Steel Structures

BUILDING CONSTRUCTION AND MATERIALS - II

Department of Planning and Architecture

Mizoram University
 Introduction
• Steel is one of the commonly known building
material, in the present times.
• Comes from our Earth’s crust – 6% is iron
• An alloy of iron (Fe-26) and other elements,
primarily carbon (C6)
• Manufactured to specs - After iron ore is
mined, its melted at 2,800 F
• Carbon and other elements are then added
 Structural Steel
Grades of steel that are used for construction of buildings are
termed as structural steel
• Man-made metal derived from iron, Iron being the major
constituent
• Remaining components are elements, added in small
quantities
• These additional elements are added to improve quality and
Structural Performance
• Basic products of a steel mill are plates, rods and bars
• Structural steel refers to the fabricated members such as
beams, girders, columns, ties and composite section
Hot Rolled Sections
 Types of steel
There are different types of steel, based on its
carbon content.
• Dead Mild steel – Less than 0.15% carbon
• Mild steel – 0.15% to 0.3% carbon
• Medium carbon steel – 0.3% to 0.8% carbon
• High carbon steel – 0.8% to 1.5% carbon
• Cast steel / Carbon tool steel – More than
1.5% carbon
Cold Formed Sections
 Different Properties
In general, more than carbon content, better the performance of steel –
steel that is high in carbon.
• resists corrosion better
• Structure becomes lighter
• Steel becomes tougher and more elastic
Other than the above carbon content based classification, steel is also
classified based on the kind of elements used (other than carbon) – These
steel are called as Alloys of steel Alloy steel are further classified in to
• Ferrous alloys – Chromium, Nickel, Vanadium, Tungsten, Molybdenum,
Manganese
• Non- Ferrous alloys –Aluminium, lead, Copper, Zinc based alloys are
non-ferrous
 Ferrous Metal
Ferrous metals may include a lot of different alloying elements.
Some examples are chromium, nickel, molybdenum,
vanadium, manganese. Those give ferrous steels material
properties that make them widely used in engineering.
• Durable
• Great tensile strength
• Usually magnetic
• Low resistance to corrosion
• A silver-like colour
• Recyclable o Good conductors of electricity
 Non-ferrous metals
They do not contain iron. They are softer and therefore more malleable. They have
industrial uses as well as aesthetic purposes – precious metals like gold and silver
are both non-ferrous. Actually, all pure metal forms, except for pure iron, are non-
ferrous.

Non-Ferrous Metals’ Properties Non-ferrous metals’ advantages make them

usable in many applications instead or iron and steel.

• High corrosion resistance

• Easy to fabricate – machinability, casting, welding etc
• Great thermal conductivity
• Great electrical conductivity
• Low density (less mass)
• Colourful o Non-magnetic
 Advantages of Steel
• Steel is the Building material of the 20th century – gives broader parameters to explore
ideas and develop fresh solutions, and has outstanding material properties.
• High Strength – Dense and strong.
• Durability – stays longer if taken care well.
• Slender structures – height to least lateral dimension.
• Beauty – When repeated in patterns.
• Longer spans - large open spaces, free of intermediate columns or walls.
• Factory-finished to specifications under highly controlled conditions, steel’s final outcome
is more predictable and repeatable, eliminating the risk of onsite variability.
• Malleability & Ductile– can be used as rods, sheets, deck slabs, and sections.
• Ease of fabrication – There are fabricators in each corner of the street.
• Capacity to bend to a certain radius, creating segmented curves or free-form
combinations for facades, arches or domes sets it apart.
• Design freedom – Colour, texture, Shape, Size.
• Recyclable - It’s the most recycled material on the planet.
 Disadvantage of Steel
• High production cost – mining, excavation, transportation, factory investment.
• Energy consuming process – Distress to environment.
• Transportation cost – From factory to factory, and then factory to site.
• Skilled and qualified workmen – needs skilled and qualified design engineers,
fabricators, site supervisors and workmen.
• Shop work Precision – extra care on shop drawings and need for additional
supervision / Quality checks.
• Assembly equipment – Due to heavy weight, needs huge cranes and equipment at
site during assembly.
• Corrosion – gives broader parameters to explore ideas and develop fresh solutions.
• Joint failure – Steel structures fail mostly at the joints, poor workmanship is the
cause
• Impact of Failure– an accident at any of stages is lethal, lots of workers were
injured or died involved in accidents related to steel
 Thermal and Fire Protection
• Material properties of all types of building materials can be damaged when they
are exposed to high temperatures for a considerable time.
• Steel members can be damaged by heat, causing considerable plastic
deformation. The structural strength of steel decreases by as much as half at
600°C .
• Insulating the steel enables the continued ability to resist collapse, while
preventing flame penetration through partitioning walls, slabs and ceilings as
well.
• Expected properties of Insulation – lesser heat conductivity coefficient, lesser
reaction to fire, ability to act as a heat bridge, high dimensional stability, high
resistance to water vapour, resistance to bending, resistance to compression, and
fixing arrangements.
• Most insulated panels are proprietary products, relevant manufacturer's
literature should be consulted as a way of ascertaining specific properties and
usage recommendations.
 Behaviour of Steel under fire
• Steel loses strength and stiffness at high temperature levels
just like any other building materials.
• During design, effective yield stress is taken as zero at 1200
‘C, in actuality the yield value does not fall to zero unless
the steel reaches its melting point, 1550 ‘C.
• This melting point hardly will be reached in building fires.
Although the steel is a non-combustible material itself, it
has a high heat conducting value, which adversely affects
the structural performance during a fire exposure.
• That is why it is important to create a fire design for the
steel buildings.
 Passive Fire-Proofing Methods
• Advanced design and analysis techniques allow precise specification of fire
protection requirements of steel-framed buildings.
• A wide range of fire protection systems are available today. Water sprinkler
systems and water-filled structural member systems are considered to be
active fire protection systems.
• Integrated structural members, insulating boards, sprayed coatings,
intumescent coatings, suspended ceilings, concrete covers and composite
member protections are considered to be passive fire protection systems.
• Because light gauge sheets are so thin, they do not possess much inherent
fire resistance if exposed directly to elevated temperatures.
• Thin film intumescent coatings are the most popular form of fire protection.
• Latest trend is towards Pre-engineered steel flooring systems have been
designed to achieve 60-minutes of fire resistance, without additional fire
protection.
 Common Applications
Steel is generally used as reinforcements for Reinforced cement
concrete (RCC) Recent advancements to material technology
has introduced various other reinforcements, in place of steel.
FRP rods, bamboo, can also be used as reinforcements
Steel reinforcements are of three categories
• Steel rods – main reinforcement
• Stirrups – holds all the steel rods and keeps them in place
• Binding wires – helps in binding the steel rods and stirrups
together – after binding they are mostly welded, to avoid
breaking lose
Thank You