CE 4109: Design of Steel Structures

Dr. Mohammad Abdul Kader

Department of Civil Engineering
Dhaka University of Engineering & Technology (DUET)
Gazipur.

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 CE 4109: Design of Steel Structures

Syllabus: Behavior of structural steel members and

steel frame; Code requirements; Design of tension
and compression members by WSD and LSD
methods; Design of beams, and beam-column joint.

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What is Steel?

Steel is an alloy in which iron is mixed with

carbon and other elements.
An Alloy is a homogeneous mixture of two
or more elements, at least one of which is a
metal, and where the resulting material has
metallic properties.
An Alloy usually has different properties
(sometimes significantly different) from
those of its components.
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Effect of Carbon percentage on Steel
Properties
o Carbon has a major effect on steel properties.  Carbon is the
primary hardening element in steel.  Hardness and tensile
strength increases as carbon content increases up to about
0.85%. 

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Effect of Carbon percentage on Steel
Properties

Type of Steel %age of Carbon

Mild Steel Up to 0.25%

Medium Carbon Steel 0.25% to 0.45%

High Carbon Steel 0.45% to 1.50%

• Adding metals such as nickel, chromium, and

tungsten to iron produces a wide range of
alloy steels, including stainless steel and
high speed steels.

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Mechanical Properties of Structural Steels

o Most widely used standards for structural

materials are American Society for Testing &
Materials (ASTM) Standards.
o ASTM specifications for structural steels
generally identify the Process by which steel
is to be made, chemical composition, and
tensile requirements.

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Mechanical Properties of Structural
Steels

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Mechanical Properties of Structural Steels
o Yield strength is usually taken to be that stress which
leaves the specimen with a permanent set of 0.2% when
specimen is unloaded or stress corresponding to 0.5%
elongation (strain)

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 Mechanical properties of
structural steel
Stiffness: The resistance of structural
component to deformation.

• Material
• Length
• X-Section

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 Mechanical properties of
structural steel
Stiffness: Variation with Geometry and Material.

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 Mechanical properties of
structural steel
Stiffness: Variation with Geometry and Material.

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 Mechanical properties of
structural steel
Strength: The max load which a structure or
structural component can resist.

Hardness is the measurement of how

much a material resists to penetration
from a semi-static force.
The most well known of the hard materials is
diamond.  A typically soft material is aluminum
metal, or any plastic. 

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Mechanical properties of
structural steel

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 Mechanical properties of
structural steel
Toughness: The ability of a structure or
structural component to absorb energy.
Materials known to be very tough are stainless steels and
titanium alloys. Materials known to be very fragile (the
opposite of tough) are ceramics such as glasses or
porcelain. 

Fatigue is a progressive, localized permanent

damage under fluctuating repeated stress.

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 Mechanical properties of
structural steel

Material A is more Stiffer but less Tougher than Material C

Material A has more strength than Material C
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Mechanical properties of structural
steel
ASTM A36 Mild ASTM A572
Composition & Property (low-carbon) Grade 50 steel
steel
Minimum Ultimate Tensile Strength, psi 58,000 - 79,800 65,000 min
Properties Yield Strength, psi 36,300 50,000 min.
Elongation 20.0% 18% min
Chemistry Iron (Fe) 99% 98%
Carbon (C) 0.26% 0.23%
Manganese (Mn) 0.75% 1.35%
Copper (Cu) 0.2% --
Phosphorus (P) 0.04% max 0.04%
Sulfur (S) 0.05% max 0.05%
Silicon -- 0.4%
Vanadium and Cadmium -- 0.02 – 0.15
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Advantages of Steel as Structural
Material
It is interesting to know that steel was not
economically made in the world until late in the
nineteenth century.

However, since then steel has become the

predominate material for the construction of
bridges, buildings, towers, and other structures.

Steel exhibits desirable physical properties that

makes it one of the most versatile structural
material in use.

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Advantages of Steel as Structural
Material
Its great strength, uniformity, light weight, ease
of use, and many other desirable properties
makes material of choice for numerous
structures such as steel bridges, high rise
buildings towers and other structures

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Advantages of Steel as Structural
Material

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Advantages of Steel as Structural
Material

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Disadvantages of Steel as Structural
Material

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Disadvantages of Steel as Structural
Material

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Disadvantages of Steel as Structural
Material

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Disadvantages of Steel as Structural
Material

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Design Philosophies

A general statement assuming safety in engineering

design is:
Resistance ≥ Effect of applied loads ---(1)
Resistance of structures is composed of its
members which comes from materials & X-section
Resistance, Capacity, and Strength are somewhat
synonym terms.
Terms like Demand, Stresses, and Loads are used
to express Effect of applied loads.
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Limit States

When particular loading reaches its limit, failure

is the assumed result, i.e. the loading condition
become failure modes, such a condition is
referred to as limit state and it can be defined
as
“A limit state is a condition beyond which a
structural system or a structural component
ceases to fulfill the function for which it is
designed.”

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Limit States

There are three broad categories of limit

states:
1. Strength limit states
2. Serviceability limit states
3. Special limit states

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Limit States
Strength Limit
States:
• Flexure • Fatigue
• Torsion • Settlement
• Shear • Bearing

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 Limit States

Serviceability Limit States:

• Cracking
• Excessive Deflection
• Buckling
• Stability

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Limit States
Special Limit States:
Damage or collapse in extreme
earthquakes.
Structural effects of fire, explosions, or
vehicular collisions.

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Limit States

Design Approach used must ensure that the

probability of a Limit State being reached in the
Design/Service Life of a structure is within
acceptable limits;

However, complete elimination of probability of

a Limit State being achieved in the service life
of a structure is impractical as it would result in
uneconomical designs.

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Design Considerations

• Structure and Structural Members should

have adequate strength, stiffness and
toughness to ensure proper functioning
during service life
• Reserve Strength should be available to
cater for:
– Occasional overloads and underestimation of loads
– Variability of strength of materials from those
specified
– Variation in strength arising from quality of
workmanship and construction practices
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 Design Considerations

Structural Design must provide adequate

margin of safety irrespective of Design
Method

Design Approach should take into account

the probability of occurrence of failure in
the design process

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 Design Considerations

An important goal in design is to prevent

limit state from being reached.

It is not economical to design a structure so

that none of its members or components
could ever fail. Thus, it is necessary to
establish an acceptable level of risk or
probability of failure.

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Design Considerations

Brittle behavior is to be avoided as it will

imply a sudden loss of load carrying
capacity when elastic limit is exceeded.

Reinforced concrete can be made ductile

by limiting the steel reinforcement.

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 Design Considerations

To determine the acceptable margin of

safety, opinion should be sought from
experience and qualified group of engineers.

In steel design AISC manuals for ASD &

LRFD guidelines can be accepted as
reflection of such opinions.

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 Allowable Stress Design
(ASD)

Safety in the design is obtained by

specifying, that the effect of the loads
should produce stresses that is a fraction
of the yield stress fy, say one half.

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 Allowable Stress Design
(ASD)
• This is equivalent to:
FOS = Resistance, R/ Effect of load, Q
= fy/0.5fy
=2

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 Allowable Stress Design
(ASD)
Since the specifications set limit on the
stresses, it became allowable stress
design (ASD).

It is mostly reasonable where stresses

are uniformly distributed over X-section
(such on determinate trusses, arches,
cables etc.)

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 Allowable Stress Design
(ASD)
Mathematical Description of ASD
 Rn
  Qi

Rn = Resistance or Strength of the component being
designed

Φ = Resistance Factor or Strength Reduction Factor

 = Overload or Load Factors


 = Factor of Safety FS
Qi = Effect of applied loads
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 Allowable Stress Design
(ASD)
Mathematical Description of Allowable Stress Design:
In ASD we check the adequacy of a design in terms of
stresses therefore design checks are cast in terms of
stresses for example if:
Mn = Nominal Flexural Strength of a Beam
M = Moment resulting from applied unfactored loads
FS = Factor of Safety
Fy I / c M
Mn 
 M FS I / c I /c
FS
 Fy Fcr 
fb   Fb  or Fb  
 FS FS  41
 Shortcomings of ASD

Implied in the ASD method is the

assumption that the stress in the
member is zero before any loads are
applied, i.e., no residual stresses exist
from forming the members.

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 Shortcomings of ASD

• ASD does not give reasonable measure

of strength, which is more fundamental
measure of resistance than is allowable
stress.
• Another drawback in ASD is that safety is
applied only to stress level. Loads are
considered to be deterministic (without
variation).

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Load and Resistance Factor
Design (LRFD)
To overcome the deficiencies of ASD,
the LRFD method is based on:
Strength of Materials
It consider the variability not only in
resistance but also in the effects of
load.
It provides measure of safety related to
probability of failure.

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Load and Resistance Factor
Design (LRFD)
 Safety in the design is obtained by specifying that the reduced
Nominal Strength of a designed structure is less than the effect
of factored loads acting on the structure

 Rn  n  Qi

Rn = Resistance or Strength of the component being designed

Qi = Effect of Applied Loads
n = Takes into account ductility, redundancy and operational imp.
Φ = Resistance Factor or Strength Reduction Factor
 = Overload or Load Factors

= Factor of Safety
 45
 Ductility

Ductility: It implies a large capacity for

inelastic deformation without rupture

 Ductility will ensure

redistribution of load through
inelastic deformation.

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Comparison of ASD and LRFD
Design Approaches
ASD combines Dead and Live Loads and
treats them in the same way
In LRFD different load factors are assigned
to Dead Loads and Live Loads which is
appealing
Changes in load factors and resistance
factors are much easier to make in LRFD
compared to changing the allowable stress
in ASD

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Comparison of ASD and LRFD
Design Approaches
LRFD is intrinsically appealing as it requires
better understanding of behavior of the
structure in its limit states
Design approach similar to LRFD is being
followed in Design of concrete structures in
form of Ultimate Strength Design -- why
not use similar approach design of steel
structures?

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Comparison of ASD and LRFD
Design Approaches
ASD indirectly incorporates the Factors of
Safety by limiting the stress whereas
LRFD aims to specify Factors of Safety
directly by specifying Resistance Factors
and Load Factors
LRFD is more rational as different Factors
of Safety can be assigned to different
loadings such as Dead Loads, Live Loads,
Earthquake Loads and Impact Loads

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Comparison of ASD and LRFD
Design Approaches
LRFD considers variability not only in
resistance but also in the effects of load
which provides measure of safety related
to probability of failure
It achieves fairly uniform levels of safety
for different limit states.
ASD still remains as a valid Design Method

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