1. A History and Description of Structural Engineering
Nicolas Woodall
Fall 2015 Semester
EGN1004L
First Year Engineering Lab
Section 5

2. The field of structural engineering is a multifaceted field which involves the overall
designing and creation of any structure, whether it be on a nanoscale level or the size of a space
launch vehicle. The field has a deep history ranging from the age of the Egyptian empires to the
Industrial Revolution, giving rise to what we know today as structural engineering. The
practitioners of this field, structural engineers, “design, create, solve problems, innovate and use
maths and science to shape the world”1
. They work on numerous projects, including aerospace,
building, nanoscale and mechanical structures, and many other construction topics.
Structural engineering's earliest form originated in ancient Egypt, with the earliest
structural engineers being the men who designed the pyramids. These proto-engineers, the first
one known as Imhotep, used limestone blocks in particular due to the material behaving
favorably when under the compression of large amounts of pressure. Several millennia later,
during the Industrial Revolution, many up and coming mathematicians and scientists contributed
to the advancement of the field through their discoveries, such as Newton's Laws of Motion and
Leonhard Euler's mathematical achievements. Without these advancements, we would still lack a
fundamental understanding of the physics behind designing and creating structures.
Today, structural engineers are very active in many fields. To become one, a minimum of
a four year bachelor's degree is required. Within those four years, high-level math courses such
as trigonometry and calculus are required, in addition to many engineering-specific classes and
scientific classes. English classes are also required, because, “the ability to write clearly and
concisely is an important skill to have in the engineer’s toolkit. If there is a choice between
taking classes on composition and literature, the composition classes will ultimately serve the
1 No author, n.d. , “What is structural engineering?”, https://www.istructe.org/education/structural-engineering-explained

3. student better in their career”2
. During that career, structural engineers can find themselves
working in the aerospace, architecture, and nanotechnology, and civil engineering fields.
In the field of aerospace engineering, structural engineers must have a bachelor's degree
in aerospace engineering before specializing in structural. These kinds of engineers are known as
aerospace structural engineers. Their work entails the design and modification of aircraft,
missile, and spaceraft/space habitat structures. Examples of this kind of work include the truss
design of the Integrated Truss Structure (ITS) for the International Space Station (ISS), the
Phoenix Mars Lander, the Atlas, Delta and Titan missiles, as well as the wing and material
structure of the Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornet (air to air strike jet). Lastly, aerospace structural
engineers inspect damaged or malfunctioning products, write operational manuals for their
products, and can also serve as chief engineering officers when they become senior enough.
Structural engineers working with the structural design and construction of buildings are
dubbed “building engineers.” These engineers are responsible for the structural performance of a
building when put under stress. Building engineers must be experts in the study of material
strength and seismic design, since they can be expected to design and create buildings, bridges,
towers and walls. This type of structural engineering requires a bachelor’s degree in either civil
or architectural engineering, since all three of the fields are closely related to each other.
Oftentimes structural engineers will work very closely with architectural engineers, due to one
having more expertise in their area than the other. Examples of projects that involved both
architectural and structural engineers include the Sydney Opera House, the Beijing National
Stadium (also known as the “Bird's Nest”), and the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
2 No author, (2012, April 26), “How to Become a Structural Engineer,” http://www.civilengineeringcareers.org/how-to-
become-a-structural-engineer

4. (Fig. 1 & 2 – P3/P4 Truss Desgin & Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet; note how the P3/P4 truss is
designed to evenly distribute the force of a potential impact, as well as how the materials
composing the Super Hornet give greater tensile strength in those respective areas.)

5. Structural engineers working in the nanotechnology field work on the cutting-edge of
both science and engineering. An excellent example can found in this article from the website
called, “nanowerk:”
...Julia Green, professor of materials science and mechanics, calls a fractal nanotruss—
nano because the structures are made up of members that are as thin as five nanometers
(five billionths of a meter); truss because they are carefully architected structures
that might one day be used in structural engineering materials...
Taking advantage of some of the size effects that many materials display at the nanoscale,
these nanotrusses can have unusual, desirable qualities. For example, intrinsically brittle
materials, like ceramics, including the alumina shown, can be made deformable so
that they can be crushed and still rebound to their original state without global failure. 3
This topic directly relates to the field of structural engineering in two ways: the designing of a truss, as
well as the use of the nanotruss as a building material. Structural engineers are sometimes required to
design truss systems (which will be explained in greater detail later on), in order to completely understand
the structure they are creating. As for the use of nanotrusses as a building material, if this material is to be
used in future construction, structural engineers will need a general understand of how the material works
as well as how to properly apply it (a photograph of a nanotruss is on the following page, from the same
article).
3 K. Fesenmaier, (2014, May 26), “Nanoscale truss work,” http://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-
news/newsid=35733.php

6. (Fig. 3 & 3.5 – Electron microscope of nanotruss structure.)

7. Much like that of the other sub-fields of structural engineering, mechanical structural
engineers work on any structure involving mechanical systems, including boiler structures,
cranes, elevators, and any other system involving a basic understanding of structural systems.
They are also tasked with developing, testing, evaluating and creating aerospace structures
(differing from aerospace structural engineering) and marine structures4
Mechanical structural
engineers also design, evaluate and create the aforementioned structures. In order to become a
mechanical structural engineer, a student must complete a bachelor's degree in mechanical
engineering, and then proceed to focus in structural engineering.
Specifically speaking, mechanical structural engineers working in the marine structural
engineering subset can typically find themselves designing and evaluating sea-based mechanical
structures such as oil rigs and other mechanical structures at sea. They can also find themselves
working on projects involving autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), remote operated
vehicles (ROVs), pressure vessels for human occupancy (PVHO), as well as deep-water manned
vessels and umbilical design and production.5
Many other examples exist of marine structural
engineering, such as the bulkhead design of ships and submarines and the superstructures aboard
modern Naval vessels. As for the aerospace aspect of mechanical structural engineering, these
structural engineers are tasked with designing, testing, evaluating and creating mechanical
aerospace structures, such as the the placement of rotors in the aileron portion of the wing on an
aircraft. They also work with aerospace structural engineers very closely on many of the same
projects.
(See next page for examples of marine structural engineering, figures 4 and 4.5)
4 T. Fey, (n.d.), “Structural Engineering,” http://www.swri.org/4org/d18/struceng/home.htm
5 Ibid, under “Marine Structures and Engineering”

9. Out of the many specializations in the field of engineering, structural engineering proves
that many of the subdivisions of engineering overlap in many different ways. For example,
aerospace engineering and aerospace structural engineering overlap in the design and creation of
mechanical and structural aerospace applications. Mechanical engineering and mechanical
structural engineering cross paths in the design and creation of mechanical systems that require
certain structures to house them. Marine structural engineering overlaps with both mechanical
engineering and mechanical structural engineering in that all three involve designing, creating
and evaluating mechanical systems and structures, although with regards to marine structural
engineering those structures and systems are sea-based.
In summation, the diverse field of structural engineering goes far beyond and is much
more detailed than what it might appear to be. Although the requirements to become a structural
engineer are extremely similar to, if not the same as other engineering fields. There are a
multitude of different specializations that structural engineers can find themselves working in;
each discipline is intertwined and interdependent, one requiring knowledge, expertise and
experience from the other. At the end of the day, all engineers, whether they be structural,
architectural, mechanical, or marine engineers, are simply engineers.

10. References
J. Camillo, (2012, August 1), "Aerospace Fastening in the 21st Century,"
http://www.assemblymag.com/articles/90348-aerospace-fastening-in-the-21st-century
K. Fesenmaier, (2014, May 26), “Nanoscale truss work,”
http://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-news/newsid=35733.php
L. Stonecypher, (2009, November 25), "Essentials of Structural Engineering,"
http://www.brighthubengineering.com/structural-engineering/43152-essentials-of-
structural-engineering/
No author, (n.d.) , “What is structural engineering?”,
https://www.istructe.org/education/structural-engineering-explained
No author, (2012, April 26), “How to Become a Structural Engineer,”
http://www.civilengineeringcareers.org/how-to-become-a-structural-engineer
No author, (n.d.), "Integrated Truss Structure,"
http://datab.us/i/Integrated%20Truss%20Structure
T. Fey, (n.d.), “Structural Engineering,” http://www.swri.org/4org/d18/struceng/home.htm
V. Sauoma, (n.d.), "Lecture Notes in: Structural Engineering Analysis and Design,"
http://ceae.colorado.edu/~saouma/Lecture-Notes/se.pdf
Z. Mandalios. (2013, May 16), "Oil & Gas drilling platforms - Semi-submersible,"
http://www.oil-jobs-recruitment.com/oil-gas/oil-gas-drilling-platforms-semi-
submersibles/