Steel Properties, Limit

State Design and

Introduction to
Eurocodes
Material Properties of Steel

 Steel is an alloy of Iron, Carbon (<2%), and

Manganese (<1%). It also contains small amounts
of Phosphorous, Silicon, Sulfur and Oxygen
 Carbon Steel - these chemical elements are
controlled to provide consistent quality and grade of
steel
 Carbon content greatly affects the properties of
steel:
 More Carbon increases : strength, hardness,
corrosion-resistance
 More Carbon decreases : malleability, ductility,
and weldability
 The amount of Carbon does NOT affect the
Modulus of Elasticity (E) of the Steel
 Stress-strain curve

Ultimate tensile
strength

Yield strength
Yield Strength and Ultimate
Tensile Strength
Design values of material
coefficients

Steel section

 Hot rolled - heated up and pushed

through rollers that squeeze the metal
into a particular profile, depending on
the shape of the rollers.
 Cold formed - are created by the
working of sheet steel using stamping,
rolling, or presses to deform the sheet
into a profile
 Built-up – form a shape by welding
together different hot-rolled sections
Steel sections
 Structural Design

 Principle design requirements:

a) Structural requirements:
• Safety – produce a structure which will not fail in its design
lifetime, or has an acceptably low risk of failure
• Stiffness of the structure – sufficient to ensure that the
serviceability of the structure is not impaired by excessive
deflections, vibrations and the like.
b) Other requirements:
• Economy – the type and quantity of materials, methods of
fabricating and constructions, sizes of the members of the
structure.
• Harmony – relationships between the different systems of
the structure i.e. the structural system (load resistance and
transfer system), the architectural system, the electrical and
mechanical system and environment.
Overall Design Process
Structural Design Process
 Structural Design Process
 Design procedure for structural framework design:
a) Planning – establish the functions of the structure
b) Preliminary structural configuration – arrangement of
the elements
c) Establishment of the loads
d) Preliminary member selection
e) Analysis
f) Evaluation – all of the above requirements are satisfied
and compare with predetermined criteria
g) Redesign – repetition of the sequences are needed
based on the evaluation
h) Final decision – whether optimum design has been
achieved
Limit State Design

 Safety is a paramount responsibility of

the designer
 In the design, there are uncertainty due
to many factors, which affect the safety:
 Loading
 Material strength
 Structural dimension and behaviour
 Designer must ensure that the risk of
failure is extremely small, despite the
uncertainties.
 Limit State Design (ctd.)
 Basis of LS design – the probability of operating
conditions not reaching failure conditions
 “Limit States” are the various conditions in which
a structure would be considered to have failed to
fulfill the purpose for which it was built.
 Two limit states are considered at the design
stage:
 Ultimate limit state (ULS)
 Serviceability limit state (SLS)
Limit State Design (ctd.)
 ULS – catastrophic  SLS – limits on
states, when ULS
are reached – whole
structure or part of it
collapses
 Strength (yield,
buckling)
 Stability against
overturning and sway
 Fracture due to
fatigue
 Brittle fracture
acceptable
performance of the
structure, when SLS
are reached –
structure unfit for
normal use but do
not indicate collapse
 Deflection
 Vibration
 Fatigue checks
 corrosion
Scope of Eurocodes

Scope of structural Eurocodes:

• A total of 10 codes (comprising 58 documents)

The first 2 codes are material independent:

• EN 1990 – Basis of structural design

• EN 1991 – Actions on structures
Scope of Eurocodes
Remaining 8 codes focus on materials:

• EN 1992 – Design of concrete structures

• EN 1993 – Design of steel structures
• EN 1994 – Design of composite structures
• EN 1995 – Design of timber structures
• EN 1996 – Design of masonry structures
• EN 1997 – Geotechnical design
• EN 1998 – Design of structures for earthquakes
• EN 1999 – Design of aluminium structures
EN 1990 (2002)

EN 1990 (2002):

• EN 1990 – Basis of structural design

• MS National Annex published in 2010
• ‘Should read at least once’….
Basic requirements

EN 1990 states that a structure shall have

adequate:

• Structural resistance
• Serviceability
• Durability
• Fire resistance
• Robustness
Design situations
All relevant design situations must be examined:

• Persistent design situations: normal use

• Transient design situations: temporary

conditions, e.g. during construction or repair

• Accidental design situations: exceptional

conditions such as fire, explosion or impact

• Seismic design situations: where the structure

is subjected to seismic events.
Actions and Effects
Action (F):
CAUSE
• Direct actions – applied loads
• Indirect actions – imposed deformations or
accelerations e.g. by temperature changes, vibrations etc
• Both essentially produce same effect

Effect of action (E): EFFECT

• On structural members and whole structure
• For example internal forces and moments, deflections ..
Types of actions

Types of actions:

• Permanent, G

• Variable, Q (leading and non-leading)

• Accidental, A
Permanent actions (dead
loads)

 Due to the densities and self-weight of

materials
 Eurocode 1: Actions on structures Part 1-1:
General actions
 densities of construction materials, additional
materials for bridges and stored materials
(Section 4 & Annex A)
 self-weight of construction elements (Section
5)
Permanent actions (dead
loads)
 Densities of materials in Annex A
 Table A.1 - Construction materials-concrete and mortar
 Table A.2 - Construction materials-masonry
 Table A.3 - Construction materials-wood
 Table A.4 - Construction materials-metals
 Table A.5 - Construction materials- other materials e.g.
glass, plastics
 Table A.6 - Bridge materials
 Table A.7 - Stored materials - building and construction
 Table A.8 - Stored products - agricultural
 Table A.9 - Stored products - foodstuffs
 Table A.10 - Stored products - liquids
 Table A.11 - Stored products - solid fuels
 Table A.12 - Stored products - industrial and general
Permanent actions (dead
loads)
 Self-weight may be usually determined as a product of
the volume and the density.
 The self weight of the construction works includes the
structure and non-structural elements, fixed services as
well as the weight of earth and ballast.
 Non-structural elements include: roofing, surfacing and
coverings, partitions and linings, hand rails, safety
barriers, parapets and kerbs, wall cladding, suspended
ceilings, thermal insulation, bridge furniture.
 Fixed services include: equipments for lifts and moving
stairways, heating, ventilating and air conditioning
equipment, electrical equipment, pipes without their
contents, cable trunking and conduits.
Variable actions (imposed
loads)
 Imposed loads on buildings are those arising from
occupancy.
 Given in Eurocode 1: Actions on structures Part 1-1:
General actions – Section 6, which include:
 normal use by persons;
 furniture and moveable objects (e.g. moveable
partitions, storage, the contents of containers);
 vehicles;
 anticipating rare events, such as concentrations of
persons or of furniture, or the moving or stacking of
objects which may occur during reorganization or
redecoration
Variable actions (imposed
loads)
 Characteristic values of imposed loads in
EC1:Part 1-1 are given based on 4 categories:
 A - Areas for domestic and residential
activities
 B - Office areas
 C - Areas where people may congregate
 D - Shopping areas
Variable actions (imposed
loads)
 The categories of loaded areas, are
designed by using characteristic
values qk (uniformly distributed load)
and Qk (concentrated load).
 Variable actions (imposed
loads)

The recommended values, intended for separate application, are underlined.

Load combinations
Fundamental combinations of actions may be determined
from EN 1990 using either of:

• Equation 6.10
• Less favourable of Equation 6.10a and 6.10b
Load combinations
1.5 x combination factor x Other
Equation 6.10: variable actions

‘to be combined with’

Actions due to
prestressing

∑γ
j ≥1
G, j Gk , j "+" γ PP "+" γ Q,1Qk ,1 "+" ∑ γ Q,i ψ 0,iQk ,i
i>1

1.35 x Permanent actions

1.5 x Leading
variable action

Load factors 1.35 and 1.5 are applied when actions are
‘unfavourable’.
Leading variable actions Qk,1
• In Equation 6.10, the full value of the leading variable
action is applied γQ,1Qk,1 (i.e. 1.5 x characteristic imposed
load)

• The leading variable action is the one that leads to the

most unfavourable effect (i.e. the critical combination)

• To generate the various load combinations, each variable

action should be considered in turn as the leading one,
(and consideration should be given to whether loading is
favourable or unfavourable.)
Combination factor ψ0
The combination factor ψ0 is intended specifically to take
account of the reduced probability of the simultaneous
occurrence of two or more variable actions.

Combination
Loading
factor ψ0

Imposed loading 0.7

Wind loading 0.5*

* 0.5 is UK NA value, 0.6 is the unmodified EC value

Unfavourable and favourable loading
Loads may be considered as ‘unfavourable’
or ‘favourable’ in any given combination,
depending on whether they increase or
reduce the effects (bending moments, axial
forces etc) in the structural members.

For unfavourable dead loads: γG = 1.35

For favourable dead loads: γG = 1.00
For unfavourable variable loads: γQ = 1.5
For favourable variable loads: γQ = 0
Equivalent horizontal forces
Equivalent horizontal forces:

Equivalent horizontal forces (EHFs), previously

known as notional horizontal loads (NHL), are
required to account for imperfections that exist
in all structural frames.

EHFs should be included in all load

combinations, and since their value is related to
the level of vertical loading, they will generally
be different for each load combination (and will
already be factored).
Load Combinations – Equation
6.10
Load combinations for a typical structure from
Equation 6.10:

Combination Dead Imposed Wind EHF

Dead + Imposed 1.35 1.5 1.0

Dead + Wind (uplift) 1.0 1.5 1.0

D+I+W
(imposed leading)
1.35 1.5 0.75 1.0

D+I+W
(wind leading)
1.35 1.05 1.5 1.0

Note EHF are always present and already based on factored loads
SLS load combinations
The UK National Annex to EN 1993-1-1 states
that deflections may be checked using the SLS
characteristic combination, ignoring dead load
and with some specified deflection limits.

1.0Qk + 0.5Wk + EHF (Vertical deflections)

1.0Wk + 0.7Qk + EHF (Horizontal deflections)

Deflection limits are as given in BS 5950

EN 1993: Eurocode 3
Eurocode 3:

• Work began back in 1975

• Eurocode 3 contains a number of parts
• … and sub-parts
• The first 5 parts were published in 2005
EN 1993: Eurocode 3
Eurocode 3 contains six parts:

• EN 1993-1 Generic rules

• EN 1993-2 Bridges
• EN 1993-3 Towers, masts & chimneys
• EN 1993-4 Silos, tanks & pipelines
• EN 1993-5 Piling
• EN 1993-6 Crane supporting structures
EN 1993-1
Eurocode 3: Part 1 has 12 sub-parts:

• EN 1993-1-1 General rules

• EN 1993-1-2 Fire
• EN 1993-1-3 Cold-formed thin gauge
• EN 1993-1-4 Stainless steel
• EN 1993-1-5 Plated elements
• EN 1993-1-6 Shells
EN 1993-1

• EN 1993-1-7 Plates transversely loaded

• EN 1993-1-8 Joints
• EN 1993-1-9 Fatigue
• EN 1993-1-10 Fracture toughness
• EN 1993-1-11 Cables
• EN 1993-1-12 High strength steels
National Annexes

National Annexes:

• Every Eurocode will contain a National Annex

• National choice
• Non Conflicting Complementary Information
Axes convention
Different axes convention:

Eurocode
BS 5950
3
Along the
member X
Major axis X Y
Minor axis Y Z
Labelling convention
Labelling convention:

b
z
z

r
tw t

h y y
y y
h d

r z
tf b
z
Subscripts
Extensive use of sub-scripts – generally helpful:

• ‘Ed’ means design effect (i.e. factored member

force or moment)
• ‘Rd’ means design resistance
So,
• NEd is an axial force
• NRd is the resistance to axial force

Sometimes tedious e.g. Ac,eff,loc

Different symbols
For example:
BS5950 EC3 BS5950 EC3 BS5950 EC3

A A P N py fy

Z Wel Mx My pb χLT fy

S Wpl V V pc χfy

Ix Iy H Iw r i

Iy Iz J It
Gamma factors γ

Gamma factors γ:

• Appear everywhere
• Partial safety factors
• γF for actions (loading)
• γM for resistance
Gamma factors γM
Gamma factors γM account for material
and modelling uncertainties:

EC 3 value
Partial factor
(UK NA value) Application
γM
(MS NA value)
γM0 1.00 (1.00) (1.00) Cross-sections
Member
γM1 1.00 (1.00) (1.00)
buckling
γM2 1.25 (1.10) (1.20) Fracture
Material properties
Material properties are taken from product
standards (generally EN 10025-2). The Young’s
modulus of steel should be taken as 210000 N/mm2.

Yield strength fy Yield strength fy Ultimate strength fu

(N/mm2) (N/mm2) (N/mm2)
Steel grade
t ≤ 16mm 16 < t ≤ 40 mm 3 ≤ t ≤ 100 mm

S235 235 235 360

S275 275 265 410

S355 355 345 470

S450 450 430 550

Structural design

Early sections (1-4) of EN 1993-1-1:

• Reference to EN 1990 and EN 1991

• Identify clauses open to National choice
• Materials, reference to material standards
• Durability
Structural design
Subsequent sections of EN 1993-1-1:

• Section 5 – Structural analysis

• Global analysis
• Cross-section classification
• Requirements for plastic analysis
• Section 6 – ULS
• General
• Resistance of cross-sections
Structural design

• Buckling resistance of members

• Built-up members

• SLS
• Annexes A, B, AB and BB