Notes From Class
Notes From Class
Week 1: January 27, 29 and 31, 2025.
In-person Instruction: January 27, 29 and 31.
Case Study:
Jakarta is home to 10.9 million people and the capital city of Indonesia.
It is also the fastest sinking city in the world (sinking 10 inches per year in places).
Google: Jakarta sinking
Sinking Cities within US:
New Orleans, 2 inches per year;
Houston, 0.8 inches per year;
Virginia Beach, 12 inches in the past 50 years;
Miami, 12 inches in the past 100 years.
Week 2: February 3, 5 and 7, 2025.
In-person Instruction: February 3 and 5
Homework Assistance: February 7.
Week 3: February 10, 12, and 14, 2025.
In-person Instruction: February 10 and 12.
In-person Review/Homework Assistance: February 14.
Handout: Types of Trusses
Example: Method of Joints .
Example: Method of Sections .
Handout: Analysis of Statically Determinate Structures
Handout: Truss Analysis Tutorial
Week 4: February 17, 19, and 21, 2025.
In-person Instruction: Feb. 17 and 19.
In-person Review/Homework Assistance: February 21.
Week 5: February 24, 26 and 28, 2025.
In-person Instruction: February 24 and 26.
Homework Assistance: February 28.
Week 6: March 3, 5, and 7, 2025.
In-person Instruction: March 3.
Solutions to Midterm 1 exams that were on-line (12 hr format):
Solutions to Midterm I Exam,
Fall Semester, 2020 (pdf)
Solutions to Midterm I Exam,
Spring Semester, 2021 (pdf)
Solutions to Midterm I Exam,
Fall Semester, 2023 (pdf)
Solutions to Midterm I Exam,
Spring Semester, 2024 (pdf)
Solutions to Midterm I Exam,
Fall Semester, 2024 (pdf).
Two questions covering computation of indeterminacy, support reactions,
bending moment diagrams, tensile and compressive element-level forces.
NOTE: You have 12 hrs to complete and return the exam.
Please make sure your name and e-mail are clearly written on the first page.
Open book and open notes. University rules on academic integrity apply.
Good luck!
Instructions for Submitting Midterm I: See details on ENCE353 home page.
NOTE ON EXAM DATE:
I am proposing March 5 for Midterm I, but I realize there
might be conflicts with religious commitments.
So please let me know and we adjust accordingly.
Week 7: March 10, 12, and 14, 2024.
In-person Instruction: March 10 and 12.
Homework Assistance: March 14.
Change of topic: for the next two weeks we will cover analysis of arch
structures followed by analysis of cable structures.
See, in particular, the notes and video on parabolic arches -- definitely the coolest part of this course --
and links (below) to recently developed projects.
Rough timeline:
There is a nice write-up of the history and development of the arch on Wikipedia.
The principal architect, Eero Saarinen, also designed the terminal building at Washington Dulles Airport.
Timeline:
Looking beyond the Washington DC region, arch bridges are definitely in vogue, e.g.,
Week 8: March 17, 19 and 21, 2025.
Week 9: March 24, 26 and 28, 2024.
In-person Instruction: March 24 and 26.
In-person Review/Homework Session: March 28.
As noted above, architect Eero Saarinen worked on the design of Dulles Airport during the 1950s, some 20-odd
years after completing the St. Louis Arch. You can see the influences of his previous work
in the shape of the cantilever supports.
What's really amazing is that this structure was designed without the aid of modern computational analysis
tools (i.e., no Matlab), relying instead on "first principles of engineering" (equilibrium)
and the construction of small-scale models.
See, in particular, slides 12-15 and 22-24 of this
handout .
Slide 24 shows that foundation level of the structure essentially acts as a huge deep beam,
with tensile forces at the lower-most sections of the ground slab carried by reinforcing/prestressed cables.
Week 10: March 31. April 2 and 4, 2025.
In-person Instruction: March 31 and April 2.
In-person Review/Homework Session: April 4.
Week 11: April 7, 9 and 11, 2025.
In-person Instruction: April 7 and 9.
In-person Review/Homework Session: April 11.
Just read Section 6.1 to see the connection between
energy methods (specifically kinetic and potential energy) and
the derivation of equations of motion from applications in physics.
Week 12: April 14, 16 and 18, 2025.
In-person Midterm Review: April 14.
NOTE: You have 12 hrs to complete and return the exam. Please make sure your name and e-mail are clearly written on the first page.
Open book and open notes. University rules on academic integrity apply.
Three questions covering principle of superposition,
and computation of displacements via integration of
beam differential equations and/or moment area.
Instructions for Submitting Midterm II: See details on ENCE353 home page.
Week 13: April 21, 23 and 25, 2025.
In-person Instruction: April 21 and 23.
In-person Homework Assistance: April 25.
Week 14: April 28 and 30. May 2, 2025.
In-person Instruction: April 28 and 30.
In-person Homework Assistance: May 2.
Week 15: May 5, 7 and 9, 2025.
In-person Instruction: May 5 and 7, 2025.
In-person Homework Assistance: May 9.
Week 16: May 12, 2025.
In-person Instruction: May 12, 2025 ...
FINAL EXAM:
NOTE: You have 24 hrs to complete and return the exam.
Please make sure your name is clearly written on the first page.
Cross out the two questions that you do not want marked.
Open book and open notes. University rules on academic integrity apply.
Six questions: Question 1 is compulsory. Do three of the remaining five questions.
Topics include: Moment area, virtual forces, virtual displacements, force method
and flexibility matrices.
Submitting the Final Exam: See details on ENCE353 home page.
Last Modified: January 20, 2025,
Copyright © 2025, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland.
