On the next generation of design specifications for steel structures

Abstract eng:
Steel structures are traditionally designed by a combination of an elastic structural analysis that provides the internal actions and a design specification which provides rules for calculating the strength of members and connections for the set of internal actions determined by the structural analysis. If the capacities of all members and connections are adequate, the structural design is deemed to be satisfactory. In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to use advanced geometric and material nonlinear analysis for the direct design on steel structures. In this approach the effects of member and global buckling are implicitly accounted for in the analysis as are material yielding and other nonlinear effects such as geometric imperfections and residual stresses. Consequently, the analysis is capable of accurately predicting the actual behaviour and strength of the steel frame, and can be used as a direct design tool without the need for a design specification to determine the strength of members and connections. As such, the Direct Design Method (DDM) by advanced analysis has become a viable and increasingly attractive design option and is likely to become the standard method of structural steel design over the next few decades because of the advantages they provide in terms of shortening the design process, providing more accurate prediction of strength and structural behaviour and ensuring more uniform structural reliability. The paper provides an overview of a research program underway at the University of Sydney to formulate design procedures for the direct design of steel structures by advanced analysis. The paper briefly details the system reliability analysis framework from which resistance factors for the structural system can be derived, and the application of the framework to 2D and 3D structural frames as well cold-formed steel structural systems featuring thin-walled members prone to local and distortional buckling. Resistance factors are summarised for a range of steel structural systems including hot-rolled steel frames, cold-formed steel portal frames and steel storage rack frames.

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