Introduction to the calculation of the loads | Building Construction

Load Calculations | Types of Loads

Students find it difficult to understand the concept of loads although it is a very simple concept. We are going to write a series of articles on “Load Calculations” and help you all in understanding different types of loads that are to be considered for structural designing and also how to calculate them.

In this article, we will discuss different types of loads with examples.

In our next article, we will cover the following points:

An object is subject to mainly two types of forces:

  1. Live loads
  2. Dead loads

Basically, an object subject to any type of force which could be gravitational force (weight), pressure or anything affects the object is called a load.

This concept is used in Mechanical and structural engineering. Let’s take in terms of Structural Engineering. Whenever a structure is designed, these concepts are taken into consideration because real world objects are analyzed in order to design the structure. This is very important in terms of structural stability.

What are “Dead loads”?

As the name itself suggests, dead loads could be termed as self weight of the non-living objects. It could be the weight of the materials, equipments or any other components in the structure that will remain permanent throughout the life of the structure.

Dead load has to be considered in order to make the structural design accordingly. Dead loads vary from structure to structure. Every building is unique and has different considerations.

An additional load is considered in case additional forces build up in a structure in case of settlement or due to secondary effects of pre-stress construction or due to shrinkage of concrete.

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