8/12/2019 Strut vs Column

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Strut vs Column

Both strut and column are members or components of a structure. The structure can be a

building, bridge, power pylon, cell base station tower (cell tower in short), or any civil

engineering or mechanical engineering construction.

Both strut and column are compression members, which means they take up compressive

forces within the structure rather than the tensile forces. Struts can be found mainly in roof

trusses, steel bridges, and other structures that incorporate trusses for their structural

formation. Columns can be seen in buildings and similar type of structures, where the

structure directly deals with the gravitational force. The materials used to construct these

compressive members range from steel through concrete to timber.

What is a Strut?

Strut is an inclined compressive member or component of a truss type structure. The two ends

of a strut are fixed to other members of the truss, and most of the time the purpose of the strutis to maintain the rigidity of the structure, which may be freely movable otherwise. Also, it is

used for the purpose of adding more strength to the structure. A strut can be thought of as a

long, inclined column. A specific value called Slenderness Ratio is defined, which

determines whether the particular member falls into the category of Struts or into Columns.

The higher the slenderness ratio is, more slender is the structure element. If the slenderness ismore, the structural element will fall into the category of struts, and the less slender ones will

fall into the category of columns. Struts may fail due to buckling.

What is a Column?

Column is a thick compression member within a structure, and it fails due to compression

rather than buckling. It fails, when the ultimate compressive strength of the material, which is

the maximum compressive stress that the material can withstand, is exceeded. Columns are

usually made of brittle materials, such as cast iron, concrete or stone, which are strong in

compression. These materials are weak in tension. So, it is important to design the column in

such a way that there is no tensile stresses involved, and the slenderness ratio of the column is

less.

Whats the difference between a Strut and a Column?

1. Both Strut and Column are compression structural members.

2. Slenderness ratio of struts is high, whereas it is low for columns.

3. Struts fail due to buckling, but columns fail in compression.

Conclusion

Both of these structural elements are essential to the structural engineer in his design process,

and the appropriate one must be used according to the particular situation.