Limit State Method

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 INTRODUCTION
Designer has to ensure the structures he
designs are:

– Fit for their purpose (functional)

– Safe and Robust
– Economical and durable

– This is usually done by a particular way of

thinking called the design philosophy or
method.
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 INTRODUCTION
Following Uncertainties affect the safety
of a structure
 about loading

 about material strength and

 about structural dimensions

 about behaviour under load

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LOADING UNCERTAINTY

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MATERIAL UNCERTAINTY

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BEHAVIOUR UNCERTAINTY

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DESIGN ERROR

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 WORKING STRESS METHOD (WSM)

Characteristic  Characteristic Strength

Load Effects Factor of Safety

• Stresses caused by the characteristic loads must

be less than an “permissible stress”, which is a
fraction of the yield strength

• permissible stress may be defined in terms of a

“factor of safety" which represents a margin for
overload and other unknown factors which could be
tolerated by the structure
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 WORKING STRESS METHOD (WSM)

permissible stress = (Yield stress) / (Factor of

safety)

Limitations

• Material non-linearity

• Non-linear behaviour in the post buckled state

and the property of steel to tolerate high
stresses by yielding locally and redistributing
the loads not accounted for.

• No allowance for redistribution of loads in

statically indeterminate members
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 LIMIT STATE DESIGN

Limit State: State at which one of the conditions pertaining

to the structure has reached a limiting value

Limit States
Limit States of Strength Limit States of Serviceability

Strength as governed by material Deflection

Buckling strength Vibration
Stability against overturning, sway Fatigue cracks (reparable damage)
Fatigue Fracture Corrosion
Brittle Fracture Fire resistance

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 RANDOM VARIATIONS

Frequency

f(S)
f(Q)

Resistance, S
Load effect, Q
Qm Sm
Probability density functions for strength and load effect
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 RANDOM VARIATIONS

• Factors Contributing to Uncertainties

– Strength of the material
– Geometry of configuration
– Cross section dimensions
– Inaccuracies in the strength calculation
– Uncertainty in the actions (loads)
– Departure of the actual load effects

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 LIMIT STATES DESIGN

• Basis of Limit States

S m  Qm
Design  
 s2   Q
2
 (R-Q)
f(R-Q)

(R-Q)m
R-Q
R-Q<0 R-Q>0

Fig. 1 Probability distribution of the safety margin R-Q

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 LIMIT STATES METHOD (LSM)
• “Limit States" are various conditions in which a
structure would be considered to have failed to fulfil
the purpose for which it was built.

• “Ultimate Limit States” are those catastrophic

states,which require a larger reliability in order to
reduce the probability of its occurrence to a very
low level.

• “Serviceability Limit State" refers to the limits on

acceptable performance of the structure during
service.

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 General Principles of
Limit States Design

• Structure to be designed for the Limit States

at which they would become unfit for their
intended purpose by choosing, appropriate
partial safety factors, based on probabilistic
methods.

• Two partial safety factors, one applied to

loading (f) and another to the material
strength (m) shall be employed.

• The values of partial safety factors reflect the

uncertainty associated with its nominal value
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• f allows for;

– Possible deviation of the actual behaviour of the

structure from the analysis model
– Deviation of loads from specified values and
– Reduced probability that the various loads acting
together will simultaneously reach the
characteristic value.

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 LIMIT STATES DESIGN
(Resistance )
(Load * Load Factor) 
(Resistance Factor)
• m takes account;

– Possible deviation of the material in the

structure from that assumed in design
– Possible reduction in the strength of the
material from its characteristic value
– Manufacturing tolerances.
– Mode of failure (ductile or brittle)
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 SECTION 5 LIMIT STATE DESIGN
• 5.1 Basis for Design
• 5.2 Limit State Design
• 5.3 Actions
• 5.4 Strength
• 5.5 Factors Governing the Ultimate Strength
– 5.5.1 Stability
– 5.5.2 Fatigue
– 5.5.3 Plastic Collapse
• 5.6 Limit State of Serviceability
– 5.6.1 Deflection
– 5.6.2 Vibration
– 5.6.3 Durability
– 5.6.4 Fire Resistance
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 5.1 Basis for Design
• the structure shall be designed to withstand safely
all loads likely to act on it throughout its life.
• It shall also satisfy the serviceability requirements,
such as limitations of deflection and vibration.
• It shall not suffer total collapse under accidental
loads such as from explosions or impact or due to
consequences of human error to an extent beyond
the local damages.
• The objective of design is to achieve a structure
that will remain fit for use during its life with an
acceptable target reliability.

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 5.1.2
The potential for catastrophic damage shall be limited or
avoided by appropriate choice of one or more of the
following:
– i) avoiding, eliminating or reducing exposure to hazards,
which the structure is likely to sustain.
– ii) choosing structural forms, layouts and details and
designing such that
• the structure has low sensitivity to hazardous
conditions.
• the structure survives with only local damage even
after serious damage to any one individual element
by the hazard.

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 Conditions to be satisfied to avoid a
disproportionate collapse
• building should be effectively tied together at
each principal floor level and each column should
be effectively held in position by means of
continuous ties (beams) nearly orthogonal
• each storey of the building should be checked to
ensure disproportionate collapse would not
precipitate by the notional removal, one at a time,
of each column.
• check should be made at each storey by
removing one lateral support system at a time to
ensure disproportionate collapse would not
occur.
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 Actions
• 5.3.1 Classification of Actions 
– by their variation with time as given below:
• a) Permanent Actions (Qp): Actions due to self-
weight of structural and non-structural components,
fittings, ancillaries, and fixed equipment etc.
• b) Variable Actions (Qv): Actions due to construction
and service stage loads such as imposed (live) loads
(crane loads, snow loads etc.), wind loads, and
earthquake loads etc.
• c) Accidental Actions (Qa): Actions due to
explosions, impact of vehicles, and fires etc.

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 Partial Safety Factors (Actions)
Limit State of Strength Limit state of Serviceability

Combination
LL WL LL
WL/
DL Accom / AL DL Accomp
Leading Leading EL
panying EL anying

DL+LL+CL 1.5 1.5 1.05   1.0 1.0 1.0 

DL+LL+CL+ 1.2 1.2 1.05 0.6

 1.0 0.8 0.8 0.8
WL/EL 1.2 1.2 0.53 1.2

1.5
DL+WL/EL   1.5  1.0   1.0
(0.9)*

1.2
DL+ER 1.2       
(0.9)*

DL+LL+AL 1.0 0.35 0.35  1.0    

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 5.4 Strength
• The ultimate strength calculation may require consideration
of
– a) Loss of equilibrium of the structure or any part of it, considered
as a rigid body.
– b) Failure by excessive deformation, rupture or loss of stability of
the structure or any part of it including support and foundation.
• The Design Strength, Sd, is obtained as
– Sd = Su / m
where partial safety factor for materials, m, account for
– (i) the possibility of unfavourable deviation of material strength from
the characteristic value,
– (ii) the possibility of unfavourable variation of member sizes,
– (iii) the possibility of unfavourable reduction in member strength
due to fabrication and tolerances,
– (iv) uncertainty in the calculation of strength of the members.
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 PARTIAL SAFETY FACTORS (Strength)

Sl.
Definition Partial Safety Factor
No
1 Resistance, governed by yielding 1.1
mo
2 Resistance of member to 1.1
buckling mo
3 Resistance, governed by ultimate 1.25
stress m1
4 Resistance of connection m1 Shop Field
Fabrication Fabrication
Bolts-Friction Type 1.25 1.25
Bolts-Bearing Type 1.25 1.25
Rivets 1.25 1.25
Welds 1.25 1.50

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 Design Criteria

• Design Action  Design Strength

• Load factor *charac.Load

< charac.strength / material factor

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 5.5 Factors Governing the Ultimate Strength

• frame stability against overturning and sway

• Fatigue design shall be as per Section 13 of this
code. When designing for fatigue, the load factor
for action, f, equal to unity shall be used for the
load causing stress fluctuation and stress range.
• Plastic Collapse  Plastic analysis and design may
be used if the requirement specified under the
plastic method of analysis (Section 4.5) are
satisfied.

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 5.6 Limit State of Serviceability

• Deflections are to be checked for the most

adverse but realistic combination of service loads
and their arrangement, by elastic analysis, using a
load factor of 1.0
• Suitable provisions in the design shall be made for
the dynamic effects of live loads, impact loads and
vibration/fatigue due to machinery operating loads.
• The durability of steel structures shall be ensured
by following recommendations of Section 15.
• Design provisions to resist fire are briefly
discussed in Section 16.
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Type of Deflectio
LIMITING DEFLECTIONS Maximum
Design Load Member Supporting
building n Deflection
Purlins and
Live
Girts Elastic cladding Span / 150
load/Wind
Purlins and Brittle cladding Span / 180
load
Girts
Live load Simple span Elastic cladding Span / 240
Live load Simple span Brittle cladding Span / 300
Live load Cantilever span Elastic cladding Span / 120
Live load Cantilever span Brittle cladding Span / 150
Profiled Metal
Live load or Rafter Span / 180
Industri Sheeting
Wind load supporting
al Vertical Plastered Sheeting Span / 240
building
Crane load
(Manual Gantry Crane Span / 500
operation)
Crane load
(Electric
Gantry Crane Span / 750
operation
up to 50 t)
Crane load
(Electric
Gantry Crane Span / 1000
operation
over 50 t)
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 Deflection Limits (Contd)
Deflection Maximum
Design Load Member Supporting
Deflection
Lateral No cranes Column Elastic cladding Height / 150
Masonry/brittle
No cranes Column Height / 240
cladding
Crane + wind Gantry (lateral) Crane Span / 400
Gantry (pendent
Column/frame operated) Height / 100
Crane + wind
Column/frame Gantry (cab Height / 240
operated)
Vertical Not susceptible
Live load Floors & roofs Span / 300
to cracking
Susceptible to
Live load Floor & Roof Span / 360
cracking
Lateral Wind Building --- Height / 500
Storey height /
Wind Inter storey drift ---
300

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 CONCLUSION

Please note that many of the complexities in the revised

IS 800:2007 are not due to change in design philosophy
from WSM to LSM but rather due to advances made in
Structural Steel Design over the years which help in a
more rational and reliable estimate of the collapse load.

Acknowledgement:
Dr S R Satishkumar - IIT Madras

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