The History of the Theory of Structures

Searching for Equilibrium

Karl-Eugen Kurrer, Philip Thrift

• Publisher: Ernst & Sohn
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9783433032299
• eBook ISBN: 9783433609132
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Civil Engineering
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Ten years after the publication of the first English edition of The History of the Theory of Structures, Dr. Kurrer now gives us a much enlarged second edition with a new subtitle: Searching for Equilibrium. The author invites the reader to take part in a journey through time to explore the equilibrium of structures. That journey starts with the emergence of the statics and strength of materials of Leonardo da Vinci and Galileo, and reaches its first climax with Coulomb's structural theories for beams, earth pressure and arches in the late 18th century. Over the next 100 years, Navier, Culmann, Maxwell, Rankine, Mohr, Castigliano and Müller-Breslau moulded theory of structures into a fundamental engineering science discipline that - in the form of modern structural mechanics - played a key role in creating the design languages of the steel, reinforced concrete, aircraft, automotive and shipbuilding industries in the 20th century. In his portrayal, the author places the emphasis on the formation and development of modern numerical engineering methods such as FEM and describes their integration into the discipline of computational mechanics.
Brief insights into customary methods of calculation backed up by historical facts help the reader to understand the history of structural mechanics and earth pressure theory from the point of view of modern engineering practice. This approach also makes a vital contribution to the teaching of engineers.
Dr. Kurrer manages to give us a real feel for the different approaches of the players involved through their engineering science profiles and personalities, thus creating awareness for the social context. The 260 brief biographies convey the subjective aspect of theory of structures and structural mechanics from the early years of the modern era to the present day. Civil and structural engineers and architects are well represented, but there are also biographies of mathematicians, physicists, mechanical engineers and aircraft and ship designers. The main works of these protagonists of theory of structures are reviewed and listed at the end of each biography. Besides the acknowledged figures in theory of structures such as Coulomb, Culmann, Maxwell, Mohr, Müller-Breslau, Navier, Rankine, Saint-Venant, Timoshenko and Westergaard, the reader is also introduced to G. Green, A. N. Krylov, G. Li, A. J. S. Pippard, W. Prager, H. A. Schade, A. W. Skempton, C. A. Truesdell, J. A. L. Waddell and H. Wagner. The pioneers of the modern movement in theory of structures, J. H. Argyris, R. W. Clough, T. v. Kármán, M. J. Turner and O. C. Zienkiewicz, are also given extensive biographical treatment. A huge bibliography of about 4,500 works rounds off the book.
New content in the second edition deals with earth pressure theory, ultimate load method, an analysis of historical textbooks, steel bridges, lightweight construction, theory of plates and shells, Green's function, computational statics, FEM, computer-assisted graphical analysis and historical engineering science. The number of pages now exceeds 1,200 - an increase of 50% over the first English edition.
This book is the first all-embracing historical account of theory of structures from the 16th century to the present day.

Chapter 1
The tasks and aims of a historical study of the theory of structures

FIGURE 1 - 1 Drawing by Edoardo Benvenuto

Until the 1990s, the history of theory of structures (Fig. 1-1) attracted only marginal interest from historians. At conferences dealing with the history of science and technology, but also in relevant journals and other publications, the interested reader could find only isolated papers investigating the origins, the chronology, the cultural involvement and the social significance of theory of structures. This gap in our awareness of the history of theory of structures has a passive character; most observers still assume that the stability of structures is guaranteed a priori, that, so to speak, structural analysis wisdom is intrinsic to the structure, is absorbed by it, indeed disappears, never to be seen again. This is not a suppressive act on the part of the observer, instead is due to the nature of building itself – theory of structures had appeared at the start of the Industrial Revolution, claiming to be a “mechanics derived from the nature of building itself ” [Gerstner, 1789, p. 4].

Only in the event of failure are the formers of public opinion reminded of structural analysis. Therefore, the historical development of theory of structures followed in the historical footsteps of modern building, with the result that the historical contribution of theory of structures to the development of building was given more or less attention in the structural engineering-oriented history of building, and therefore was included in this.

The history of science, too, treats the history of theory of structures as a sideline. Indeed, if theory of structures as a whole is noticed at all, it is only in the sense of one of the many applications of mechanics. Structural engineering, a profession that includes theory of structures as a fundamental engineering science discipline, only rarely finds listeners outside its own discipline.

Today, theory of structures is, on the one hand, more than ever before committed to formal operations with symbols, and remains invisible to many users of structural design programs. On the other hand, some attempts to introduce formal teaching into theory of structures fail because the knowledge about its historical development is not adequate to define the real object of theory of structures. Theory of structures is therefore a necessary but unpopular project.

Notwithstanding, a historical study of theory of structures has been gradually coming together from various directions since the early 1990s. The first highlight was the conference “Historical Perspectives on Structural Analysis” – the world’s first conference on the history of theory of structures – organised by Santiago Huerta and held in Madrid in December 2005. The conference proceedings (Fig. 1-2) demonstrates that the history of theory of structures already possesses a number of the features important to an engineering science discipline and can be said to be experiencing its constitutional phase. Another significant contribution to the historical study of theory of structures is the series of congresses initiated by Santiago Huerta in Madrid in 2003 and entitled “International Congress on Construction History”, with events held every three years.

FIGURE 1 - 2 Cover of the proceedings of the first conference on the history of theory of structures (2005)

Articles examining the analysis of masonry loadbearing structures from the perspective of a historical theory of structures also appear in the International Journal of Architectural Heritage, published bimonthly by Taylor & Francis since 2007. There are also essays on the history of theory of structures in Engineering History and Heritage, a journal published quarterly since 2009 by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) as part of its Proceedings. When it comes to articles in German, it has been principally the journals Bautechnik, Beton- und Stahlbetonbau and Stahlbau – all published by Ernst & Sohn – that keep alive the interest in a historical study of construction in general and theory of structures in particular.

Following Geschichte der Baustatik (history of theory of structures, 2002) and the much more comprehensive study The History of the Theory of Structures. From Arch Analysis to Computational Mechanics (2008) by this author, it was the turn of Max Herzog to present his Kurze Geschichte der Baustatik und der Baudynamik in der Praxis (brief history of theory of structures and construction dynamics in practice) [Herzog, 2010].

The above publications dealing with the history of theory of structures form one of the cornerstones of the scientific history of building, which has yet to get off the ground and together with the technical history of construction could form the scientific discipline of the history of building.

1.1 Internal scientific tasks

Like every scientific cognition process, the engineering science cognition process in theory of structures also embraces history in so far as the idealised reproduction of the scientific development included within the status of knowledge of an area of study forms a necessary basis for new scientific ideas; science is genuinely historical. Reflecting on the genesis and development of the object of theory of structures always then becomes an element in the engineering science cognition process when rival, or rather coexistent, theories are subsumed in a more abstract theory – possibly by a basic theory of a fundamental engineering science discipline. Therefore, the question of the inner consistency of the more abstract theory, which is closely linked with this broadening of the area of study, is also a question of the historical evolution. In the middle of the establishment phase of theory of structures (1850 –1875), Saint-Venant’s monumental historical and critical commentary [Saint-Venant, 1864] of the first section of the second edition of Navier’s Résumé des leçons [Navier, 1833] was the first publication to shed light on historical elastic theory as the very essence of historical engineering science [Kurrer, 2012, pp. 51 – 52]. The classification of the essential properties of technical artefacts or artefact classes reflected in theoretical models is inherent in the formation of structural analysis theories. This gives rise to the task of the historically weighted comparison and criticism of the theoretical approaches, theoretical models and theories, especially in those structural analysis theory formation processes that grew very sluggishly, e. g. masonry arch theory. Examples of this are Emil Winkler’s historico-logical analysis of masonry arch theories [Winkler, 1879/1880] and Fritz Kötter’s evolution of earth pressure theories [Kötter, 1893] in the classical phase of theory of structures (1875 –1900).

In their history of strength of materials, Todhunter and Pearson had good reasons for focusing on elastic theory [Todhunter & Pearson, 1886 & 1893], which immediately became the foundation for materials theory in applied mechanics as well as theory of structures in its discipline-formation period (1825 –1900) and was able to sustain its position as a fundamental theory in these two primary engineering science disciplines during the consolidation period (1900 –1950). The mathematical elastic theory first appeared in 1820 in the shape of Navier’s Mémoire sur la flexion des plans élastiques (Fig. 1-3). It inspired Cauchy and others to contribute significantly to the establishment of the scientific structure of elastic theory and induced a paradigm change in the constitution phase of theory of structures (1825 –1850), which was essentially complete by the middle of the establishment phase of theory of structures (1850 –1875). One important outcome of the discipline-formation period of theory of structures (1825 –1900) was the constitution of the discipline’s own conception of its epistemology – and elastic theory was a substantial part of this. Theory of structures thus created for itself the prerequisite to help define consciously the development of construction on the disciplinary scale. And looked at from the construction side, Gustav Lang approached the subject in his evolutionary portrayal of the interaction between loadbearing assemblies and theory of structures in the 19th century [Lang, 1890] – the first mono...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Foreword of the series editors
• Foreword
• Preface to the second English edition
• About this series
• About the series editors
• About the author
• Chapter 1: The tasks and aims of a historical study of the theory of structures
• 1.1 Internal scientific tasks
• 1.2 Practical engineering tasks
• 1.3 Didactic tasks
• 1.4 Cultural tasks
• 1.5 Aims
• 1.6 An invitation to take part in a journey through time to search for the equilibrium of loadbearing structures
• Chapter 2: Learning from history: 12 introductory essays
• 2.1 What is theory of structures?
• 2.2 From the lever to the trussed framework
• 2.3 The development of higher engineering education
• 2.4 A study of earth pressure on retaining walls
• 2.5 Insights into bridge-building and theory of structures in the 19th century
• 2.6 The industrialisation of steel bridge-building between 1850 and 1900
• 2.7 Influence lines
• 2.8 The beam on elastic supports
• 2.9 Displacement method
• 2.10 Second-order theory
• 2.11 Ultimate load method
• 2.12 Structural law – Static law – Formation law
• Chapter 3: The first fundamental engineering science disciplines: theory of structures and applied mechanics
• 3.1 What is engineering science?
• 3.2 Subsuming the encyclopaedic in the system of classical engineering sciences: five case studies from applied mechanics and theory of structures
• Chapter 4: From masonry arch to elastic arch
• 4.1 The arch allegory
• 4.2 The geometrical thinking behind the theory of masonry arch bridges
• 4.3 From wedge to masonry arch or the addition theorem of wedge theory
• 4.4 From the analysis of masonry arch collapse mechanisms to voussoir rotation theory
• 4.5 The line of thrust theory
• 4.6 The breakthrough for elastic theory
• 4.7 Ultimate load theory for masonry arches
• 4.8 The finite element method
• 4.9 The studies of Holzer
• 4.10 On the epistemological status of masonry arch theories
• Chapter 5: The history of earth pressure theory
• 5.1 Retaining walls for fortifications
• 5.2 Earth pressure theory as an object of military engineering
• 5.3 Modifications to Coulomb earth pressure theory
• 5.4 The contribution of continuum mechanics
• 5.5 Earth pressure theory from 1875 to 1900
• 5.6 Experimental earth pressure research
• 5.7 Earth pressure theory in the discipline-formation period of geotechnical engineering
• 5.8 Earth pressure theory in the consolidation period of geotechnical engineering
• 5.9 Earth pressure theory in the integration period of geotechnical engineering
• Chapter 6: The beginnings of a theory of structures
• 6.1 What is the theory of strength of materials?
• 6.2 On the state of development of theory of structures and strength of materials in the Renaissance
• 6.3 Galileo’s Dialogue
• 6.4 Developments in strength of materials up to 1750
• 6.6 The formation of a theory of structures: Eytelwein and Navier
• 6.7 Adoption of Navier’s analysis of the continuous beam
• Chapter 7: The discipline-formation period of theory of structures
• 7.1 Clapeyron’s contribution to the formation of the classical engineering sciences
• 7.2 The completion of the practical beam theory
• 7.3 From graphical statics to graphical analysis
• 7.4 The classical phase of theory of structures
• 7.5 Theory of structures at the transition from the discipline-formation to the consolidation period
• 7.6 Lord Rayleigh’s The Theory of Sound and Kirpitchev’s fundamentals of classical theory of structures
• 7.7 The Berlin school of theory of structures
• Chapter 8: From construction with iron to modern structural steelwork
• 8.1 Torsion theory in iron construction and theory of structures from 1850 to 1900
• 8.2 Crane-building at the focus of mechanical and electrical engineering, steel construction and theory of structures
• 8.3 Torsion theory in the consolidation period of theory of structures (1900 – 1950)
• 8.4 Searching for the true buckling theory in steel construction
• 8.5 Steelwork and steelwork science from 1925 to 1975
• 8.6 Eccentric orbits – the disappearance of the centre
• Chapter 9: Member analysis conquers the third dimension: the spatial framework
• 9.1 The emergence of the theory of spatial frameworks
• 9.2 Spatial frameworks in an age of technical reproducibility
• 9.3 Dialectic synthesis of individual structural composition and large-scale production
• Chapter 10: Reinforced concrete’s influence on theory of structures
• 10.1 The first design methods in reinforced concrete construction
• 10.2 Reinforced concrete revolutionises the building industry
• 10.3 Theory of structures and reinforced concrete
• 10.4 Prestressed concrete: “Une révolution dans l’art de bâtir” (Freyssinet)
• 10.5 Paradigm change in reinforced concrete design in the Federal Republic of Germany, too
• 10.6 Revealing the invisible: reinforced concrete design with truss models
• Chapter 11: The consolidation period of theory of structures
• 11.1 The relationship between text, image and symbol in theory of structures
• 11.2 The development of the displacement method
• 11.3 The rationalisation movement in theory of structures
• 11.4 Konrad Zuse and the automation of structural calculations
• 11.5 Matrix formulation
• Chapter 12: The development and establishment of computational statics
• 12.1 “The computer shapes the theory” (Argyris) – the historical roots of the finite element method
• 12.2 The matrix algebra reformulation of structural mechanics
• 12.3 FEM – formation of a general technology of engineering science theory
• 12.4 The founding of FEM through variational principles
• 12.5 Back to the roots
• 12.6 Computational mechanics
• Chapter 13: Thirteen scientific controversies in mechanics and theory of structures
• 13.1 The scientific controversy
• 13.2 Thirteen disputes
• 13.3 Résumé
• Chapter 14: Perspectives for a historical theory of structures
• 14.1 Theory of structures and aesthetics
• 14.2 Historical engineering science – historical theory of structures
• Chapter 15: Brief biographies of 260 protagonists of theory of structures
• Bibliography
• Name index
• Subject index
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