Introduction

To Steel
Structures
Merits of Steel Construction
3. Quick in Construction

• Rolled steel as well as cold formed section are

available in the market.
• The cutting of member section are done in
factories and assembling is partially made in the
factory and partially at site by rivets, bolts or welds,
as the case may be.
• The construction time of the steel building is
comparatively much less as compared to concrete
structure whose construction is made in site or by
prefabricated units.

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Merits of Steel Construction
4. High Strength and Light Weight Nature
• High strength of steel /unit weight (e.g. 77kN/m3 &
conc. 23.6 kN/in) will mean that dead load will
become lesser. These loads are the bigger part of
the total load of the structure. This is experienced
in large span bridges & tall buildings and structure
having poor foundation conditions.

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Contd …High Strength and Light Weight Nature
• If a factor ‘C’ defined as ratio of density to the
stress is calculated for different construction
materials, steel will show the lowest:-
• Material C = /f (m-1)
• Al 1.1  10-4
• Steel 3.2  10-4
• Wood 4.5  10-4
• Concrete 24  10-4

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Merits of Steel Construction
5. Uniformity, Durability and Performance
• Durability means long life of a structure.
• Steel is a very homogeneous and uniform material.
• It satisfies the basic assumptions of most of the analysis and
design formulas.
• If properly maintained by painting, etc., the properties of
steel do not change appreciably with time.
• Hence, steel structures are more durable.

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Merits of Steel Construction
6. Elasticity
• Steel behaves closer to design assumptions than most of
the other materials because it follows Hooke’s law up to
fairly high stresses.
• The stress produced remains proportional to the strain
applied or the stress-strain diagram remains a straight line.
• The steel sections do not crack or tear before ultimate load
and hence the moments of inertia of a steel structure can
be definitely calculated.

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Merits of Steel Construction
7. Ductility and Warning before Failure
• The property of a material by which it can withstand
extensive deformation without failure under high tensile
stresses is said to be its ductility.
• Mild steel is a very ductile material. The percentage
elongation of a standard tension test specimen after
fracture can be as high as 25 to 30%.
• This gives visible deflections or evidence of impending
failure in case of overloads.
• The extra loads may be removed from the structure to
prevent collapse.

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Merits of Steel Construction
Contd … Ductility and Warning before Failure

• Even if collapse does occur, time is available for occupants

to vacate the building.
• In structural members under normal loads, high stress
concentrations develop at various points.
• The ductile nature of the usual structural steels enable
them to yield locally at those points, thus redistributing the
stresses and preventing premature failure.

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Merits of Steel Construction
8. Addition to Existing Structures
• Additions to existing steel structures are very easy to be
made.
• Connections between new and existing structures can be
employed very effectively.
• New bays or even entire new wings of buildings can be
added to existing steel frame buildings, and steel bridges
may often be widened.

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 Merits of Steel Construction

9. Possible Reuse
• Steel sections can be reused after a structure is
disassembled.

10. Water Tight and Air Tight Construction

◼ Steel structures provide completely impervious
construction.
◼ Structures like reservoirs, oil pipes, gas pipes, etc.,
are preferably made from structural steel.

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Merits of Steel Construction
11. Long Span Construction
• High-rise buildings, long span bridges and tall transmission
towers are made up of structural steel.
• Industrial buildings up to a span of 90 m can be designed
by plate girders or trusses.
• Bridge spans up to 260 m are made with plate girders.
• For through truss bridges, spans of 300 m have been
used.

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Merits of Steel Construction
12. Temporary Construction
• For temporary structures, steel construction is always
preferred.
• Army constructions during war are mostly made out of
structural steel.
• The structures may be disassembled by opening few
bolts, component parts are carried to new places and
the structure is easily reassembled.

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Demerits of Steel Construction

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Demerits of Steel Construction
1. High Maintenance Costs and Corrosion
• Most steels are susceptible to corrosion when freely
exposed to air and water and must therefore be periodically
painted.
• This requires extra cost and special care.
• The use of weathering steels, in suitable design applications,
tends to eliminate this cost.
◼ If not properly maintained, steel members can loose
1 to 1.5 mm of their thickness each year.
◼ Accordingly such constructions can loose weight up
to 35% during their specified life and can fail under
the external loads.
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Demerits of Steel Construction
2. High Fireproofing Cost
• Although steel members are incombustible, their strength is
tremendously reduced at temperatures prevailing in fires.
• At about 400C, creep becomes much more pronounced.
• Creep is defined as plastic deformation under a constant
load for a long period of time.
• This produces excessively large deflections / deformations
of main members forcing the other members to higher
stresses or even to collapse.

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Demerits of Steel Construction
2. High Fireproofing Cost (cont….)
• Steel is an excellent conductor of heat and may transmit
enough heat from a burning compartment of a building to
start fire in other parts of the building.
• Extra cost is required to properly fire proof the building.

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Demerits of Steel Construction
3. Susceptibility to Buckling
• Buckling is a type of collapse of the members due to sudden
large bending caused by a critical compressive load.
• The steel sections usually consist of a combination of thin
plates.
• Further, the overall steel member dimensions are also
smaller than reinforced concrete members.
• If these slender members are subjected to compression,
there are greater chances of buckling.
• Sometimes steel, when used for columns, is not very
economical because considerable material has to be used
merely to stiffen the columns against buckling.

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Demerits of Steel Construction
3. Susceptibility to Buckling

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Demerits of Steel Construction
4. High initial Costs / Less Availability
• In few countries, Pakistan is one such example, steel is not
available in abundance.
• Hence, its initial cost is very high compared with the other
structural materials.
• This is the most significant factor that has resulted in the
decline of steel structures in these countries.

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Demerits of Steel Construction
5. Aesthetics
• For certain types of buildings, the steel form is
architecturally preferred.
• However, for majority of residential and office buildings,
steel structures without the use of false ceiling and cladding
are considered to have poor aesthetic appearance.
• A considerable cost is to be spent on such structures to
improve their appearance.
• Cladding is a covering of metal, concrete, plastic or timber
put on the surface of a structural member to completely
encase it. The cladding not only protects the member but
also improves its appearance.

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Steel Structure

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5
Steel Structure

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Steel Structure

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Steel Structure

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Steel Structure (Column-Beam Joint)

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Steel Structure (Column-Beam Joint)

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Steel Structure (Column-Beam Joint)

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 Specifications
• The adequacy of a structural member is determined by a
set of design rules, called specifications.
• These include formulas that guide the designer in checking
strength, stiffness, proportions and other criteria that may
govern the acceptability of the member.
• There are a variety of specifications that have been
developed for both materials and structures.
• Each is based on years of research and experience gained
through actual structural usage.

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 Following specifications will be used in this
class quite often
1- AISC: American Institute of Steel Construction.
2- AISI: American Iron and Steel Institute
3- AWS: American Welding Society.
4- AASHTO: American Association of State Highway and
Transportation Officials.
5- AREA: American Railway Engineering Association.
6- ASTM: American Society for Testing and Materials.
7- ASCE: American Society of Civil Engineers
7- B.S. Code: Steel Designers Manual
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Types of Loads
1. Dead Load
• It almost retains its magnitude and point of application
throughout the life of the structure and is denoted by D.
• This load is usually the self weight of the structure (not
only this member but all other members resting on it).
• This is estimated by multiplying volume of a member with
the standard density of the material of construction.
• This load constitutes a bigger part of the total load on a
structure.

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Types of Loads
2. Live Load
• The load due to persons occupying the structure and their
belongings, denoted by L.
• Its magnitude and point of application changes with time.
• In case of bridges, live load consists of weight of vehicles
moving over the bridge.
• Typical values for common occupancy types are given in next
slide.

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 Types of Loads
2. Live Load
Occupancy or Use Live Load
(kg/m2)
Private apartments, school class rooms 200
Offices 250
Fixed-seats, assembly halls, library reading rooms 300
Corridors 400
Movable seats assembly hall 500
Wholesale stores, light storage warehouses 600
Library stack rooms 750
Heavy manufacturing, heavy storage warehouses, 1200
sidewalks and driveways subject to trucking

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Types of Loads
3. Self Load
▪ This is type of dead load, which is due to self
weight of the member to be designed.
▪ For design, a reasonable value of self load
depending on past experience is assumed in the
start which is then compared with the actual self
weight at the end.
▪ Corrections in design are made if necessary.
▪ Other types of loads are wind load, earthquake
loads, water ad earth retaining loads and
temperature loads, etc.

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Types of Loads
4. Superimposed Load
• This term is used for all external loads, leaving the self
weight, acting on the member to be designed.
• This includes live load, wind load, earthquake load, etc.
Part of dead load may also act as imposed load.

5. Service Load
◼ The maximum intensity of load expected during the
life of the structure depending upon a certain
probability of occurrence is called service load.
◼ No additional factor of safety or overload factor is
included in the service loads.
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Types of Loads
6. Factored Loads
• Service loads increased by some factor of safety or overload
factor are called factored loads.

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Mechanism of Load Transfer
• The gravity load passes from top to bottom through all the
members of the structure until it reaches the underneath
soil.
• The load acts at the floor finish, goes to the underneath slab
and transfers to the beams and walls.
• This is then accumulated in the columns, moves to the
foundations and then finally dissipates in the soil.

◼ For the roof slab, beams and walls are supports.

◼ For the beams, columns are acting like supports, and
for the columns, foundations are acting as supports.

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Mechanism of Load Transfer (cont…..)
• Similarly, the underneath soil acts as support for the
foundations.
• This load path is only in one direction.
• The load of roof slab may act on the beams, columns and
foundations, but the load of column is not acting on the
beams.
• Similarly, the load of foundation can not act on the columns.

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