Limit State Method

1
Dr S R Satish Kumar, IIT Madras
 INTRODUCTION
Designer has to ensure the structures, he
designs are:

– Fit for their purpose

– Safe
– Economical and durable

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Dr S R Satish Kumar, IIT Madras
 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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Dr S R Satish Kumar, IIT Madras
 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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Dr S R Satish Kumar, IIT Madras
 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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Dr S R Satish Kumar, IIT Madras
 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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Dr S R Satish Kumar, IIT Madras
 PROBABILITY OF FAILURE

 R  Q m 
Pf     

  R Q 


 
Rm  Qm 
  
 2 


 R  Q 
2


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Dr S R Satish Kumar, IIT Madras
 SAFETY INDEX

S m  Qm
 
 S2   Q
2

Pf = [- ]
 2.32 3.09 3.72 4.27 4.75 5.2 5.61

Pf =  (-) 10-2 10-3 10-4 10-5 10-6 10-7 10-8

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Dr S R Satish Kumar, IIT Madras
 PARTIAL SAFETY FACTOR

Qm ( 1    qs Vq2 )  S m ( 1    sq Vs2 )

 fk Qk  S u /  m

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Dr S R Satish Kumar, IIT Madras
 ALLOWABLE STRESS DESIGN (ASD)

Characteristic  Characteristic Strength

Load Effects Factor of Safety

• Stresses caused by the characteristic loads must

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

• Allowable 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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Dr S R Satish Kumar, IIT Madras
 ALLOWABLE SRESS DESIGN (ASD)
Allowable stress = (Yield stress) / (Factor of
safety)

Limitations

• Material non-linearity

• Non-linear behaviour in the postbuckled 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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Dr S R Satish Kumar, IIT Madras
 LIMIT STATES DESIGN
• “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.

12
Dr S R Satish Kumar, IIT Madras
 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.

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Dr S R Satish Kumar, IIT Madras
• 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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Dr S R Satish Kumar, IIT Madras
 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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Dr S R Satish Kumar, IIT Madras
 IS800 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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Dr S R Satish Kumar, IIT Madras
 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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Dr S R Satish Kumar, IIT Madras
 5.1.3
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.

18
Dr S R Satish Kumar, IIT Madras
 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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Dr S R Satish Kumar, IIT Madras
 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.

20
Dr S R Satish Kumar, IIT Madras
 Partial Safety Factors (Actions)
Limit State of Strength Limit state of Serviceability
Combina LL WL LL
tion WL
DL Lead Accompa / AL DL Leadi Accompan /EL
ing Nying EL ng ying

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
1.2 1.2 0.53 1.2
WL/EL
1.5
DL+WL/EL (0.9)   1.5  1.0   1.0
*

1.2
DL+ER 1.2       
(0.9)

DL+LL+AL 1.0 0.35 0.35  1.0    

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Dr S R Satish Kumar, IIT Madras
 PARTIAL SAFETY FACTORS (Strength)

Sl.
Definition Partial Safety Factor
No
1 Resistance, governed by 1.1
yielding mo
2 Resistance of member to 1.1
buckling mo
3 Resistance, governed by 1.25
ultimate stress m1
4 Resistance of connection m1 Shop Field
Fabrication Fabricatio
Bolts-Friction Type s ns
Bolts-Bearing Type 1.25 1.25
Rivets 1.25 1.25
Welds 1.25 1.25
1.25 1.50
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Dr S R Satish Kumar, IIT Madras
 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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Dr S R Satish Kumar, IIT Madras
 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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Dr S R Satish Kumar, IIT Madras
 LIMITING DEFLECTIONS under LL Only
Type of Deflectio 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
Indus Profiled Metal
trial Vertical Live load or Rafter Span / 180
Sheeting
building Wind load supporting
Plastered Sheeting Span / 240
Crane load
(Manual Gantry Crane Span / 500
operation)

Crane load
(Electric
Gantry Crane Span / 1000
operation 25
Dr S R Satish Kumar,over
IIT Madras
50 t)
 DEFLECTION LIMITS under LL Only
Deflection Maximum
Design Load Member Supporting
Deflection
Lateral Elastic
No cranes Column Height / 150
Crane+ cladding
wind Masonry/brittle
No cranes Column Height / 240
cladding
Gantry
Crane Crane Span / 400
(lateral)

Vertical Not
Live load Floors & roofs susceptible Span / 300
to cracking
Susceptible to
Live load Floor & Roof Span / 360
cracking
Lateral Wind Building --- Height / 500
Inter storey Storey height /
Wind ---
drift 300 26
Dr S R Satish Kumar, IIT Madras
 27
Dr S R Satish Kumar, IIT Madras