Design of Steel Structures

Notes prepared by: Mr. Kiran M. Deore

Name of Faculty: Kiran Manikrao Deore,

BE (Civil), ME (Structures)
Subject: Design of Steel Structures

Department of Civil Engineering

Kalyani Charitable Trust’s,
Late G. N. Sapkal College of
Engineering,
Anjaneri, Nashik (MS) – 422212
Design of Steel Structures

As a Steel Engineer you must know the following things

Steel
Steel is a metal and an alloy of Iron-Carbon.
Main constituents of steel are iron and carbon while silicon, phosphorus, sulfur and oxygen
contain in small quantity.
Steel are classified in different groups depending upon the chemical composition:
a) Mild steel
b) Medium carbon steel
c) High carbon steel
d) Low alloy steel
e) High alloy steel
Out of above five, the first three types of steels are known as structural steel, commonly used in
steel structures.
Indian standard IS: 800-2007 is applicable to the types of structural steels covered by the
following Indian standards:
1. IS: 226-1975 Structural Steel (Standard quality)
2. IS: 1977-1975 Structural Steel (Ordinary quality)
3. IS: 2062-1984 Weldable Structural Steel
4. IS: 2961-1975 structural Steel (High tensile)
5. IS: 8500-1977 Weldable Structural Steel (Medium and high strength quality)
IS: 226-1975 Structural Steel (Standard quality)
 Steel in this quality is known as mild steel
 Physical properties of ms are:
Mass: 7850 𝑘𝑔/𝑚3
Modulus of elasticity: 2.04 × 105 𝑀𝑃𝑎
Modulus of rigidity: 0.785 × 105 𝑀𝑃𝑎
Poisson’s ratio: 0.3
 Structural Steel Sections
Structural steel is rolled into a variety of shapes and sizes. The shapes are designated by
the shape and size of their cross section.
Following are the various types of rolled structural steel section:
1. Rolled Steel Beam Sections (I- section)
i. Indian Standard Junior Beam (ISJB)
ii. Indian Standard Light Beam (ISLB)
iii. Indian Standard Medium weight Beam (ISMB)
iv. Indian Standard Wide flange Beam (ISWB)
v. Indian Standard Heavy Beam (ISHB)
vi. Indian Column Section (SC)
2. Rolled Steel Channel Sections
i. Indian Standard Junior Channel (ISJC)
ii. Indian Standard Light Channel (ISLC)
iii. Indian Standard Medium weight Channel with sloping flange (MC)
iv. Indian Standard Medium weight Channel with Parallel flange (MCP)
v. Indian Standard Gate Channel (ISGC)
3. Rolled Steel Angle Sections
i. Indian Standard Equal Angle (ISA)

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Design of Steel Structures

ii. Indian Standard Unequal Angle

4. Rolled Steel T-Sections
5. Rolled Steel Bars
6. Rolled Steel Plates
7. Rolled Steel Sheets and Strips
8. Mild Steel Flats
 Classification of Cross-Sections based upon bending
Class 2 (Compact)
Class 3 (Semi-compact)
Class 4 (Slender)
 Choice of section
The design of steel sections is governed by cross sectional area (for tension and
compression members) and section modulus (for beams)
 Design philosophies
There are three design philosophies for the design of steel structures:
Elastic or working stress method (WSM)
Plastic or ultimate load method
Limit State Method (LSM)
 Different types of load acting directly on steel structures:
Dead loads, live loads, wind loads, earthquake loads, erection loads, snow loads, etc.
 Characteristic strength
It is the value of resistance below which not more than a 5 % of test results may be
expected to fall.
 Characteristic load
It is that value of the load which has an accepted probability (95%) of not being exceeded
during the life span of the structure.
 Factor of Safety (FOS)
The factor by which the yield stress of the material of a member is divided to arrive at the
permissible stress in the material.
1. Factor of safety for steel: WSM- 1.7 to 1.8, LSM-1.15
2. FOS for concrete: WSM- 3, LSM- 1.5
 Partial Safety factor
A factor of safety relates to the permissible stresses.
Partial safety factor against;
1. Yielding strength, 𝛾𝑚0 = 1.10
2. Buckling strength, 𝛾𝑚0 = 1.10
3. Ultimate tensile strength, 𝛾𝑚1 = 1.12
4. Resistance of connection:
Shop fabrications Field fabrications
a) Bolts-friction type (𝛾𝑚𝑓 ) 1.25 1.25
b) Bolts-bearing type (𝛾𝑚𝑏 ) 1.25 1.25
c) Rivets (𝛾𝑚𝑟 ) 1.25 1.25
d) Welds (𝛾𝑚𝑤 ) 1.25 1.50

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Load factors or Partial safety factors for loads

Load combinations (𝛾𝑙 )
DL + LL 1.5
DL + WL 1.5
DL + LL + WL 1.2
Note: wind load and earthquake load shall not be assumed to act simultaneously.
The effect of each shall be considered separately
Questions on Bolted Connections

.
Types of bolts: 1) Unfinished/ordinary/rough/black bolts
2) High strength friction grip bolts (HSFG bolts)
Grade of bolts: Grade 4.6 to Grade 8.8 available
But most commonly used bolt is 4.6
In Grade 4.6,
4 indicates 1/100 units of tensile strength ∴ 𝐹𝑢𝑏 = 400 𝑀𝑃𝑎
𝐹 𝑌𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑
0.6 indicates the ratio of yield to ultimate strength ∴ 0.6 = 𝐹𝑦𝑏 = 𝑈𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒,
𝑢𝑏
∴ 𝐹𝑦𝑏 = 0.6 × 400 = 240 𝑁/𝑚𝑚2
Diameter of Hole (𝑑0 𝑜𝑟 𝑑ℎ )
Diameter of Bolt (d) 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 27 30 Over 33
Diameter of Hole (𝑑0 ) 13 15 18 20 22 24 26 30 33 𝑑0 = 𝑑 + 3

But IS specification is,

𝑑0 = 𝑑 + 1.5 … … … … … … . 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑑0 < 25 𝑚𝑚
𝑑0 = 𝑑 + 2 … … … … … … … . 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑑0 = 25 𝑚𝑚 𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑣𝑒

Pitch Distance (p): The centre-to-centre distance between two bolts along the direction of load.
Maximum pitch: 12t or 200 (for compression)
: 16t or 200 (for tension)
Whichever is less.
Minimum pitch ≥ 2.5𝑑

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Gauge Distance (g): The centre-to-centre distance between two bolts across the direction of
load.
Edge distance (e):it is the distance from edge to last bolt to prevent block shear failure,
minimum edge distance is provided 𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑛 = 1.5𝑑0
𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 12𝜖
 Design strength of bearing type bolted connections (𝑉𝑑𝑐 )
a) Design shear capacity of bolt (𝑉𝑑𝑠𝑏 )
b) Design bearing strength of bolt (𝑉𝑑𝑝𝑏 )
c) Design tensile strength of bolt (𝑇𝑑𝑏 )
Design strength of bolt 𝑉𝑑𝑏 = 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑒
It is also known as bolt value
𝐹𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑟 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑
𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑏𝑜𝑙 𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑑 =
𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑏𝑜𝑙𝑡
d) Design tensile strength of plate (𝑇𝑑𝑝 )
∴ 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑏𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 (𝑉𝑑𝑐 ) =
𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑜𝑓 (𝑉𝑑𝑠𝑏 ), (𝑉𝑑𝑝𝑏 ), (𝑇𝑑𝑏 ), (𝑇𝑑𝑝 )
Questions on Welded Connections
Types of welds
a) Fillet weld or lap welds
b) Butt welds or groove welds
c) Slot welds
d) Plug welds

 Design of fillet weld

Minimum overlap = 4t or 40 mm, whichever is more

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Design of Steel Structures

Standard angle of fillet weld is 45

Size of fillet weld (s) – distance between corner of fillet to the toe of fillet
Minimum size of weld – it is depends on the thickness of thicker connected member
Thickness of member Size of weld
0 to 10 mm 3
10 to 20 mm 5
20 to 32 mm 6
32 to 50 mm 8
Maximum size of weld= t – 1.5 mm………….. for square edges
3
= 4 𝑡 mm……………… for rounded edges
Thickness of throat (𝑡𝑡 )
(𝑡𝑡 ) is always less than size of weld
𝑠
(𝑡𝑡 )𝑚𝑎𝑥 = = 0.707𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 45°
√2
Effective throat thickness: it is the distance between corners of fillet weld to the face of
fillet weld
𝑡𝑡 = 𝑘. 𝑠 … … … … … 𝑡𝑡 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 3 𝑚𝑚
K is the constant which is depends on angle between welds or fusion faces (𝛼)
Angle between weld face (𝛼) Value of k
60 – 90 0.7
91 – 110 0.65
101 - 106 0.60
107 – 113 0.55
114 - 120 0.50

 Design of butt weld or groove weld

Types of butt welds
a) Partially penetrated or single butt welds
Single U
Single V
Single J
b) Fully penetrated or double butt welds
Double U, V, J

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Effective thickness of butt weld

Type Effective thickness 𝑡𝑒
Single V 5
𝑡
8
Single U 5
𝑡
8
Double V t
Double U t
Where t is the thickness of thinner connected member
Questions on Tensile Connections
Tension members are also called as ties or hangers
Types of tension failure are
a) Yielding of gross section
b) Rupture of critical section
c) Block shear
Questions on Compression Connections
Types of compression members:
a) Principal rafter: it is normally used in roof truss as main strut.
b) Strut: it is generally used in truss in bracing system
c) Column or post or stanction: it is used to support floor or floor girders
d) Boom: principal compression member in crane system.
Types of failures of compression members:
a) Short column or short strut: are failed by yielding or crushing of material
b) Intermediate column: are failed by inelastic buckling
c) Long columns and long struts : are generally failed due to elastic buckling
Compressive strength of column and strut influenced by;
i. Initial imperfection of member (due to handling, transportation and erection)
ii. Residual stress in cross section
iii. Eccentricity of loading

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Design of Steel Structures

Limiting slenderness ratio (𝜆)

a) A compression member subjected to compressive loads 𝜆 ≤ 180
resulting from DL + LL combination

b) Subjected to EQ load or WL 𝜆 ≤ 250

c) For compression flange of beam 𝜆 ≤ 300

Questions on Lacing and Battening

Lacing is used for eccentric loaded column
Battening is used for axially loaded column
 For lacing and battening, flats, angles, channels or tubes are used

θ is the angle of inclination of lacing with longitudinal

l is the length of lacing and b is the width of lacing
 Design specifications:
θ is kept between 400 to 700
Optimum angle for lacing member = 45 to 500
If angle θ is less than 40, lacing may some chance to carry some of column load
If angle θ is greater than 70, the force carrying capacity of lacing member decreases.
Effective slenderness ratio of lacing member should be less than or equal to 145
Questions on Base Plate
Gusset plates are provided when moment is acting on the column
Column slabs are used when only axial loads acts on column
Types of column bases:
a) Slab base: only for axial load
b) Gusseted base: for axial load and moment

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Questions on Gantry Girder

HOT or MOT cranes: hand operated overhead travelling crane or manually operated
overhead travelling crane
EOT cranes: Electrically operated overhead travelling crane
Design loads on gantry girders:
a) Vertical loads (Gantry loads)
b) Lateral loads (surge loads)
c) Longitudinal loads (drag loads)
d) Impact loads (sudden actions)
Additional loads on gantry girder due to impact effect:
1) vertical loads EOT cranes 25 % maximum static wheel load
MOT cranes 10 % maximum static wheel load
2) lateral loads EOT cranes 10 % (Weight of crab + weight lifted by crane)
MOT cranes 5 % (Weight of crab + weight lifted by crane)
3) longitudinal loads 5 % maximum static wheel load
Crab means trolley

Limiting deflections
For MOT or HOT 𝐿
500
For EOT (capacity up to 50 Tonne ) 𝐿
750
For EOT (capacity more than 50 Tonne ) 𝐿
1000
For other moving equipment’s like 𝐿
changing cars etc. 600

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