CIVL 4320 Structural Steel Design

Chapter 1 - Introduction

Yuxin Pan, PhD, P.Eng.

Assistant Professor in Structural Engineering
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, HKUST
Email: [email protected]
Room 5536 | Tel: 2358-5976
 Learning Objectives
After this lecture, the students should be able:
1) To calculate design forces using load factors,
2) To classify steel structural sections,
3) To understand steel as a construction material.

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 Part I: Introduction

1. Steel Structures & HKSC 2011

2. Limit State Design

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 Steel Structures
Steel structures are skeletal frameworks that carry all the loads to which the structure is subjected. A steel
structure is composed of various structural steel elements such as beams, columns, braces, ties, etc

HSBC
Bank of China CCTV Headquarters
Headquarters
Tower Beijing

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 Steel Structures
Girder bridge
Geneva

Source: CNN
Railway station
National Olympic Stadium Zurich
(Bird’s Nest)
Beijing
Airport Shelter
Cancun

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 New course to be offered in Spring 2026:
Steel Structures CIVL 4100M Design of Timber Structures

 In modern wood construction, steel members are designed together with the wood components to
transfer loads.

Glued-laminated Brace connection Hybrid steel-timber system

timber column
standoff

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 Structural Design
 Structural system:
A structural system is an assemblage of structural members, such as beams, columns and diagonals.
These members are interconnected to each other to transfer forces from top to the foundation. The
decision of making a structural system depends on the understanding of the system level behaviours,
limitations of all possible alternatives and the design requirements.

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 Structural Design
 Structural member:
Once a structural system is defined, the detailed design is then performed on the member level. Given
the geometric layout of a structural framework, a structural analysis is then carried out to obtain its
structural responses (i.e. member force distribution, deflections and movements). Depending on the
internal force action (e.g., axial force, shear, bending) on each individual structural member, a specific
size of each member is then estimated and designed in accordance with a design standard.

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 Structural Design
The overall purpose of design is to invent a structure
which will satisfy the design requirements.

Generally speaking, designing a structural system is

relatively a more difficult task which requires
creativity, originality and experience of the engineer.
However, designing a structural member is a more
routine and time-consuming task which is often an
iterative process.

Source: Trahair et al.

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 Structural Design
Clause 1.2.1 – Aims of Structural Design

“The aims of structural design are to provide a structure with the following
attributes:
a) Overall stability against overturning, sliding, uplift or global buckling under
the design loads.
b) Strength against collapse under normal loads and imposed deformations,
and during construction with an acceptable level of safety.
c) Integrity, ductility and robustness against abnormal loads from extreme
events without suffering disproportionate collapse, in which alternative load
paths may be established.
d) Fire resistance.
e) Serviceability under all normal loads and imposed deformations.
f) Durability.
g) Maintainability during its design working life.
h) Buildability.
i) Economy: The structure should fulfil the above requirements in an economic
manner.”

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 Structural Design

• Not only must a structure safely support the loads to which it is subjected, but it must
support them in such a manner that serviceability issues (such as excessive deflections
Safety & and vibrations) are not so great as to frighten the occupants or cause structural damage
Serviceability

• The designed structure must be fabricated and erected without great problems arising
both in construction and in future maintenance. The engineer should understand fully the
Practicality method of construction and the availability of manpower and construction facilities

• The designer must always bear in mind to lower cost without sacrifice of strength. Savings
can be achieved by minimizing material weight, construction time, maintenance cost and
Cost maximizing structural performance

• Uncertainties in loading conditions, material properties and structural behaviour do exist

in constructed facilities. Whilst it is certainly the desire of the engineer to provide a safe,
serviceable and maintainable structure, there is always a risk element in the design
Probability decision making process that does not guarantee 100% safety resulting in risk free
structures

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 Iron Ring of Canada
On 25 January 1922, Prof Haultain, a mining
engineering professor at the University of Toronto,
proposed that engineers take an ethical oath.

Quebec Bridge Collapse

(August 29, 1907)

Source: McMaster Univ.

“The ring serves as a reminder to the

engineer and others of the engineer’s
obligation to live by a high standard of
professional conduct.”

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 Limit State Design
In structural engineering, a structural engineer has to design structures that are both safe and economic.
However, it is difficult to assess at the design stage how safe and economic a proposed design will
actually be in practice. Structures may be subjected to various loading conditions, from mild live loads to
extreme events such as typhoon and earthquakes, full of uncertainty.

Uncertainties fall roughly into groups: Live load intensity in office building

 80kg/m2

250kg/m2
These uncertainties arise from both the material variability of the
physical world and from our lack of complete knowledge about the
final structure. Source: Lizi Sironic

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 Limit State Design
 Early Design Method - Permissible Stress Design
This method is also termed as allowable stress or working stress design. It requires that the stresses
resulting from the most adverse combination of service loads and calculated by the mechanics of elastic
theory must not exceed the specified permissible stresses, i.e.,

Working stress ≤ Permissible stress = Failure stress / SF

where the safety factor, SF, is traditionally taken as 1/0.6 or 1.67.

Example:
• The Hong Kong Code of Practice for Structural Use of Steel 1987
• BS449: Structural Use of Steel in Buildings 1969

It is simple - stresses are kept low under working loads, linear elastic theories are applicable, BUT:
1.
2.

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 Limit State Design
 Morden Design Method – Limit State Design
The Limit State is a term that describes structure’s condition of potential failure. This may occur as a
result of individual member failure, overturning instability, large deflection or any other situations which
results in the structure no longer fulfilling the relevant design criteria.

It requires that a steel member be designed such that:

Effect of Factored Loads ≤ Factored Resistance

∑ 𝜸𝜸i × 𝑳𝑳𝑳𝑳𝑳𝑳𝑳𝑳𝒊𝒊 ≤ 𝝓𝝓 × 𝑹𝑹𝑹𝑹𝑹𝑹𝑹𝑹𝑹𝑹𝑹𝑹𝑹𝑹𝑹𝑹𝑹𝑹𝑹𝑹

where factors γ and ϕ reflect the degrees of uncertainties in the various loads and the resistance.

Example:
• HKSC2011 (2023 version), BS5950, AISC, CISC, European EC3

In HKSC 2011 Clause 2.2, “Structures should be designed by considering the limit states beyond which they
would become unfit for their intended use. Appropriate partial factors should be applied to provide adequate
degree of reliability for ultimate and serviceability limit states.”

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 Limit State Design
When design a structure using the Limit State Design method, it will satisfy two principal criteria:
 Ultimate limit states (ULS)
Ultimate limit states concern the safety of the whole or part of the structure at ultimate loading
conditions.

 Serviceability limit states (SLS)

Serviceability limit states correspond to limits beyond which the whole or part of the structure becomes
unserviceable under working loads.

Ultimate limit state (ULS) Serviceability limit state (SLS)

strength check deflection check
 Strength (including general yielding, rupture,  Deflection
buckling and forming a mechanism)  Vibration
 Stability against overturning, sliding, uplift and sway  Wind-induced oscillation
 Fire resistance  Durability (e.g., corrosion, reparable damage due to
 Brittle fracture and fatigue-induced fracture fatigue)

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 Load Factors
Uncertainties fall roughly into groups:
 Loading (γl)
 material strength (γm) load factor (γf) in HKSC2011 in Table 4.2 and 4.3.
 structural behaviour (γp)
The factored loads should be applied in the most unfavourable realistic combination for the part or
effect under consideration.

Where the action of dead load or imposed load can act beneficially, the partial factor should NOT
exceed 1.0.
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 Load Factors
In the event of extreme load cases such as a vehicle collision or explosion or from consideration of
the remaining structure after removal of a key element, the partial load factors given in Table 4.3 of
HKSC2011 should be applied.

For serviceability limit states, it is generally sufficient to use a load factor of 1.0 for dead, live and
wind loads, i.e. to use the working or characteristic values of the loads.

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 Example 1 – Application of load factors
Consider the floor plan shown in Fig. 1(a) where two one-way spanning slabs are supported by three beams AB, CD
and EF. While beams AB and EF transfer directly the floor loads to the columns, beam CD is supported by two girders
AE and BF. Both slabs are carrying uniformly distributed loads. The unfactored design loads are 1 kN/m2 for the dead
load and 3 kN/m2 for the imposed load. The tributary area supported by each beam is indicated in Fig 1(b). Assume
that all beams are simply connected.

Figure 1. Floor plan of two one-way spanning slabs

(a) Calculate the maximum design bending moment on beam CD.

(b) Calculate the maximum design bending moment on girder BF.
(c) Calculate the maximum design force acting at column E.

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 Example 1 – Application of load factors
(a) Calculate the maximum design bending moment on beam CD.
(b) Calculate the maximum design bending moment on girder BF.
(c) Calculate the maximum design force acting at column E.

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 Part II: Steel Material

1. Material Properties
2. Section Properties

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 Steel as Structural Material
Steel is a metal alloy composed of:
• Iron (~98%)
• Carbon (0.15% - 0.3%): increases the strength and hardness of the steel but reduces ductility and
toughness.
• Silicon and manganese (0.5%-1.75%): increases the toughness and ductility of the steel.
• Chromium and nickel are added to steel to form stainless steel to resist corrosion.

The manufacture of steel at the steel mill begins at the blast furnace. At a temperature of over 1300˚C,
raw materials (i.e. iron ore, limestone and coal) are first made into molten pig iron, which is then
converted into steel in either an open hearth or basic oxygen steelmaking process.

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 Steel as Structural Material
Typical structural steel sections
are then made into various
shapes by a hot-rolling process
in which the molten steel is
squeezed through a series of
rotating cylinders termed rolls.

Steel sections are usually

produced in a variety of grades
having different strengths.
Common structural steel
supplied in accordance with BS
EN Standards is basically
produced in four strength grades
S235, S275, S355 and S460
(numbers represent the nominal
yield strength in N/mm2).
Source: New Steel Construction

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 Steel as Structural Material
 Hot-rolled steel is produced by heating it to a high temperature and passing it through
rollers.
 Cold-formed steel is shaped at room temperature by bending or rolling without heat.

 Produced at a temperature above  Hot-rolled process + further processing

1300˚C  Typically has a smoother surface finish
 Surface finish may not be as smooth, with exact dimensions
resulting from heating and cooling  More expensive due to difficult
 Comparatively cheap processing
 Suitable for larger and heavier projects  Ideal for smaller and lighter projects and
where exact tolerances are not required applications requiring precision

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 Steel as Structural Material
The material properties of steel are usually measured by tensile coupon test. A small coupon of
material taken from the steel is pulled in a tensile testing machine until it fractures.

Source: Youtube

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 Steel as Structural Material
The typical stress-strain curves derived from tensile couple test for structural mild steel and high
strength steel are shown as follows:
• elastic range
• yield plateau
• strain hardening
• necking and fracture

Source: StudyMeta

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 Steel as Structural Material
 Material properties:
• Linear and high stiffness within the elastic range with Es = 205,000 N/mm2
• High yield strength as compared to other materials such as concrete
• High ductility. Mild steel yields at εy ≈ 0.0015 and does not fracture εult ≈ 0.25
• Us/Ys ≈ 1.6 for mild steel and ≈ 1.2 for high strength steel

 Other properties:
• Shear modulus, G = E/2(1+ν) = 78,800 N/mm2
• Poisson’s ratio, ν = 0.3
• Density, ρs = 7850 kg/m3

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 Steel as Structural Material

Properties
High strength – more compact Maintenance
sections, longer span, greater height
High stiffness – more effective in Higher maintenance – need to
reducing deflection prevent corrosion
High ductility – exhibit extensive Fireproofing – strength is reduced at
deformation before failure and thus gives high temperature in fire
precaution warning if overstressed. Fatigue – design strength is reduced
for cyclic loading
Susceptibility to buckling – the
Construction longer and slender a member, the
Ease of construction – fast erection greater the danger of premature
independent of weather conditions, no buckling failure
formwork and minimum cranage.
Flexibility – adaptable to change of use Cost
Lighter structure – smaller loading on
foundation Long lead time – need fabrication
Environmental friendly – recycle and and shipment
reuse of material Higher cost – more expansive
structure

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 Design Strength
In HKSC2011, the design yield strength
of the steel is often referred as design
strength (py) of the steel material.

The design strength py for different grade

and thickness of hot-rolled steels
supplied in accordance with BS EN
standards and Chinese standard
GB50017 is shown in Tables 3.2 and 3.3
of HKSC2011, respectively.

In general, thinner plates tend to have

higher design strength values than
thicker plates using the same grade of
steel material because they usually
possess a slightly finer grain structure as
a result of faster cooling after hot rolling.

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 Design Strength
In HKSC2011, the design yield strength
of the steel is often referred as design
strength (py) of the steel material.

The design strength py for different grade

and thickness of hot-rolled steels
supplied in accordance with BS EN
standards and Chinese standard
GB50017 is shown in Tables 3.2 and 3.3
of HKSC2011, respectively.

In general, thinner plates tend to have

higher design strength values than
thicker plates using the same grade of
steel material because they usually
possess a slightly finer grain structure as
a result of faster cooling after hot rolling.

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 Steel Sections
The sizes and sectional properties of most standard hot rolled sections are given in
BS4: Part 1: 1993, BS EN10034: 1999 and BS EN1059:1999.

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 Section Classification
 Local Plate Buckling in Sections
• Most steel sections can be idealized as a collection of plate elements.
• When subjected to compression, a plate element of a steel member may become unstable due
to local plate buckling. In general, local plate buckling takes a shape of multiple sine waves.
Source: Ascione et al. 2016

Source: The Steel Construction Institute

• The local buckling resistance of a plate is inversely related to its width to thickness ratio. Other
factors are its edge support conditions, and the types of loading conditions.
• When local plate buckling occurs in a cross-section, it reduces the effectiveness of the section
as well as its moment and/or axial load carrying capacity.
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 Section Classification
 Flat elements of a cross-section can be generally divided into two types as (Clause 7.1)
a) outstand elements are attached to adjacent elements at one edge only while the other edge
being free:
• flanges of an I-section
b) internal elements are attached to other elements on both longitudinal edges and including:
• webs comprising internal elements perpendicular to the axis of bending;
• flanges comprising internal elements parallel to the axis of bending.

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 Section Classification
 Basically, there are 4 classes of sections as defined by HKSC2011:

a) Class 1 Plastic: Full plastic bending of the entire section can be developed with sufficient
rotation capacity to allow for the redistribution of moments in a structure.

b) Class 2 Compact: Full plastic bending of the section can be developed, but local buckling
prevents the section from having sufficient rotation capacity so as to allow for redistribution of
moments in a structure.

c) Class 3 Semi-compact: The stress at the extreme fibres can reach the design strength, but
local buckling prevents the development of full plastic bending of the section.

d) Class 4 Slender: Premature local buckling occurs before the steel material can reach yielding
at its design strength

Section classification aims to calculate the load carrying capacity of the structural members
depending on different failure mode. For Class 4 slender section, reduction in sectional properties
or design strength is needed to account for the local buckling effect.

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 Section Classification
 Moment capacity, Mc, of each of the four classes of section is given as:
(a) Plastic Mc = S py where S = plastic section modulus
(b) Compact Mc = S py
(c) Semi-compact Mc = Z py where Z = elastic section modulus
(d) Slender Mc < Z py
or alternatively Mc = Z pyr (see Clause 7.7 where pyr = reduced design strength)

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 Section Classification
Table 7.1 sets out the limitation of b/T and
d/t ratios for plastic, compact and semi-
compact cross sections with the definition
of b, T, d and t given in Fig. 7.1 of
HKSC2011.

To unify steel grades, a parameter of

𝜀𝜀 = 275⁄𝑝𝑝𝑦𝑦 , is used to factor the
limiting ratio.

If a section has one or more elements that

do not comply with semi-compact
limitations, then the section is classified
as slender and its effectiveness must be
reduced in accordance with the provisions
given in Clause 7.2 of HKSC2011.

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 Example 2 – Section classification
A welded I-section beam comprising of two 650 x 25 mm flange plates and one 1500 x 10 mm web
plate of BS Grade S275 steel. Determine the class of the I-section.

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 CIVL 4320 Structural Steel Design

Questions?

Yuxin Pan, PhD, P.Eng.

Assistant Professor in Structural Engineering
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, HKUST
Email: [email protected]
Room 5536 | Tel: 2358-5976