For example, a crane placed on top of a building is a static load (until it moves!). What is Static Loading in a Structure?Ī static load in a structure refers to any load, whether the weight of furnishings or another stationary load, that exerts itself on the structure. However, if the car begins to move, it becomes a dynamic load. FAQs What is an Example of a Static Load?Įxamples of static loads include the weight of a building bearing down on the ground or a car parked on a road. Other types of static load include filing cabinets or furniture that is placed on a floor or buildings on a bridge. walking around compared to jumping up and down). As soon as the people move, the load becomes dynamic and the stresses exerted on the lift start to vary depending on where the people are and how they are moving (i.e. Static loads, or dead loads, don’t change over time and include a wide range of different types of load.įor example, if people stand in a lift waiting for the doors to close, they exert a static load as they people and the lift are not moving relative to each other. The differing material strengths and properties help determine which applications they can be used for. This breaking point is known as the material’s ultimate tensile strength. Once this stress becomes too much for the material, microscopic fractures develop and grow as the stress continues to be applied until, eventually, the material breaks completely.

This stress is used as a measure of the force per unit area in a cross section of the material. The fundamental material properties can be tested to work out the maximum stress the material can handle. Materials and Load TestsĪll materials have limits as to how much compression or tension stress they can withstand before they yield or permanently deform. The equation of force is used in structural engineering to work out the force exerted by a dynamic load and create safety margins, such as with a roadside crash barrier used to prevent traffic from leaving a lane.Īs dynamic loads tend to change over time, static loading measurements are often used to simplify structural engineering calculations, with standards ensuring that structures can withstand the additional dynamic forces too. Despite this, as a general rule, dynamic loads exert more force than static loads. It was also found that the ratio of pipe displacement between static and dynamic loading decreased as the pipe stiffness increased. Some studies have shown that the amount of displacement in buried pipes can actually be greater with static loads than with moving loads in the long term. However, there are some instances where research on dynamic and static loading seem to show contradictory results, such as with buried pipes. Sudden deceleration also causes an increase in force, such as when a wrecking ball strikes a building. The equation of force (force = mass x acceleration) means that dynamic loads tend to have a greater impact on a structure than static loads. Dynamic analysis is used to determine dynamic loads and static analysis is used to determine static loads. The application of these forces determine whether they are dynamic or static, if applied quickly they count as dynamic and when applied slowly they are static. These forces can include anything from people to vehicles and furniture to wind, snow or other natural forces such as earthquakes. Structural analysis is concerned with both static and dynamic loading as it is used to determine how physical structures behave when subjected to force. National Structural Integrity Research Centre.Structural Integrity Research Foundation.

Static loading