How Columns Work! (Part 2): Structures 4-2

Here we cover two critical aspects of column behavior: effective height and material distribution. For the first we cover how providing increased restraint at the top and bottom of a column can simulate a shorter column and, for the second, we go through examples of different shaped columns with the material distributed in an increasingly efficient manner. Enjoy!
I'm Paul Kassabian. I'm a structural engineer and a Principal at SGH in Boston, MA. I taught graduate students at MIT for nine years and currently teach on/off at Harvard's Graduate School of Design (GSD). These are videos based on my years of teaching structures to students.

[@crankhandle]

I really appreciate your easy to understand way of explaining structures. I wish every layman/ wannabe engineers would watched your videos! It irritates me to look at all the inefficient ugly structures where the people building them clearly had no idea of the loads within lol

[@flourishomotola5306]

I love this man because he always thinks in terms of most optimal design.😊

[@omareqbal]

Best columns class ever, as someone from an architectural background, this is what I needed to be taught in my structure semesters, please keep them coming

[@SashaPshenychniy]

Wow! I kinda understood truss bridges are something complex, but never imagined a "primitive" column can be so interesting!

[@PaulKassabian]

Thanks!

[@dc-wp8oc]

Wish I would have encountered a teacher like yourself when I was younger. Thank you for another enlightening and well-presented video. I especially enjoy the photos of real-world applications.

[@PaulKassabian]

You're very welcome!

[@johnraffensperger]

Amazing! Brilliant. You are a fantastic teacher.

[@PaulKassabian]

Thank you!

[@timlubrano417]

Love your videos Paul!

[@PaulKassabian]

Thanks Tim!

[@xingchenghuang5324]

Fantastic videos, the explanations really inspire people from the architecture background to understand structure principles intuitively!

[@PaulKassabian]

Glad you like them!

[@bibhuprasadlenka7753]

Absolutely Great content ….Kindly do more videos on structure….Eagerly waiting for next video 👍👍

[@user-ph6yv4od9u]

Thank you for saving my day, that explains why hollow structure can do the same as solid,

[@mxcollin95]

Can’t stop binge watching your videos…great stuff, super interesting to me. I wish I would’ve studied engineering in college. I fly corporate airplanes for a living which I still enjoy but engineering has always been extremely interesting, mechanical, electrical, etc., all of it!

[@PaulKassabian]

Glad you like them!

[@robertwilsoniii2048]

This makes me appreciate Stanford's campus a lot more. That main quad has short columns and big arches, and the weak points of the arches fold together and reinforce each other.

[@robertwilsoniii2048]

They also anchor all their short columns, making them super strong.

[@robertwilsoniii2048]

Their columns are also super wide and thick with a large diameter.

[@umairabid4679]

Such good content. Really helps me recall my 4 years of UG

[@Osama-Anwar]

But they never taught us that in 4th year back in 2019 at NICE.

[@anands6127]

Now I understood the main reason why I see some cranes with such booms, That's so clever design. It was a simple yet great explain sir

[@PaulKassabian]

Glad it helped!

[@BostonMark]

Crane booms take advantage of lightweight yet strong columns transferring loads in similar way

[@eyadziadeh93]

keep going.... such a great informations

[@PaulKassabian]

Thanks Eyad!

[@abdullahtamawi6021]

you are really amazing please do more structural vids ,thank you

[@PaulKassabian]

Thanks! More to come...

[@davedave7626]

Greetings here from the Philippines Paul. If only the teaching styles of my instructors during college were like yours, I could probably love them. :-)

[@PaulKassabian]

You are very welcome!

[@alianjohnson6035]

beautiful explanation thank you

[@nyantehemmanuel7089]

PERFECT PREFECT

[@mt2aod]

Paul, I really enjoy your videos. Very informative & relevant to a hobby project I'm working on. I've been studying columns recently. I particularly like the cigar shaped columns. They has many driven, elegant features: contoured to control deflections, parallel axis to better resist buckling, and strength to weight. All together its perfectly suited to my application. I'd like to research the cigar shaped column more. I've never seen anything like it. What are they called? Is there a trade name or keyword I can plug into Google or a library card catalog?

[@Osama-Anwar]

Paul, please also do a video where lateral forces are also involved.

[@polylight]

In the cigar-shaped optimization, I was puzzled that the real-world example (9:45) had no diagonals. Because the ends taper back together to reinforced point(s), is it less critical in this kind of application than a standard straight truss?

[@kennethbigboi8913]

amazing it gave and reinforced my intuition on columns! so from what i understand (pls correct me if iam wrong) the greater the height and or weight it increases buckling buckling=W×H but if its restricted on both ends of the column, the height can increase with the same bend as the same weight as the other shorter version. as for the tappered column the bend tends to happen at the center(transverse) of the column so increasing the size of the middle can reduce it?

[@PaulKassabian]

overall that's correct...the tapered column is about distributing material in a ways that's more related to its need...

[@jawwad40734]

Hi, Does changing a column restraints from a pin to a fixed support is analogous to un-braced vs braced condition?

[@belaczako1102]

And what if you guys change the angle of the straight column? Give a little angle inward? Is it holds better?

[@gaveintothedarkness]

Would another example of a column be a construction crane?

[@daniaalmarbaee6521]

what is the software that he is using to explain ?

[@pankajubale3113]

If the coloumn buckles at center then why do we provide steel lapping at center of coloumn

[@geckauss]

🤯

[@josephshaff5194]

It's a Kayak shape !

[@SoloRenegade]

now make the rods hollow.... (R.100 airship)

[@MV-we8hx]

Well done professor