CENG 5503

Design of Steel & Timber Structures

 Chapter-1
INTRODUCTION TO STRUCTURAL STEELS

1.1 Introduction
 Major components are steel in steel structure & large
proportions are timber in timber structures.

 Steel structures are used in buildings of various types, bridges,

power transmission and communication towers, off-shore oil
and gas facilities, reservoirs and other storage structures.

 In particular, steels are used as a cable system in­ suspension-

and cable-stayed structures such as suspension bridges, cable-
supported roofs and cable-stayed towers.
Areas of Application
 Although the following applications are also related to timber,
steel structural members are found to be used widely.
 Framework or skeletal systems
 Industrial building and related structures like crane girders
 Railway, highway, pedestrian bridges.
 Multi-story buildings, exhibition pavilions, roofs, floors, domes,
sports-facility
 Sheds, as well as building components such as staircases, fire-
escape facilities, etc
 Special-purpose buildings as airport terminals and railway
stations, aircraft hangars, shipyards, railway platforms &
Special structures as, power transmission, television, radio &
telecommunication towers.
 Shell and plate structures
 Gas holders and tanks for the storage and distribution of gases
 Tanks and reservoirs for the storage of water, fuels & other
liquids
 Bins and bunkers for the storage of loose materials like
cement, grain.
 Special structures such as blast furnace, air heaters, gas
scrubbers.
 Large diameter steel piping employed at iron and steel works
coke and by-product works, hydroelectric power plants and oil
and gas pipe lines.
 Areas of Application

Although the following applications are also related to timber, steel

structural members are found to be used widely.

Fig. 1.1 Multi Story Buildings

Fig. 1.2 Exhibition Halls (Long Span Roofs)
Fig. 1.3 Aircraft Maintenance Hangars
Fig. 1.4 Industrial Buildings (Column, beams and roof)
Figure 1.5 Cable Stayed Bridge and suspension bridges
Tsing Ma Bridge, Hong Kong
a) Microwave Communication Facilities b) Power Transmission Facilities

Fig. 1.6 Use of Steel Members and Plates in Tower Construction

Fig. 1.7 Use of Steel Members and Panels for Gasoline Station  
Fig. 1.8 Use of Steel Members and Plates in Offshore Oil and
Gas Exploration/Drilling Facility
 These are either cantilever (free-standing) or cable-stayed structural
steels (see Fig. 1.10)

Fig. 1.10 Roof trusses of stadiums and sport facilities

 They provide lateral stability for a building by resisting winds
and earthquakes

Fig. 1.11 Use of Steel Members for Bracing Systems

 Fig. 1.12 Use of Steel for Composite Construction

 This construction practice improves the fire-resistance property

and prevents corrosion of steel in addition to improving the
load-resisting capacity of the resulting structural members.
 1.2 Advantages & Disadvantages of steel structures
1.2.1 Advantages
 The ability to resist high loads with a comparatively small size and
light weight of members.
 Due to its high density, steel is completely non-porous.
 The possibility of industrializing the construction work by the use of
pre- fabricated members and mechanized erection at the
construction site.
 A very long service life, provided care is taken
 It is an environmental friendly material by being recycled.

 With particular reference to high-rise buildings, steels are:

• Shorter erection period permits an earlier recovery of capital
• Steel offers wide-span frames, column-free, uninterrupted
interior space.
 • Steel structural members offer the absolute accuracy of
dimensions.
• Steel offers greater possibilities for imaginative
architectural design
• cost comparison studies have revealed that the
construction cost of structural steel is generally more
economical than reinforced concrete

1.2.2 Disadvantages
• They rust/corrode in normal exposure conditions, thus need of
frequent painting, may be every two years. (Alloying may
improve this, but expensive)
• They are not fire resistant. (Structural steel members are better
to be embedded in concrete or other materials to protect from
fire)
 1.3 Design Procedure and Design Methods/Philosopy
1.3.1 Design Procedure
 From inception to detailing and quantity estimation, there are design
processes as:
Functional Planning/Design
 This is the first and the most difficult problem in design to enable
the structure to fulfill effectively the purpose for which it is to be
built.

 For buildings for example, the plan must be:

 adaptable to the site;
 provide a suitable arrangement of rooms, corridors, stairways,
elevator, etc.;
 aesthetically acceptable and
 built at a price the client is prepared to pay.
 Structural Planning / Design

• This phase is independent of functional plan

• This is a case of safe arrangement of structural elements as shear

walls if any.

• Once the loads are defined, a structural analysis must be made to

determine the internal responses which will develop in various
members of the structure.

• The members of the structural system must be proportioned.

• Finally cost estimate should be made for all possible structural

schemes.
 1.3.2 Design Philosophy

 Structural design should be performed to satisfy three criteria:

strength, serviceability, and economy.

 Strength pertains to the general integrity and safety of the

structure under extreme load conditions.

 Serviceability refers to the proper functioning of the structure as

related to its appearance, maintainability, and durability under
normal, or service load, conditions.

 Economy concerns the overall material and labor costs required

for the design, fabrication, erection, and maintenance processes of
the structure.
1.3.3 Design Methods
 The design of steel structures may be controlled by several criteria
described as “limits of structural usefulness“ as a result of the
following reasons:
• Hypothetical attainment of yield point
• Attainment of maximum plastic strength
• Excessive deflections at service load and drift limitations
• Instability
• Fatigue
• Fracture
i) Allowable Stress Design (ASD)
 A member is selected such that under expected loads, known
as service or working loads, the stress will not exceed one of
the previously described limits of usefulness.
 In allowable stress (or working stress) design, member stresses
computed under the action of service (or working) loads are
compared to some pre-designated stresses, called allowable
stresses.
 The allowable stresses are usually expressed as a function of
the yield stress (fy) or tensile stress (fu) of the material.

 In so far as the method of analysis is concerned, allowable

stress design is based on elastic analysis to obtain the
structural responses such as moments, shear and axial forces
that a member must be designed to carry.
 The general formula for an allowable stress design has the
form:
Rn m
  Qi
Fs i 1
Where:
 Rn = nominal resistance of the structural component expressed
in units of stress
 Qi = service or working stress computed from the applied
working load type i.
 i = load type (dead, live, wind, etc.)
 m = number of load types considered in the design
Rn
 F  allowable stress of structural component
s

 Fs= Factor of safety

ii) Plastic Design
 This makes use of the fact that steel sections have reserved
strength beyond the first yield condition.
 Section under flexure yields in a progressive manner,
commencing with the fibers farthest away from the neutral axis
and ending with the fibers nearest the neutral axis, a known as
plastification, means that the cross section does not fail at first
yield.
 The additional capacity a cross section to carry in excess of the
first yield capacity varies depending on the shape of the cross
section.
 To quantify such reserved capacity, a quantity called shape factor,
defined as the ratio of the plastic moment (moment that causes the
entire cross section to yield, resulting in the formation of a plastic
hinge) to the yield moment (moment that causes yielding of the
extreme fibers only) is used.
 For an indeterminate structure, failure of the structure will not
occur after the formation of a plastic hinge because of the process
of moment redistribution.
 Failure will occur only when enough cross sections have yielded to
render the structure unstable, resulting in the formation of a plastic
collapse mechanism.
 Plastic design has the form:
m
Rn    Qni
i 1
• Where:
• Rn = nominal plastic strength of the member
• Qni = nominal load effects from the loads of type i.
• i = load type (dead, live, wind, etc.)
• m = number of load types considered in the design
•  = load factor (=1.7, if Qn=DL+LL & =1.3 if Qn
=DL+LL+EQ)
iii) Limit State Design or Load and Resistance Factor
Design
 Limit state is a procedure in which a structure, or part of a
structure, is considered unfit for use when such a limiting
condition exceed a particular state, called a limit state, at which
the structure is unable to meet design performance criteria.
 All relevant limit states shall be considered in the design as
ultimate limit states, serviceability limit states and durability
limit states.
 Mathematically
R m
it can be expressed as:
n
   li Qi
m i 1

Rn

 Where: m
design strength
m
  li Qi 
  i 1
the required strength
1.4 Mechanical properties of structural steels
 The most important structural properties of steel are yield
strength and ultimate strength, modulus of elasticity, shear
modulus, Poisson’s ratio, coefficient of thermal expansion, and
its density.
 Stress-strain Behavior of Structural steel
 A schematic diagram of an engineering stress-strain curve of
steel obtained from a simple tension test is shown in Fig. 1.13.

Fig. 1.13 Idealized Stress-strain Curve

a) Elastic region
 the stress is proportional to the strain, and Hooke's law applies.
 The constant of proportionality is the modulus of elasticity or
Young’s modulus, E and is about 190 to 210Gpa (it do not vary
for materials of d/t grade and average value of 200Gpa is
used).
 For stress below plastic limit (yield point); no. plastic, or
permanent, deformation will occur in the steel section.

b) Inelastic Region
 The steel section deforms plastically under a constant stress, fy.
 The extent of this deformation differs for different steel grades.
 Generally, the ductility (the ability of a material to undergo
plastic deformation prior to fracture) decreases with increasing
steel strength and it enhances the energy absorption characteristic
of the structure
c) Strain-Hardening Region
 Deformation is accompanied by an increase in stress.
 The peak point of the engineering stress-strain curve is the ultimate
stress, fu, which is the largest stress the material can attain under
uniaxial condition.
 In a uniaxial tension test, the specimen experiences non-uniform
plastic deformation (necking) once the stress reaches fu.
 Beyond fu, deformation proceeds at a rapid rate and equilibrium
can be maintained only by a reduction in the applied load.

Other Properties
• Poisson’s Ratio
  Poisson’s ratio, , is the absolute value of the ratio of the
transverse strain to longitudinal strain under axial load.
• Sear modulus
  Shear modulus, G, is the ratio of shear stress to shear strain.
 The shear modulus, G, is presumed to be constant (= 80 GPa ) for
all structural steels.

• Thermal expansion
 Knowledge of thermal expansion behavior is desirable when
specifying welding procedures.
 The coefficient of thermal expansion, , for structural steel is 12 x
10-6 per oc.
• Fatigue (caused by fluctuating loads such as crane girders,
bridges)
 Structural Steel Shapes
 steel shapes can be formed in: hot-rolled, cold-formed, and
combined.
 hot-rolled :- Most of the rolling is done on hot steel
 cold-formed:- thinner plates are further rolled or bent,
after­cooling
 Structural Fasteners: two main end fastening systems
are bolting and welding
Fig. 1.14 Standard Rolled Shapes
Fig. 1.15 Some Cold-formed Shapes
 Bolts
 Some basic types of bolts are commonly in use as per ASTM
designation
• A307 Bolts:
 Unfinished or ordinary bolts and are made from low-
carbon steel.
 They are of two grades, A and B, the former for the
general purposes and the latter for joints in pipe systems.
 Available with several head and nut configurations, but
the hexagonal and square head are most commonly
• A325 Bolts:
 made of medium carbon steel
Table 1.5 Properties of Structural Bolts (ASTM)
Table 1.6
Nominal Values of Yield Strength fyb and Ultimate
Tensile Strength fub for Bolts (EBCS 3, 1995)
Bolt 4.6 4.8 5.6 5.8 6.8 8.8 10.9
Grade

fyb 240 320 300 400 480 640 900

(MPa)
fub 400 400 500 500 600 800 1000
(MPa)
Thank You!