CENG 6507
Advanced
Steel Structure
Ductility requirements and capability design concept
Ductility is an essential property, as the whole concept of structural steel
design is based on ductile behaviour of all parts of the structure.
For steel, there is a fundamental relationship between the elongation of a
tensile test piece at fracture and the degree of ductility, but the designer
should not rely too heavily on this; it is all too easy to reduce the ductility in
the real structure by improper detailing and poor workmanship. The
majority of fractures in service have occurred in the immediate vicinity of
joints and abrupt changes in ductility brought about by a triaxial stress
condition in these areas.
CENG 6507
Advanced
Steel Structure
Ductility requirements and capability design concept
CENG 6507
Advanced
Steel Structure
Ductility requirements and capability design concept
overall design process can be categorised sequentially as follows.
(a) Investigation phase:
• site inspection • geotechnical investigation • study of functional layout
• research of requirements of the statutory authorities
• determination of loads arising from building function and environment
• study of similar building designs.
(b) Conceptual design phase:
• generation of structural form and layout • selecting materials of construction
• constructability studies • budget costing of the structural options
• evaluation of options and final selection.
(c) Preliminary design phase:
• estimation of design actions and combinations of actions
• identification of all solution constraints • generation of several framing systems
• preliminary analysis of structural framework
• preliminary sizing of members and connections
• preliminary cost estimate • quality assessment of the design solution
• client’s review of the preliminary design
• reworking of the design in line with the review.
(d) Final design phase:
• refining the load estimates • final structural analysis
• determination of member types and sizes • detail design of connections
• study of the sequence of construction • quality review of the final design (QA)
• cost estimate • client’s review of the design and costing
• modification of the design to meet client’s requirements.
CENG 6507
Advanced
Steel Structure
Ductility requirements and capability design concept
For reasons of economy, unless there are other specific criteria to be observed (e.g.
minimum mass, headroom restrictions, etc.), the designer’s best strategy is to
choose standard sections in preference to compound sections. Typically, the more
readily available standard sections are the following:
Hot-rolled sections:
• universal beams (UB)
• universal columns (UC)
• parallel/taper flange channels (PFC/TFC)
• taper flange beams (TFB)
• equal/unequal angles (EA/UA)
• flat bar (with rolled edges).
Standard welded products—three-plate girders:
• welded beams (WB)
• welded columns (WC).
Structural steel hollow sections—cold-formed:
• circular hollow sections (CHS)
• square hollow sections (SHS)
• rectangular hollow sections (RHS).
 CENG 6507
Advanced
Steel Structure
Ductility requirements and capability design concept Steel Structure
Seismic Force Resisting Systems
Moment resisting frames, moment resistant frames with shear walls, braced frames with
horizontal diaphragms or a combination of the above systems, may be provided to resist
seismic forces (see Fig. )
CENG 6507
Advanced
Steel Structure
Ductility requirements and capability design concept Steel Structure
1 Selection of Roofing and Wall Material
The type of roof deck, type of purlin used, purlin spacing, deflections of secondary
structural members, roof pitch, and drainage requirements are all determined by
the choice of roofing. The roof weight also affects the gravity load design of the
roof system and in the case of seismic calculations, the lateral load design.
Similar considerations apply to the cladding/wall systems. In selecting the
cladding/wall system, the designer should consider the following areas: (a) cost,
(b) interior surface requirements, (c) aesthetic appearance (including colour),
(d) acoustics and dust control, (e) maintenance, (0 ease and speed of erection,
(g) insulating properties, and (h) fire resistance.
CENG 6507
Advanced
Ductility requirements and capability design concept
The structural engineer has to consider the following points during the planning
and design of industrial buildings (Fisher 1984):
(a) Selection of roofing and wall material
(b) Selection of bay width
(c) Selection of structural framing system
(d) Roof trusses
(e) Purlins, girts, and sag rods
(f) Bracing systems to resist lateral loads
(g) Gantry girders, columns, base plates, and foundations
CENG 6507
Advanced
Ductility requirements and capability design concept
2 Selection of Bay Width
A bay is defined as the space between two adjacent bents (see Fig. 1.26). The roof
truss along with the columns constitutes a bent. The space between two rows of
columns of an industrial building is called an aisle or span. An industrial building may
have a single span or multiple spans. Figure shows industrial buildings with single,
double, and multiple spans.
In most cases, the bay width may be dictated by owner requirements. Gravity loads
generally control the bay size. For crane buildings (for light and medium cranes),
bays of approximately 4-8 m may be economical because of the cost of the crane
gantry girders. Large bays may increase the cost of the tension flange bracing of the
gantry girders. Though the bay widths in the range of 4-8 m provide economy, truss
spans may range from 10-25 m or more.
 CENG 6507 CENG 6507

Advanced Advanced
Steel Structure
Ductility requirements and capability design concept Steel Structure
Ductility requirements and capability design concept

3 Structural Framing 4 Purlins, Girts, and Eave Strut

For the purpose of structural analysis and design,
industrial buildings are classified as (see Fig. ):
- Braced frames
- Unbraced frames
In braced buildings, the trusses rest on columns with hinge type of connections and the
stability is provided by bracings in the three mutually perpendicular planes.
These bracings are identified as follows:
(a) Bracings in the vertical plane in the end bays in the longitudinal direction
(b) Bracings in the horizontal plane at bottom chord level of the roof truss
(c) Bracings in the plane of upper chords of the roof truss
(d) Bracings in the vertical plane in the end cross sections usually at the gable
Secondary structural members such as purlins and girts span the distance between
the primary building structures (portal frames or truss-column system). They
support the roof and wall covering and distribute the external load to the main
frames or trusses. They also serve as the flange bracing for the rafters or columns
and may function as a part of the building's lateral load resisting system. Purlin is a
part of the roof bracing system and girts form a part of the wall bracing system of
the building.
The main function of girts is to transfer wind loads from wall materials to the
primary frame. Girts are positioned horizontally to span between the columns.
When the space between primary columns is more than 9 m, wind columns may be
provided to reduce the girt span. Wind columns are essentially intermediate vertical
girts spanning from the foundation to the eave. Since typical eave strut may not be
capable of resisting the lateral reaction imposed by the wind column, a system of
diagonal braces should be provided to transfer the lateral reaction to the adjacent
primary framing columns. Similar to purlin spacing, girt spacing is governed by the
load-resisting properties of wall panels.

CENG 6507

Advanced
Steel Structure
Ductility requirements and capability design concept

The third type of secondary structural members, after purlins and girts, is the eave
strut. This member is located at the intersection of the roof and the exterior wall and
hence acts as both the first purlin and the last (highest) girt. The building’s eave
height is measured to the top of this member.
The eave strut is a relatively strong member and its functions are as follows:
- It serves as a stiff binder beam.
- Cladding is often hung from the eave strut; hence the total load of cladding
including side girts should be carried by this beam.
- In braced buildings, the wind bracing along the eave strut acts as a truss in the
plan view. As already discussed, this truss transfers the horizontal loads on the roof
and cladding to the gable end bracings. Therefore, the eave strut acts as a
compression chord of the wind bracing truss.
- Eave strut also supports drain gutters and other secondary elements.

Since a relatively stiff section is required, the eave girder is often composed of a
built-up two channels face-to-face.