Structural Mechanics: The Timeless Science Powering Tomorrow's Engineering Marvels

 Dallas O’Connor

When people talk about Civil Engineering, they often don’t know what it entails even though it existed far before it had a name. I can tell you from first-hand experience that any time I mention it I am asked one of three questions: “What is that”, “What do you do exactly”, or “So like bridges and stuff.” And I don’t blame them. Civil Engineering is something that everyone benefits from but not something people consciously appreciate and that’s OK. However, I have decided to dedicate my professional life to the topic for several reasons. The most important one being that you get to see your work impact people directly, every single day.

With that being said, the field I will be working in for the near future is structural engineering (basically designing reinforced concrete and steel structures). And when I say design I don’t mean aesthetically pleasing or interior design, I mean design that ensures a structure is strong enough to withstand its intended loads or forces (I have to explain that to people often too). Basically, I live in the world of physics called mechanics which is the branch of physics that examines how forces affect the motion, stability, and deformation of structures, ensuring they can withstand stress while remaining stable and safe. I don’t think many people understand that some civil engineers are, in some ways, applied physicists.

That alone is exciting to me and while the field of structural mechanics is far more understood than branches like quantum mechanics, there is still plenty to improve upon. Whether or not those improvements will be conducted by us or by AI is a different discussion altogether which can be discussed in all fields of science. This is especially true in theoretical physics as Hawking discussed in “Is the End in Sight for Theoretical Physics” when he predicted that technologies given “their recent rapid rate of development, it would seem quite possible that they will take over altogether in theoretical physics.”

But just because all of the disruptive discoveries related to mechanics (to our knowledge) have been uncovered, that does not mean the field won’t or shouldn’t continue to advance. Mechanics is one of the oldest fields of science which explains why it is well understood and while I agree with Horgan on the diminishing returns of “pure” science, I would argue that disruptive discoveries are nearly impossible to predict and are often sparked by unexpected observations.

Nevertheless, structural engineering is constantly advancing in applied science and building upon old science. A prime example of this is something structural engineers use nearly every day: design manuals. The computational methods used to estimate and predict material behavior are refined and updated every couple of years which is a testament to the advancement of such an old science. Methods like Finite Element Analysis which involves breaking down a complex structure into smaller, finite elements which are individually analyzed, and then combined to understand the overall response of the structure are also constantly being improved to more accurately model structural behavior.

A lot of the new, innovative work being done in the field is related to strengthening/extending the lifespan of materials themselves and implementing technology like never before. Most of the research being done involves, you guessed it, concrete. This is because concrete is the most used material in the world (behind water of course). Nature says about “30 billion tonnes of concrete is used each year” worldwide. However, concrete is extremely prone to damage via cracking and deterioration. Because of this, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has estimated that “the United States and Asian countries will require $22,000,000,000,00 and $20, 000,000,000,00 in structural repair over the next five years, respectively” (Meraz, Md Montaseer, et al.). So the demand for stronger, more durable, and smarter structures has never been so high. This has sparked fascinating research into topics like self-healing concrete. Self-healing concrete is an extremely interesting area of research that explores autogenous and autonomous healing. Autogenous self-healing concerns methods that involve unhydrated cement particles reacting with water when cracks form while autonomous self-healing refers to engineered solutions like tubular networks or capsules delivering chemical agents once damage occurs (Meraz, Md Montaseer, et al.).

While topics like these might not be exciting to many, they keep me fascinated and provide me with professional purpose. They may not be “disruptive” discoveries or inventing “pure” science yet they keep me optimistic for the future. While the days of pure discovery may soon be over, as long as there is science people are excited about, I don’t see the big deal.

References

“Concrete Needs to Lose Its Colossal Carbon Footprint.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 28 Sept. 2021, www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02612-5#:~:text=Alongside%20its%20strength%20and%20resilience,concrete%20is%20used%20each%20year. 

Horgan, J. (2019). Huge Study Confirms Science Ending! (Sort Of). John Horgan (The Science Writer). https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/yrb9e7uefpeqrlkiasoc6octxtnm5g

Hawking, S. (1981). Is the End in Sight for Theoretical Physics? Physics Bulletin, 32(15). 10.1088/0031-9112/32/1/024

Meraz, Md Montaseer, et al. “Self-healing concrete: Fabrication, advancement, and effectiveness for long-term integrity of concrete infrastructures.” Alexandria Engineering Journal, vol. 73, July 2023, pp. 665–694, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aej.2023.05.008.