On 29-Apr-2005, "J. Clarke" wrote:

strong but brittle material... weaker but more ductile material.

weak ductile material ...strong equally ductile material

You've made two different statements here.

No, I've made one statement.

Stong and ductile is the same as strong and brittle?

So let's see, it's all right to overload the structure and have it show
"precursors of failure" but it's not OK for it to just sit there holding
the load?

No, its not ok for it to fail without warning.

Proper design means that you get
a warning if you have overloaded the structure.

I see. So you're basically saying that your properly designed structure
will give warning if the _beam_ is overloaded but not if the _posts_ are
overloaded? Do tell. Sounds like sloppy design to _me_.

No I said "if you have overloaded the structure."

Read the title of the thread. We're talking about something in the ballpark
of two two-by-tens, not about the effing Space Shuttle.

Read the post I responded to. Overdesign is not always benign.

Mike