#structural engineering

• Areometry — A branch of metrology and applied physics dealing with the study of techniques, methods, and mathematical principles for measuring the density or specific gravity of liquids using hydrometers. In a structural-engineering sense, areometria is based on Archimedes' principle regarding the equilibrium of floating bodies, serving as an essential quality control factor in chemical, petroleum, food, and winemaking industries.
• Argentometer — An industrial measuring instrument or laboratory device used in volumetric analysis (argentometry) to determine the concentration of halide ions in a solution or to measure the purity of silver alloys. In a structural-engineering sense, the modern argentometru utilizes potentiometric sensors or photometric cells capable of precisely detecting the equivalence point during titration with a standardized silver nitrate solution.
• Reinforcement — The act of arming or reinforcing and its result; the insertion of steel, fiber, or other resistant reinforcement bars into a structural element (such as concrete) to increase its tensile strength. In a military or mechanical sense, it represents the cocking or prepping of a firearm, device, or trigger mechanism by tensioning internal springs to make it operational.
• Reinforcement — An assembly of metal parts (steel bars, meshes) embedded in a construction element to increase its tensile or bending strength; the totality of auxiliary devices (valves, cocks) attached to a pipe or boiler for fluid control; the moving metal part of an electromagnetic apparatus or the protective sheath of a cable.
• Astrodome — A transparent, hemispherical dome or cupola made of optical glass or durable plexiglass, mounted on the upper fuselage of an aircraft (especially 20th-century bombers and transport planes) or on a terrestrial structure. This structural element allowed the flight navigator to use a sextant or astrocompass to determine the position by observing celestial bodies, while in architecture it designates the rotating dome of a small astronomical observatory.
• Self-supporting property — The structural property of a construction element, vehicle body, or architectural layout to support its own weight and directly assumed mechanical loads without requiring pillars, beams, external frames, or other additional support networks. This phenomenon of uniform internal stress distribution ensures the static stability and mass optimization of the assembly, being widely utilized in designing domes, modern industrial halls, and monocoque bodies.
• Self-weld — A continuous structural joint obtained automatically or spontaneously between two parts or materials through the self-welding process; the bead or zone of molecular fusion resulting from an autonomous thermal or mechanical assembly, characterized by high mechanical strength and the absence of traces of external filler material.