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Session 1526

Structural Engineering Workshop: A Curriculum of Real and Virtual Experiments

Douglas C. Stahl Richard A. DeVries Milwaukee School of Engineering

Abstract

Most design procedures for structural components and systems are based on specific behaviors prior to or including an ultimate failure mechanism. One of the critical steps in structural engineering education is to help students understand these behaviors. While some of the behaviors are rather obvious and can easily be described, many are not. To help undergraduates understand the causes and implications of these behaviors, the Structural Engineering Workshop will incorporate laboratory experiments with full-scale structural components into what are traditionally lecture-only upper division courses. Web-based multimedia material will help students place each experiment into context within the course and within the field of study. The Structural Engineering Workshop will also create a new level of continuity within our architectural engineering program, as content will be directed at students in all years of study in graphics, mechanics, analysis, management, and design courses. In addition, students in sophomore construction materials labs and construction methods labs will participate in the fabrication of test specimens.

I. Introduction

The best structural engineers are those that can combine an effective intuitive understanding of structural performance with a strong technical knowledge base. Educators should take advantage of students’ intuitive understanding of certain structural principles in the students’ first mechanics courses, the sophomore sequence of statics and strength of materials. Students come to these courses having already mastered the concept of equilibrium (…the concept of equilibrium, not the application of equilibrium…) through trial and error construction of block towers. They know Poisson’s ratio from Silly Putty. They have known all about basic structural failure theories since Goldilocks overloaded Baby Bear’s chair and the big bad wolf created design-level wind events. Unfortunately, it is harder to come up with good analogies in upper division courses. There aren’t many fairy tales that include the brittle failure of an over- reinforced concrete beam or plastic redistribution of moments in a continuous structure.

There seems to be a common thought among more experienced engineers that today’s college graduates are lacking in intuition. Ferguson1 presents the observation that engineering programs’ emphasis has changed during the past half-century, moving away from drawing studios, labs, shops, and plant visits, and focusing instead on lectures and abstract analysis. The shift has been from active exploring and discovery to passive learning from book and lecture. As a result, students today have “no reason to believe that curiosity about the physical meaning of the subjects they [are] studying [is] necessary.” He makes the case, as do Petroski2 and Backman3,

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DeVries, R. A., & Stahl, D. C. (2000, June), Structural Engineering Workshop: A Curriculum Of Real And Virtual Experiments Paper presented at 2000 Annual Conference, St. Louis, Missouri. 10.18260/1-2--8713