There are five fundamental structural forms: truss, beam, frame, surface, and cable. Each of these essential elements has its unique properties.
Basic Structure Units
Composite Structures
We can say that almost every structure that man has built is a combination of the essential five elements we talked about:
- A house/building/or tower may consist of a frame, shells, and a truss.
- A beam bridge may combine beams, frames, and shell units.
- A cable bridge may connect a typical beam bridge with cables.
- A retaining wall may combine a frame unit and a shell structure.
When these individual units form a more prominent structure, these are composite structures.
Summary
Let's summarize:
There are five fundamental structural forms: truss, beam, frame, cable, and shell.
When we build a structure with two or more essential elements, it is a composite structure.
