigibles. Sounds dull and dated but found this to be highly interesting. There are parallels in the story of dirigible developement as laid out here and any engineering enterprise.

"Structures or why things don't fall down" J.E. Gordon. Written more for the layman as intro to basic concepts of engineering and materials, but still interesting and entertaining for the professional imho.

 

[archeng59]

yep, CRSI, Beall's book and definitely Breyer's book.

 

[Ussuri]

Some popular textbooks in the UK are:

"The Steel Designers Manual" published by the Steel Construction Institute;
"The Reinforced Concrete Designers Handbook" by Reynolds and Steedman;
"Foundation Design and Construction" by Tomlinson;
"The Blue Book - Steelwork Design Guide to BS 5950-1:2000 Volume 1: Section Properties & Member Capacities" published by the Steel Construction Institute;



------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.
Archimedes

 

[tonyuk]

For UK readers (and others) check out the list on our website at

http://www.sda.co.uk/booklist.htm

 

[Ussuri]

Tonyuk

There are a lot of good books on that list, I have personal copies of a few of them. One question though, your list contains books on steel, timber and masonry. But nothing on concrete. How come, I realise they might not be the most interesting read I the world?

 

[tonyuk]

"But nothing on concrete". Very simple: the programs we sell deal with steel and timber design thus the choice of books.

 

[Ussuri]

ahhh...that makes sense. I guess I should have paid more attention to your website.

 

[VTPE]

For steel, the Bible of text books is "Steel Structures Design and Behavior" by Salmon and Johnson. They answer almst every quesiton ever asked in both LRFD and antiquated stress design.

 

[archeng59]

in addition to the Salmon & Johnson text, I found an old steel design text from 1964. the primary authors were Lynn Beedle and Theodore Galambos. the text was published thru Lehigh University. the examples are dated, but it has some excellent structural engineering information.

 

[theonlynamenottaken]

As far as codes and material books the only one not mentioned above is

MacGregor/Wight, "Reinforced Concrete: Mechanics and Design" (the best concrete book I've ever encountered)

And two quick reference books I use daily:

Mikhelson, "Structural Engineering Formulas"

Sims, "Engineering Formulas"

 

[whyun]

"Mechanics of Materials" and "Engineering Mechanics of Solids", both by Egor Popov.

 

[henri2]

Ussuri,

Was Chas E. Reynold's Reinforced Concrete Designers Handbook ever updated?

 

[JStephen]

For some lighter reading, try Timoshenko's "History of the Strength of Materials", available cheaply from Dover Books. He also wrote a "History of the Theory of Elasticity", which I have not had a chance to read.

 

[rob768]

I think the technical library is pretty filled up by now, so I'll pass.

 

[Ussuri]

Henri2

I am not really sure. But I dont think so. The latest edition I am aware of is the 10th edition, which originally came out in 1988 to follow on from BS8110:1985. But Part 1 of BS8110 was updated in 1997 (Parts 2 and 3 weren't)and I don't think it was ever revised. I searched the catalogue of the British Library, if there was a newer one they should have it; but I came up empty.

It is still a useful book with many general formulae even if some of the exact detail is now slightly out of sync with the current british standard.

 

[CWEngineer]

Thanks for the info, it has been very valuable. I have already looked at some of the recommended books. Do you guys know what foundationg book is a must?

THANKS

 

[archeng59]

there are likely better texts, but I have Joseph Bowles' Foundation Analysis and Design.

 

[TFL]

any book with Dilbert on the cover