AR20442 STRUCTURAL DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

Lecture 1 Introduction

1. THE IMPORTANCE OF STRUCTURAL DESIGN

Structural design is all about determining a solution that will bear and transfer the
forces, loads or ACTIONS acting on it to the ground in a manner that fulfils the
project requirements:

Primary structural requirements:

o Safety (strength and stability)

A structure should not fail in its lifetime, or it should have an acceptably low risk of
failure.

o Serviceability (stiffness)

The stiffness of the structure must be sufficient to ensure that the function of the
structure is not impaired by excessive deflections or vibrations.

2. THE STRUCTURAL DESIGN PROCESS

The project design process can involve a number of interested parties:

o Clients / Funding bodies

o Designers / Architects
o Regulatory authorities (planning / product certification)
o Other specialist consultants (Mechanical/ Electrical/ Environmental Engineers/
Landscape architects)

A project may be to perform different functions:

o Shelter e.g. buildings

o Transport e.g. roads and bridges
o Storage e.g. dams and grain silos

The structural design of an appropriate structure may consider:

1) Environmental factors / Location :

o Climate
- Movement joints
- Thermal expansion
- Wind / Snow actions
o Ground conditions / Foundations

2) Cost (both initial and maintenance):

- Repeating geometries (grid)
- Repeating member sizes and joints
- Designing for standard member sizes and joints

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 3) Function / Architectural objectives:
- Location of structure within building
- Loading the structures is required to resist
- Compatibility with existing structures

A proposed structure will be designed at different scales:

1) Structural system - Interconnected members that carry actions in a specific

way
2) Members - Beams, columns, joints
3) Elements - Cross sections, bolts

The design process may require many design stages to achieve an appropriate
solution as set out in Figure 1.

3. BUILDING REGULATIONS

Building in England and Wales (not Scotland or Ireland) is controlled by law through
the Building Regulations (1991) which were created under the Building Act 1984:

The Building Regulations:

o Ensure health, safety, welfare and convenience

o Promote conservation of fuel and power
o Prevent waste, overuse, misuse and contamination of water

Implementation of the design regulations can be satisfied by:

o Approved Documents
o Design Codes
o Tests / calculations

Engineers are guided in design by DESIGN CODES which have been developed
over time. There is an International Standard Organisation (ISO) and in general each
country has a recognised standards body which is a member of ISO:

o Standards organisations: BSI (British Standards Institute), ASTM (American

Society for Testing and Materials), CEN (European committee of
standardisation and many others).
o Government bodies: Highways Agency, Department of Trade and Industry.

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 Define design requirements and constraints:
o Site survey
o Sub-surface investigation
o Establish service/ variable actions
o Statutory authority requirements

Conceptual design: Invention or modification of

several alternative structural systems:
o Knowledge/ Intuition/ Creativity/ Precedents
o Structural form
o Structural materials

Several Preliminary analysis:

iterations o Approximations of total actions on the structure
may be (variable and permanent actions)
needed o Estimate of member sizes and self weight
o Estimate of quantities and cost

Evaluation:
o Design criteria
o Design codes
o Cost / Design quality
o Safety and serviceability

o
Final Design:
o Refinement of actions on members and connections
o Final design of members and connections
o Check design
o Final cost
o Specifications

Documentation for tendering process:

o Drawings
o Schedules
o Specifications

Construction:
o Prototypes, testing
o Approve contractors / subcontractors shop
drawings
o Final inspection (Snagging)

Figure 1 The Design Process

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Standards are developed by and advice on their implementation can be found
through:

o Professional bodies: ICE (Institute of Civil Engineering), IStructE (Institute of

Structural Engineering)
o Research bodies: BRE (Building Research Establishment), TRL (Transport
Research Laboratory)
o Trade/technical organisations: Concrete Society: http://www.concrete.org.uk/,
SCI (Steel Construction Institute): http://www.steel-sci.org/, TRADA (Timber
Research and Development Association).

Design codes:
o Safeguard general public
o Unify and simplify engineering design

Engineering principles on which the design codes and their limitations are based
should be understood so that design codes are not used inappropriately.

4. DESIGN CODES

4.1 British Standards:

The Civil and Mechanical Engineers Institutions, Naval Architects and the Iron and
Steel Institute created the Engineering Standards Committee in the UK in 1901 with
the aim of standardising the quality of iron and steel structural sections. This
standardisation brought the cost of tram lines down by £1 million a year. In 1929 this
committee was given a Royal Charter and in 1930 it became the British Standards
Institution (BSI) eventually assisting the foundation of ISO.

4.2 Eurocodes:

This course will principally focus on the application of Eurocodes (European wide
structural design codes), for steel and concrete since they are what you will most
likely be using when you work in practice. However the industry is still in a period of
transition between the phasing out British Standards and adopting the Eurocodes so
you may find people still designing with the British Standards.

For steel design the approach to design in either the BS or Eurocodes is similar but
with changes in terminology and symbols. However the difference between the
design of both timber and concrete to the BS and Eurocodes is much larger and so it
is expected that the industry will take longer to adapt.

In 1975 the Commission of the European Community set up the EUROPEAN

COMMITEE FOR STANDARDISATION (CEN) to develop a united set of technical
rules for structural design. The Eurocodes were initially published as pre-standards
ENVs for trial use and comparisons with the national codes. Finalised versions have
now been converted to full EN codes. Currently they are an alternative to national
design codes and but eventually (March 2010) the national design codes in the UK

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(the British Standards) will be with-drawn and structural design will be required to
conform to the Eurocodes.

The aim of unifying the structural design codes is to:

o Lower trade barriers

o Encourage competition across the European Union
o Encourage collaboration

However flexibility for different countries is offered allowing:

o a National title page,

o a National forward
o a National Annex
- Nationally Defined Parameters
- Non-conflicting complimentary information

It is recognised that the level of safety in one country might not be suitable for all
countries, so some safety parameters are defined in the NATIONAL ANNEX (some
times called the National Application Document, NAD) as well as some parameters
which are determined by climatic conditions. These are termed NATIONALLY
DEFINED PARAMETERS (NDPS) and they are indicated in the standards by being
boxed e.g: 2 . Non-conflicting complementary information can also be included
such as guidance documents.

The full suite of Eurocodes codes are:

EN 1990 Eurocode 0: Basis of structural design

The Eurocodes are the only structural design codes to have a standard Eurocode 0
that outlines a common philosophy behind all the subsequent structural design
standards.
All parts of EN 1990 were published by the British Standards complete with national
annexes on 15/12/2004.

EN 1991 Eurocode 1: Actions on structures

EN 1991-1 General actions:
EN 1991-1-1 Densities, self-weight and imposed loads
EN 1991-1-2 Actions on structures exposed to fire
EN 1991-1-3 Snow loads
EN 1991-1-4 Wind actions
EN 1991-1-5 Thermal actions
EN 1991-1-6 Actions during execution
EN 1991-1-7 Accidental actions due to impact and explosions
EN 1991-2 Traffic loads on bridges
EN 1991-3 Actions induced by cranes and machinery
EN 1991-4 Actions in silos and tanks

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 The National Annexes of EN 1991-1-4: Wind actions and EN 1991-1-7:
Accidental actions due to impact and explosions are due to be out at the end of
October 2008. The National Annexes of EN 1991-3 Actions induced by cranes
and machinery and EN 1991-4 Actions in silos and tanks are due to be out in
2009. Currently Eurocode 1 coexists with BS 6399 - Loadings for buildings.

EN 1992 Eurocode 2: Design of concrete structures

EN 1992-1 Design of concrete building and civil engineering structures:
EN 1992-1-1 Common rules for buildings and civil engineering
structures
EN 1992-1-2 Structural fire design
EN 1992-2 Design of concrete bridges
EN 1992-3 Design of concrete liquid-retaining and containment structures

All parts were published by the British Standards complete with National
Annexes by the 31/12/2007. Eurocode 2 is currently coexisting with BS 8110 -
Structural concrete in buildings and structures. It is expected that there will be
material cost savings of between 0 and 5% compared to using BS 8110.

EN 1993 Eurocode 3: Design of steel structures

EN 1993-1: Design of steel building and civil engineering structures:
EN 1993-1-1: Rules for buildings
EN 1993-1-2: Structural fire design
EN 1993-1-3: Cold formed thin gauge members and sheeting
EN 1993-1-4: Structures in stainless steel
EN 1993-1-5: Strength and stability of planar plated structures
without transverse loading
EN1993-1-6: Strength and stability of shell structures
EN1993-1-7: Strength of planar plated structures loaded transversally
EN1993-1-8: Design of joints
EN1993-1-9: Fatigue strength
EN1993-1-10: Material toughness and through thickness assessment
EN1993-1-11: Use of high strength cables
EN1993-1-12: Supplementary rules for high strength steels
EN 1993-2: Bridges
EN 1993-3: Towers, masts and chimneys
EN 1993-4: Silos, tanks and pipelines
EN 1993-5: Piling
EN 1993-6: Crane supporting structures

Eurocode 3 is currently coexisting with BS 5950 - Structural steelwork in

buildings: Part 1: - Code of practice for design – Rolled and welded sections.
(BS 5950 is due to be withdrawn by 2010). The final version of the National Annex is
due for publication in 30/06/2009. It is expected that there will be material cost
savings of between 6 and 8% compared to using BS 5950.

EN 1994 Eurocode 4: Design of composite steel and concrete structures

EN 1995 Eurocode 5: Design of timber structures
EN 1996 Eurocode 6: Design of masonry structures
EN 1997 Eurocode 7: Geotechnical design

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 EN 1998 Eurocode 8: Design of structures for earthquake resistance
EN 1999 Eurocode 9: Design of aluminium structures

5. TERMINOLOGY:

Through writing a standard that is common to all European countries some new
terms have been appropriated that are sometimes not the most intuitive to English
speakers. These terms have been highlighted terms, e.g ACTIONS (loads)

6. PHILOSOPHY BEHIND THE DESIGN CODES

Structural design codes aim to provide guidelines for engineers to produce SAFE but
also ECONOMIC structures.

Over conservative designs are UNECONOMIC however a SAFE structure must be

ensured. To determine a reasonable level of conservatism the probability of failure is
quantified based on the ERRORS and UNCERTAINTIES encountered in the design
process:
o Accidental errors
- Lack of precision in predicting actions/loads Controlled by
- Lack of precision in predicting structural behaviour checking and
- Lack of precision in manufacture or erection of the structure supervision
- Blunders! protocol

o Uncertainties Will influence

- Actions/Loads (changes in use, wind actions) structural
- Material properties (material strength and residual stresses) behaviour
- Geometric tolerances (lack of fit)

These factors result in a range of STRENGTH IN MEMBERS and a range of

ACTIONS ON MEMBERS under different loading conditions, both which can be
represented statistically as normal distributions as shown in Figure 2:

Number of Overlap Total load effect or resistance

occurrences
Figure 2: Relationship between action effect and member resistance

Action effect Member

on members Resistance

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This overlap represents the probability that stresses caused by loading will exceed
member strengths (i.e. failure will occur) and is defined differently by different design
philosophies.

7. DESIGN PHILOSOPHIES

Before an understanding of basic engineering principles was developed structural

safety was a matter of trial and error. However rules of thumb based on experience
did exist which principally used geometrical ratios to size members. Engineers still
use simple geometrical relationships to make initial size estimates before using more
sophisticated techniques.

a) Permissible stress design / Elastic design method/ Modular ratio (CP 114
and BS 449)

Stresses at working loads must not exceed a proportion of the yield stress of the
structural material. Limiting applied stresses within the elastic region.

Advantages:
o Easy to calculate applied stresses based upon a linear stress-strain
relationship.

Disadvantages:
o Overcomplicate the design process
o Conservative solutions
o For some materials it cannot be assumed that stress and strain are
proportional (e.g. concrete)

b) Load factor design / Plastic design method (Alternative methods in CP 114

and BS 449)

Takes post yielding behaviour of materials into account by calculating collapse load
and dividing this by a load factor to give the permissible working load.

Advantages:
o simplified analysis
o calculation of safety factors

Disadvantages:
o Only models failure
o No information on structural behaviour during service

This method has been superseded by Limit State Design.

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c) Limit State Design (EN 1990)

Limit State Design can be seen as a compromise between permissible stress and
load factor design making appropriate use of both methods.

The Eurocodes are ALL based upon limit state design. This is also the basis for
British structural codes of practice with the exception of the TIMBER code, BS 5268,
which is based on a permissible stress method (as is the old steelwork British
standard, BS 449 which can still be used for steel design).

The philosophy of limit state design is to achieve a design with an acceptable

probability that the structure will not become unfit for its intended use during its
design life and therefore must be found to lie within certain LIMIT STATES:

1) Ultimate Limit State:

Limit states which cause structural member failure or overall failure.

o Strength: Yielding; Buckling; Crushing; Collapse (mechanism)

o Stability: Overturning; Uplift; Sliding.

Must satisfy:

Design resistance  Design load effect (1)

Where the design load effect could be a bending moment, torque, axial force or
shear force.

i) Material Properties:

Material strengths may not less than the expected value due to:

o variable material composition

o variability of manufacture/construction
o corrosion

Material design strengths are expressed in terms of characteristic values.

Design strength Xd = Characteristic strength Xk / γm (2)

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Where:

Xk = CHARACTERISITC STRENGTH. Material properties used in design are

determined so that only 5% of the available data lies below this value.
m = partial safety factor for strength ( 1)

OR as is the case for steel the material properties are not factored but the member
resistances are factored instead:

Design resistance Rd = Characteristic resistance Rk / γM (3)

Where: M = partial safety factor for resistance

ii) Design loads:

Loading of a structure may vary from the design actions calculated through:

o analytical and constructional errors

o variation of occupancy and environment
o unforeseen changes in use

Design actions Fd = Characteristic actions Fk × γf (4)

Where:
Fk = CHARACTERISTIC ACTION. An action which has a certain (small) probability of
being exceeded during life time of the structure.
f = partial safety factor for action

Values of f vary according to Limit State, load combination, load effect, code of
practice.

2) Serviceability limit state:

Limit states which describe the behaviour under normal working loads.

Excessive deformations; excessive vibrations; cracking; fatigue damage;

corrosion/durability, fire resistance.

Deciding which limit state will govern a design as the CRITICAL LIMIT STATE is part
of the skill of the engineer. However, all limit states should be checked.

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8. ACTIONS ON STRUCTURES (EN 1991)

Loading of a structure can occur by:

Actions:
a) Permanent actions:
-Self weight of structures and fixed fittings (Dead loads)
-Water and earth pressures
-Foundation movements / Relative humidity (corrosion, concrete
shrinkage)

b) Variable actions:
-Non fixed fittings (Imposed loads)
-Wind actions
-Snow actions
-Temperature gradients / Seasonal temperature changes

c) Accidental / explosive actions:

-Earthquake loads
-Explosions
-Fire
-Impacts

Loads are in general are resisted by a structure by being transmitted down to the
ground as described in the sequence shown in Figure 3.

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1) Loads from the roof are
3 2 33 2 3 transmitted to the beams
4 4 4
5 5 2) Beams carry the loads in bending
and shear

3 2 33 3 3) Load is transferred from beams

5 5 to the columns as bending
4 4 4
moments and axial loads

4) Columns carry axial loads

3 2 33 2 3
4 4 5) Loads from the floors are
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transmitted to the beams

6) Loads from columns are

6 66 6 transmitted to the foundations

Figure 3: Sequence of load transfer in a structure

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Three principle loads commonly considered are:

1) Permanent Actions (Gk, point load, gk, UDL): EN 1990 and Annex A of EN
1991-1-1 (PP1990:2007 Section 4).

The mass of the structure and any other PERMANENT actions, such as finishes and
permanent partitions.

CHARACTERISITC PERMANENT ACTIONS are firstly estimated for each structural

member, as the dimensions of the members themselves will not be known at the
beginning stages of a design, using:

1) The unit masses or density ρ (Kg/m3) which are given in the Annex A of EN 1991-
1-1 (PP1990:2007 Section 4). The density of important construction materials are
given below in Table 1 and more values can be found in Chanaka Ayra page 11.

Table 1: Density of some common construction materials

Type Density ρ
(Kg/m3)
Steel 7850
Concrete 2400
Reinforced 2420
Concrete 2300
Screed 2000-2300
Brickwork
Timber 300-800

2) The estimated volume of the structural member can be calculated using

geometrical ratios. For example the depth of beams can be estimated using the
span/ depth ratios given in Table 2:

Table 2: Span/ depth ratios for some common structural components

Type Span/ depth

Reinforced concrete slabs (3- 20
6m) 15
Reinforced concrete beams 20
(6-9m) 7
Steel beams (6-9m) 25
Steel beams - cantilevers 20
Steel beams – composite (8- 18
14m) 15
Composite slabs (2-3.6m)
Timber floor joists (< 4m)
Timber beams (< 4.5m)

3) The gravitational constant g can be taken as 10m/s 2.

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The TOTAL DEAD LOADS on an element are NOT just the mass of the element
under consideration, but also the mass of any other structural elements supported by
the element.

2) Variable Actions (Qk, point load, qk, UDL): NA EN 1991-1-1

CHARACTERISTIC VARIABLE ACTIONS (live or imposed) i.e. Variable actions,

arising from intended purpose or use of building may consist of the mass of
occupants, furniture, snow loads etc.

Values of imposed / floor loads (Qk,I) are given in the National Annex of EN 1991-
1-1 (PP1990:2007 Section 6) for structures that will experience different types of
use. Some typical values are given below in Table 3 (More values can be found in
Chanaka Ayra page 12).

Table 3: Imposed loads for different building usage

Building usage Variable Action qk,

(kN/m2)
Residential 1.5 - 2.0
Offices 2.5 - 5.0
Educational 20
Theatres 7
Workshop 25
Storage 20

Wind actions:( Qk,w) EN 1991-1-4

Wind actions either add to other gravitational forces or exert suction (negative
pressure) on the structure. This may well lead to a critical load condition, particularly
for lightweight structures. Wind actions are particularly important to consider for
horizontal loading of masonry structures.

9. LOAD COMBINATIONS:

Ultimate Limit State

The different types actions considered above do not in general act on their own but
typically act in combinations. The probability of different loading combinations
occurring varies and so different components of any given loading combination are
given different partial safety factors depending on how likely they are to coexist.

o For permanent actions Gk the partial safety factor g can theoretically vary
between 1.0 and 1.35.
o For variable actions Qk the partial safety factor q can theoretically vary
between 0.0 and 1.5

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The partial safety factors  combined with appropriate load combination factors ψ o
considered are given below:

1) 1.35 Permanent + 1.5 Variable (Imposed) - This is the most common

case
(5)
1.35 G+1.5 QI

2) 1.35 Permanent + 1.5 Variable (Wind) - Usually used for sliding or

overturning due to lateral pressure

1.35 G+1.5 Qw (6)

3) -1.0 Permanent + 1.5 Variable (Wind) - Where the dead load acts in a
favourable direction (reduces the magnitude of the total action) to the
wind loading
-1.0 G+1.5Qw (7)

4) 1.35 Permanent + 1.05 Variable (Imposed) + 1.5 Variable (Wind) OR

1.35 Permanent + 1.5 Variable (Imposed) + 0.75 Variable (Wind)

Where the dead load acts in an unfavourable direction (increases the

magnitude of the total action).

1.35 G+1.05 QI+1.5Qw OR (8)

1.35 G+1.5 QI+0.75Qw

N.B. The load combinations that are used as design loads are those that will
produce the WORST POSSIBLE loading case for a structure.

Serviceability Limit State

1) 1.0 Permanent + 1.0 Variable (Imposed) – Unfactored characteristic

actions

1.0 G+1.0 QI (9)

2) 1.0 Permanent + 1.0 Variable (Imposed) +0.7 Variable (Wind) OR

1.0 Permanent + 0.7 Variable (Imposed) + 1.0 Variable (Wind)

1.0 G +1.0 QI + 0.7 Qw OR

(10)
1.0 G + 0.7QI + 1.0 Qw

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EXAMPLE:

What are the limit state loading combinations for the beam A-C shown in Figure 4.
Qw= -1.0 kN/m
QI= 2.0 kN/m
G= 0.5 kN/m

4m 2m
A B C

Figure 4: Loads acting on beam A-C

The MAXIMUM SAGGING moment:

a) Without wind loading: Considering the highest loading between A and B

(Ultimate loading combination 1) and the lowest loading between B and C
(Unfactored dead weight) as shown in Figure 5. The corresponding bending moment
diagram is shown in Figure 6 below.

1.35 G + 1.5 QI
1.0 G

A B C
Figure 5: Considered loading on beam A-C

Figure 6: Bending Moment Diagram (BMD)

b) Including wind loading: Using the worst case loading combination in the ultimate
loading combination 4 and considering the highest loading between A and B and the
lowest loading between B and C (Unfactored dead weight and wind loading) as
shown in Figure 7. The corresponding bending moment diagram is shown in Figure 8
below.

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 NB: Wind load is negative
indicating an uplift

1.35 G + 1.5 QI
1.0 G +0.75 Qw

A B C
Figure 7: Considered loading on beam A-C

Figure 8: Bending Moment Diagram (BMD)

The MAXIMUM HOGGING moment:

Considering the highest loading between A and C (Ultimate loading combination 1)

as shown in Figure 9. The corresponding bending moment diagram is shown in
Figure 10 below.

1.35G + 1.5 QI

A B C
Figure 9: Considered loading on beam A-C

Figure 10: Bending Moment Diagram (BDM)

The total design load is the sum of all characteristic actions individually multiplied by
their partial safety factor γf and load combination factors ψo.

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The MAXIMUM deflection:

Using unfactored loads the potential worst cases of loading for maximum defection in
beam A-B is shown in Figure 11 and the worst case loading for maximum defection
in the cantilever B-C is shown in Figure 12.
NB: Wind load is negative
indicating uplift
1.0 G + 1.0 QI
1.0 G +0.7 Qw

A B C
NB: Wind load is negative
OR indicating uplift
1.0 G + 0.7 QI
1.0 G +1.0 Qw

A B C
Figure 11: Maximum deflection in main span A-B

1.0 G + 1.0 QI
1.0 G

A B C
Figure 12: Maximum deflection in cantilever B-C

CALCULATING ACTIONS ON BEAMS AND COLUMNS

Actions on beams and columns are found as follows:

1) Establish variable actions from NA EN 1991-1-1

2) Establish wind actions, if applicable from EN 1991-1-4
3) Calculate permanent actions (based on material weights and dimensions) Annex
A EN 1991-1-1
4) Establish factored loading (both serviceability and ultimate)
5) Evaluate distribution of floor (/roof) loads to beams
6) Evaluate reaction loads at ends of beams and apply them to supporting columns
and beams.

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STRUCTURAL SETTING OUT DRAWINGS AND DETAILS

1) Use gridlines
2) Indicate important dimensions to centrelines of elements
3) Always express dimensions in millimetres (SI units)
4) Use line thickness to indicate elements drawn in section or elevation
5) Indicate member sizes, bolt size/grade, steel grade, reinforcement sizes
6) Indicate a North arrow on plan drawings

STRUCTURAL CALCULATIONS

1) Indicate code clauses in left hand margin

2) Summarise outcomes clearly (underline, box, etc)
3) Refer to drawings and grid references to define element under consideration.

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