Fundamentals of Structural Design

Part of Steel Structures

Civil Engineering for Bachelors

133FSTD

Teacher: Zdeněk Sokol

Office number: B619
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Syllabus of lectures
1. Introduction, history of steel structures, the applications and some
representative structures, production of steel
2. Steel products, material properties and testing, steel grades
3. Manufacturing of steel structures, welding, mechanical fasteners
4. Safety of structures, limit state design, codes and specifications for the
design
5. Tension, compression, buckling
6. Classification of cross sections, bending, shear, serviceability limit states
7. Buckling of webs, lateral-torsional stability, torsion, combination of
internal forces
8. Fatigue
9. Design of bolted and welded connections
10. Steel-concrete composite structures
11. Fire and corrosion resistance, protection of steel structures, life cycle
assessment

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Scope of the lecture
Design methods and safety of structures
Limit state design
Standards for design of structures

Design methods
 Experience of the designer
 Permissible stress design (in USA allowable stress design)
The designer ensures that the stresses developed in a structure due to service loads
do not exceed the elastic limit. This limit is usually determined from maximum
allowed stress (yield limit) divided by factors of safety (factor >1).
 Partial safety factors method (in USA load and resistance factor design)
The designer has to use a set of safety factors, these increase the effect of loads
(i.e. stresses) and decrease the resistance (i.e. yield limit). The structure is
assumed to be safe when the “magnified" loads are amaller than the relevant
“reduced" resistances.
Semi-probabilistic method
It is the principle of European codes for the design of structures
 Probabilistic design methods
The designer has to deal with probability of the factors entering the calculation
Not commonly used at the moment

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Loads
The loads are usually based on statistical observation and evaluation
The probability of the load is shown on the picture
The minimum a maximum loads are obtained by
Fk ,max   F ,max Fk
Fk ,min   F ,min Fk

The factors γF were chosen in such a way that the index of safety is
z

z
z - the average
z - standard deviation of random variable Z
 = 3,8 for ultimate resistance limit state Load

 = 1,5 for serviceability limit state

This is done for design life of structure (usually 80 years) 5

Resistance
The resistance (of an element loaded in tension here) is evaluated from
Rk  A f y
A is the cross-sectional area
fy is the yield limit of steel
The resistance can be evaluated experimentally and set of values is obtained
The smallest resistance is obtained when both the yield limit and the area are
smaller than average, however, the element is not defective because may still
fit within manufacturing tolerances
In addition, there might be effect of non-accurate model for calculation of the
resistance

The design value of the resistance is obtained by

A fy Rk
Rd  
M M Resistance

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Principle of reliability

Rk
Ek  F 
M
Ed  Rd

Ed biggest possible effect of design loads

Rd smallest possible design resistance of structure
Frequency

Effect of loads
Resistance
E
R

R, E
Failure of the structure
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Partial safety factors

Characteristic values
 Partial safety factors 
 Reduction combination factors 
Design values

Partial factors  take into account variation of the properties

 Disadvantageous deviations from characteristic values
 Inaccuracy of design model (theoretical model to evaluate stresses,
deformations, etc.)
 Material factors M
 Load factors F

Reduction combination factors  take into account simultaneous

application of several variable loads
 When single variable load is applied, no reduction is considered
 when more than one exists at the same time, there is very low probability they
act the maximum (i.e. design) value - reduction applies
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Scope of the lecture
Design methods and safety of structures
Limit state design
Standards for design of structures

Limit states
A limit state is a condition of a structure beyond which it no longer fulfills
the relevant design criteria.

Ultimate Limit States

M > 1, F > 1
 Strength
 Fatigue strength
 Brittle fracture
 Stability of position

Serviceability limit states

M = 1, F = 1
 Deflections
 Vibrations
 Esthetics
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Ultimate limit states
Refer to extreme situation
Very low probability of exceeding
 Design yield strength … fyd = fy / M
 M  1
 Design load … FEd = Fk F
 F > 1
 Nominal dimensions of structure
 Nominal material stiffness (E, G)

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Example of limit state - stability of the position

Ed,dest  Ed,stab

Ed,dest design effects of destabilizing loads - increased horizontal force

Ed,dest= H h HEd = Hk F
Ed,stab design effects of stabilizing loads - decreased self weight of the block
Ed,stb = G b
G ... minimum value

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Serviceability limit state
 Refer to everyday service
 With service load (F = 1)
 With nominal dimensions of structure

 Material characteristics (fy, E, G)

 Nominal value (average, mean)

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Classification of actions (loading)

Source
 Gravity action (self weight)
 Climatic (snow, wind, rain, rime, temperature elongation)
 Variable (load of ceiling in buildings)
Determination
 Precisely defined (e.g. bridge loading)
 Very indeterminate (e.g. wind)
Position
 Fixed (e.g. dead load)
 Movable (e.g. overhead crane, train/car on a bridge)
Acting
 At everyday service
 At the particular situation
 At natural catastrophes (earthquake)
 At disasters (fire, explosion)
Acceleration
 Static load
 Dynamic load (acceleration can not be omitted)
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Combination of higher number of variable loads
 γG,j Gk,j  γQ,1 Qk,1   γQ,i ψ0,i Qk.i
i>1

The load combination for Ultimate Limit State (ULS) takes into account:
 the design value of dead loads
 the design value of the dominant variable load Qk,1
 the design values of other variable loads are reduced by combination factor 

In case of dynamic effects:

 dynamic analysis is performed
 quasi-static analysis can be performed for simple cases, increasing the results by
dynamic factor 

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Scope of the lecture

Design methods and safety of structures
Limit state design
Standards for design of structures

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European codes
 These are usually product codes
 Design codes (Eurocodes) exist for design of structures
 European codes started to be developed in about 1980 to have common method of design in Europe (to
increase foreign trade, etc.)
 European Committee for Standardization (CEN) was established in 1990
 at the moment, the members are 19 European countries
 the others are “associated members”
 Czech Republic is a regular member since 1998
 Preliminary codes (ENV) were developed first
 they were considered as “temporary” standards to evaluate the principles
 national standards could be used at the same time
 National Application Document (NAD) – was included to take into account specific approach and
“national” values for partial safety factors, this was prepared by national specialists
 are not valid any more
 European codes (EN)
 these replaced the ENV and national codes
 are the only standards used for design in Czech Republic
 NA - National Annex, include national values of partial safety factors, etc.

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European design codes

EN 1990 Eurocode 0 - Basis of Structural Design
EN 1991 Eurocode 1 - Actions on structures
EN 1992 Eurocode 2 - Design of concrete structures
EN 1993 Eurocode 3 - Design of steel structures
EN 1994 Eurocode 4 - Design of composite steel and concrete structures
EN 1995 Eurocode 5 - Design of timber structures
EN 1996 Eurocode 6 - Design of masonry structures
EN 1997 Eurocode 7 - Geotechnical design
EN 1998 Eurocode 8 - Design of structures for earthquake resistance
EN 1999 Eurocode 9 - Design of aluminium structures

These standards usually consist of more parts, i.e. EN 1993 consists of 12 parts

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Partial safety factors
EN 1990
Load Effect Service load (SLS) Design load (ULS)

Dead favourable G = 1,0 G,min = 1,0

unfavourable G = 1,0 G,max = 1,35
Variable Q = 1,0 Q = 1,50

EN 1993
M = 1,00 (for steel)
other values exist for connections, etc.

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Thank you for your attention

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