This course, Introduction to structural integrity, looks at the investigation that followed the collapse of the Silver Bridge over the Ohio River in 1967 which demonstrates how the study of safe design and the assessment of components and structures under load is of increasing importance in engineering design.

Course learning outcomes

After studying this course, you should be able to:

• Differentiate between and describe dissolution, degredation and corrosion as they affect the deterioration of structural materials
• Predict electrochemical behaviour between dissimilar metals
• Explain galvanic corrosion in terms of the electrochemical series
• Distinguish between the hoop and longitudinal stresses in a pressure-vessel wall, and specify them in terms of the pressure, wall thickness and diameter of the vessel
• Describe the loads in the various parts of a structure and the most likely load path.