Course Description
This course will explore qualitatively and quantitatively, methods of structural analysis used from the beginning of the Common Era through the Renaissance. The course will increase students' appreciation for the effectiveness of obsolete structural analysis methods. Participation in the course will prepare students for effective preservation of historic structures, by introducing the process by which these structures were conceived and designed. It will also enhance the participants' understanding of the basis of modern methods of structural analysis, by taking an evolutionary approach to the development of these methods.
The methods investigated will be both analytical and graphical. Coursework will be primarily problem-solving, but will include readings and commentary on original historical texts and articles.
Course Outline (Topic and Number of Lectures)
Introductions: Progress in Science, Scientific Paradigms, Examples 2
The Ancient World 2
Ancient Builders 2
Medieval Masonry; Problems of Medieval masonry; Proportions of Medieval Masonry 2
Medieval writings on engineering 2
Renaissance Architecture, Renaissance Engineering 2
Renaissance Analysis of Specific Elements, Beams, Trusses, Arches,
Mechanical Perspective 2
Graphic structural analysis 2
Graphic analysis of arches and domes 2
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