Calculus in construction

[dh11]

Hello! I was hoping someone could tell me how calculus is used in construction. I have to write a short paper for my calculus class on how calculus is related to other fields. Constuction was one of the options we could write about.. and seemed to be the most interesting. I can't seem to find anything that could help. I found this forum and thought maybe someone here could possibly help.

Thanks! :)

[Don_P]

Check out a book on engineering mechanics if you want to go in that direction or you might want to try the Forest Products Labs if wood technology is more what you had in mind. A good text to start with would be their "Wood Handbook"
http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplgtr/fplgtr113/fplgtr113.htm
This is a brochure from their statistics research unit,
http://www1.fpl.fs.fed.us/brochure.html

[Joe Bartok]

Hello! I was hoping someone could tell me how calculus is used in construction. I have to write a short paper for my calculus class on how calculus is related to other fields. Constuction was one of the options we could write about.. and seemed to be the most interesting. I can't seem to find anything that could help. I found this forum and thought maybe someone here could possibly help.

Thanks! :)
Calculus is applied in construction many ways. This could go on and on ... I'll try to keep it brief ... :-D

Circle Section Integrals (http://ca.geocities.com/xpf51/LOG_BEAM_SECTIONS/CIRCLE_SECTION_INTEGRALS.pdf) ... the areas, first moments of area, second moments of area and section moduli of beams of circular and elliptical section. The formulas above were incorporated in this Second Moment of Area of a Triangle revolved about its Neutral Axis (http://ca.geocities.com/xpf51/MATHREF/TRIANGLE_REV.html). Click here to view formulas and diagrams (http://ca.geocities.com/xpf51/MATHREF/TC_FORMULAS.html). Integration may of course be applied to other cross sections such as "I" or "T" shapes. While we're talking beams the deflection formulas are also found by integration.

Length of Arc ...
Arc Length along the developed surface of a Cross Vault (http://ca.geocities.com/web_sketches/cross_vault/Vault_Surface_Developments.html) ... also the slopes at various stations to check the angle calculated using trigonometry.
Simpson's Rule or ⅓ Rule to solve the Arc Length of an Ellipse (http://ca.geocities.com/web_sketches/ellipse_notes/ellipse_arc_length/ellipse_arc_length.html) ... not restricted to ellipses, this algorithm will solve the length of arc for any curve that can be formulated. I include an arc length calculation in most of my web based Javascript calculators.

Slope of an Ellipse at any Point (http://ca.geocities.com/web_sketches/ellipse_notes/ellipse_slope/ellipse_slope_formula.html) ... formulas found by differentiation of the parametric equations with respect to the eccentric angle, and the Chain Rule applied to both explicit and implicit differentiation. Again, these methods are not restriced in scope to ellipses; they can be generalized for any curve (which is the beauty of calculus).

How's that for starters?

[dh11]

Thank you soo much! : )

So most of this is done by hand and not computers?

[Joe Bartok]

That's my own stuff; the little bit of engineering I do I can manage on a calculator and pencil and paper (I'm not an engineer btw).

I doubt that many engineers would want to go back to the old days of slide rules and paper (just my opinion ... could be wrong). If you do some Googling on the web you can test drive all kinds of cool trial programs. Finite element analysis, programs which graphically depict tension, compression, shear, deflection, etc.