Structure Flashcards
A stable assembly of structural elements desgined and constructed to function as a whole in supporting and transmitting applied loads safely to the ground without exceeding the allowable stresses in the members.
Structure
A structural member having a length that dominates its other two dimensions.
Linear Structure
A structural member having a length and width that dominates its thickness.
Surface structure
Of or pertaining to a structure or structural member having a shape that does not change appreciable under action of an applied load or changing loads.
Rigid
A structure or structural member that redirects external forces primarily through the bulk and continuity of its material, such as a beam or column,
Bulk-active structure,
A structure that redirects external forces primarily through the composition of tension and compression members, such as a truss.
Vector-active structure
A structure that redirects external forces primarily along the continuity of a surface, such as a plate or shell.
Surface-active structure
Of or pertaining to a structure or structural member characterized by a lack of stiffness and having a shape that responds to changes in loading.
Flexible
A structure or structural member that redirects external forces primarily through the form of its material, such as an arch or cable.
Form-active structure
Contraction of tensional integrity; aterm attributed to Buckminster Fuller, describing a structure whose stability is based on a balance between tensile and compressive forces.
Tensegrity
A closed skeletal structural system composed of a set of three or more discontinuous compressive struts within a network of tensile tendons; no structural member experiences bending.
tensegrity structure
One of the constituent parts into which a structure may be resolved by analysis, having a unitary character and exhibiting a unique behavior under an applied load.
Structural Member
A structural member subject primarily to compressive forces.
Compression Member
A structural member designed primarily to resist longitudinal compression.
Strut

A structural member subject primarily to tensile forces.
Tension member
A tension member designed to keep two structural members from spreading or separating.
Tie
A structural member subject primarily to transverse forces.
Bending Member
Of or pertaining to a structure or structural member having a load-carrying mechanism that acts in one direction only.
One-way
Of or pertaining to a structure or structural member having a load-carrying mechanism that acts in two or more directions.
Two-way
A discrete structure or assembly of structural members forming a spatial volume.
Structural Unit
A major spatial division, usually one of a series, marked or partitioned off by the principal vertical supports of a structure.
Bay
A grid defining the principal points or lines of support for a structural system.
Structural Grid
A structural grid having regularly repeating bays in two directions.
Regular Grid
A structural pattern consisting of two grids offset from each other and creating interstitial spaces between the bays.
Double grid