Pre-Engineered Steel Building Vs Conventional Steel Building

Frames of Pre-Engineered buildings (PEB) are made from standard plates as built-up section.
PEB frames are generally tapered based on the profile of bending moment diagram. This is the
main reason, steel is extensively saved .On the other hand, building in conventional steel frame,
we need to provide uniform sections as conventional steels are hot rolled sections and these are
available as standard section. Hence, instead of the variable bending moment in a column or

Fig-1(Left side figure is a PEB frame & right side figure is a conventional steel frame)

rafter of a frame, uniform section is provided in convention steel frame rather than profiled
section used in PEB section and undoubtedly which leads to increased use of steel and cost. That
is why recent trend favors the use of PEB.

Due to substantial saving in time in erection, weight & cost of materials, steel structures
made in PEB has achieved a place in industry where it exhibits huge dominance over
conventional steel.

1
BENDING MOMENT Diagram (Fig-2)
According to this bending moment profile (somewhere maximum and somewhere minimum)
section in PEB is decided whereas in conventional steel buildings, uniform sections are adopted).

It can be noticed by comparing bending moment diagram in figure-2 with PEB &
conventional steel frame with figure-1.

Now, it can be easily identified that PEB section (Left side of fig-1) is in tapered section as per
the bending moment profile(fig-2) whereas conventional steel section (Right side of fig-1) is a
uniform section based on maximum bending moment of fig-2.

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KEY COMPARISION BETWEEN PEB & CONVENTION STEEL
BHUILDING
Pre-Engineered steel
Building(PEB)
Structural Weight On an average, 30% steel is
saved in PEB building because
of using tapered section and
cold formed C & Z section.
Foundation Light weight foundation due
lesser weight of structure
Erection Time Due to standards details of clips, Standard details are not
flange bracings, sag rod, rack
angles, sag angle etc. used in
PEB, erection time is highly
reduced due supply of materials
at site in bulk.
Conventional Steel
Building(CSB)
Convention steel sections are
available in standard size,
hence profiled section is not
possible as per the bending
moment and hence, and
weight cannot be reduced.
Heavy foundation due to
heavy weight of structure.
available, so it increases the
time of erection.