Hardy Cross and the “Moment Distribution Method”

Abstract

Leonard K. Eaton resurrects the reputation of Hardy Cross, developer of the “moment distribution method” and one of America’s most brilliant engineers. The structural calculation of a large reinforced concrete building in the nineteen fifties was a complicated affair. It is a tribute to the engineering profession, and to Hardy Cross, that there were so few failures. When architects and engineers had to figure out what was happening in a statically indeterminate frame, they inevitably turned to what was generally known as the “moment distribution” or “Hardy Cross” method. Although the Cross method has been superseded by more powerful procedures such as the Finite Element Method, the “moment distribution method” made possible the efficient and safe design of many reinforced concrete buildings during an entire generation.