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You must understand the meaning of ‘struts, and ‘ties’ as these are always mentioned in examinations. All structures have forces acting on them. You should have an understanding of tensile, compressive and shear forces (see previous sheet). The part of the structure that has a tensile force acting on it is called a TIE and the part that has a compressive force acting on it is called a STRUT. |
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WALL The beam is held in position
by a steel rod. The weight of the beam is stretching the rod (tensile
force). |
ROOF The roof beams are under pressure
from the weight of the tiles on the roof (compressive force). |
FLAGPOLE The wires on either side of the
flagpole are being stretched (tensile force). |
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In the diagram opposite, forces act across the entire length of the beam (it bends because of the 'ton' weight). When a structure bends like this it is in tension as it is being stretched. |
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1. Draw an example of a structure and identify
which part(s) are in tension and which are in compression. |
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