Structural Steel Detailing

Introduction
and
Framing Plan
Structural Steel composition
 Properties of steel affected by chemical composition,
heat treatment and manufacturing process
 Chemical composition
 Iron with carbon content < 2% by weight
 Carbon content varies with grade and thickness
 Higher carbon increase strength but reduce ductility
 Small quantities of Vanadium, Aluminum can improve
strength and fracture toughness
 Substantial quantities of Chromium and Nickel improve
corrosion resistance – stainless steel

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Structural Steel
 Heat treatment
 Heat steel to the range of 850°C to 950°C and cool at different
rate to produce steel of different properties
 Annealing – very slow rate of cooling to produce softest steel
 Normalizing – cooling freely in air to produce steel of higher
strength and better toughness
 Quenching – rapid cooling by immersing directly into oil or
water to produce very hard but brittle steel
 Tempering – subsequent heat treatment to temperature below
850°C that can soften the hardened structure and make steel
tougher and more ductile

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Structural Steel
 Engineering properties
 Yield strength – steel remain elastic up to yield strength.
Yield strength is most often used for classification of steel
grade and for design purpose
 In UK, the grade of steel refers to highest yield strength from
steel of the same chemical composition. For the same grade
of steel, the thicker the section, the lower the yield strength
 Yield strength quoted in standard is the characteristic strength,
ie at 95% confidence level
 Ductility – steel deforms substantially without breakage
beyond the yield strength and the breaking load is higher than
the yield strength. Ductility is measured by (1) ratio of
elongation and (2) yield to ultimate strength

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Structural Steel
 Engineering properties
 Weldability depends on chemical composition and fracture
toughness
 Fracture toughness – steel is more prone to brittle fracture
under low temperature, at higher rate of loading, in thicker
material and at the heat affected zone of weld connection.
 Documentation
 Mill certificate to show chemical composition and mechanical
properties, its grade and compliance with relevant standard
 Certificate of origin

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 How many grade of steels?
 What is Rolled Sections?
 What are design drawings and shop
drawings?
 What is Member Schedule?

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Grade of Steel

Grade Nominal Yield Strength, MPa Equivalent Grade in BS4360

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Grade of Steel
 Grade S275 is commonly used
 Grade S355 or S450 refer to “high yield
steel”
 For high grade of steel:
 pay attention to deflection and stability
 commonly used for column, piles, etc.

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Design Code
 HKCP on Structural Use of Steel – 2011
 for building work in HK
 limit state approach
 Supersede 1987, 2005 edition based on elastic method
 BS449
 Old UK Code
 Elastic Method
 BS5950
 Limit State Method
 BS5400
 for bridge
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Universal Beam (UB)
 I-section, Depth >> Breadth
 uniform flange thickness
 good in resisting bending
 usually used for main beam, may also be
used for column required to resist large
bending moment.

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Universal Column (UC)
 H-section, the depth and breadth are
approximately equal
 uniform flange thickness
 good in resisting compression
 usually used for columns, may also be
used for beam with limited headroom.

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Universal Bearing Pile (UBP)
 H-section with thicker flange and web
thickness
 usually used for piles, may also be used
for column.

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Rolled Steel Joist (RSJ)
 small I-sections
 flange slightly tapered
 usually used for short span beams, girt
and purlins

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T-Section (T)
 cut from UB, UC or RSJ
 good for top and bottom chord of truss

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Rolled Steel Channels (RSC)
 flushed back
 flange slightly tapered
 usually used for short span beams.

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Rolled Steel Angle (RSA)
 L-section
 small size equal angles are readily
available
 usually used for truss, lattice girder, cleat
in connection, etc.

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Flat, Bars and Plate
 usually used in bracing, gusset plate,
stiffening plate,
 welded together to form plate girder, box
girder, etc.

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Castellated Beam
 formed by cutting UB and welded
together to form a deeper beam.
 for large span but lightly loaded structure
 web opening can be used for running of
services

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Cold Formed Sections
 formed from thin galvanized mild steel
sheet (1.5mm to 3.2mm thick).
 The usual shapes are C or Z sections used
for purlins or side rails/girts.

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Structural Hollow Sections
 Square Hollow Section (SHS),
Rectangular Hollow Section (RHS) &
Circular Hollow Section (CHS or Pipe)
 flushed outlook, aesthetically preferred for
exposed structural elements.

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Abbreviations
Abbreviation Description
UB Universal Beam
UC Universal Column
UBP Universal Bearing Pile
RSJ Rolled Steel Joist
RSC Rolled Steel Channel
CHS Circular Hollow Section
SHS Square Hollow Section
RHS Rectangular Hollow Section
RSA Rolled Steel Angle

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 Steel Tables
BS Sections
BS4: Part 1: Specification for hot rolled UB, UC, UBP, RSJ, T,
sections RSC
BS EN 10210: Hot finished hollow sections of CHS, SHS, RHS,
non-alloy and fine grain structural steel
BS EN 10056: Structural steel equal and RSA or L
unequal leg angles

 BS provide the basic dimensional information

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Identification
 UB, UC, UPB, RSJ, RSC
[Serial Size] x [Weight(kg/m)] [Abbreviation]
The Serial Size is in [Depth] x [Breadth]
Examples
 457 x 152 x 82 UB
 356 x 406 x 634 UC
 254 x 203 x 81.85 RSJ
 102 x 51 x 10.42 RSC

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Identification
 RHS, SHS, RSA
[Depth] x [Breadth] x [Thickness]
Examples
 250 x 150 x 6.3 RHS
 100 x 100 x 4 SHS
 100 x 75 x 8 RSA

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Identification
 CHS
[Diameter] x [Thickness]
 Example
114.3 x 5 CHS

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Structural Steel Drawings
 Block Plan, General Notes & Typical Details
 provide general information
 Framing Plan
 setting out and general arrangement of structural
members
 Connection Details
 how the members are connected
 Shop Drawing
 how the members are fabricated

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Structural Steel Framing Plan
 Framing Plan
 setting out and general arrangement of structural members
✓ Provide gridlines as reference
✓ Provide dimensions to centre line of element
✓ Pay attention to setting out level: to centre line, top face or top of floor
slab
 In the form of line diagrams with or without member width
 Plans at each floor level and elevations along each frame
 Indicate clearly to which members are the two ends of an
element are connected
 Provide member mark
 Member schedule and connection schedule

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Member Schedule
 Provide member marks for each member
 Tabulate the member sizes
 Indicate on which drawing the end
connection details can be found
 For small structure, the member schedule
can be omitted.

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Common structural forms
 Rigid frame
➢ Rigid or semi-rigid connections
 Braced frame
➢ Bolted simple connection
➢ Provide lateral stability by walls
➢ Horizontal rigidity by floor slabs or gable
frame (horizontal bracings)

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