Structural Engineering

By Roma Agrawal, award-winning structural engineer of the Shard, explores the hidden world of engineering behind our built environment. Blending science, history, and personal stories, she reveals how structures—from ancient mud huts to modern skyscrapers—are designed and built, highlighting the visionaries, materials, and innovations that shape our world.

Explores the collaborative relationship between architects and engineers in shaping structural form. The first part covers sources of design inspiration, including nature, intuition, precedents, structural principles, physical models, and new tools and materials. The second part features real-world case studies and interviews highlighting interdisciplinary teamwork. The book emphasizes how evolving design tools, construction methods, and sustainability goals influence modern structural thinking, making it essential reading for architects, engineers, and anyone interested in the conceptual side of structural design.

Provides structural engineers with practical guidance to assess and prevent progressive and disproportionate collapse in both new and existing structures. It explains collapse mechanisms, outlines relevant U.S. and European codes, and offers model guidelines applicable to various structure types. The book also includes updated measures of robustness and extended design applications for long bridges and tall buildings, making it a comprehensive resource for enhancing structural safety.

This book examines the behavior of composite and nanocomposite materials under cyclic loading, a key issue in fields like aerospace, automotive, and civil engineering. It highlights the limitations of traditional fatigue life criteria and addresses challenges such as fatigue damage, structural instability, and high-temperature cyclic creep. The text introduces new phenomenological models that reflect the dynamic nature of fatigue compared to the quasi-static process of creep. These models offer improved methods for predicting damage and lifespan in time-dependent materials. Emphasizing the impact of high-frequency loading and the need for advanced analysis, the book is supported by practical design examples and is intended for engineers, researchers, code developers, and educators.