Teaching Aspects of Space Structure Behaviour at Wollongong

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of the areas of the four-year undergraduate course in Civil Engineering at the University of Wollongong that are relevant to the teaching of material related to space structures. The Civil Engineering course at Wollongong is a general course in civil engineering leading to a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) Degree. The areas covered in this paper refer only to those parts of the undergraduate course with a structural bias, and particularly those areas relevant to pin-jointed space truss behaviour, mechanics and design. Brief mention is made to the early year teaching that is of relevance, and then the attention is given to the basic structural mechanics that forms the basis for project work in the final year. This latter work forms the principal part of the paper.