ADVANCED STEEL DESIGN

A second advanced course for

steel structures design

Isaac Hernandez-Fajardo, PhD

Universidad Militar, Bogota, Colombia, 2017.
2. STRUCTURAL STEEL
2.1. TYPES

- From the start of modern steel usage until 1960, only

one type of carbon steel: ASTM A7

- Today, many kinds of steel. Different flavors:

- High material strength
- Corrosion resistance weathering steels
- Better weldability

- Each, a different ASTM designation

2.1. STEEL TYPES

- Strength or allowable stress expressed in terms of

yield stress, Fy

- Yield stress either yield point, a well-defined deviation

from elasticity, or

- Yield strength as a unit stress at a certain offset strain

for steels with no yield point

- Steels available range from yield stress from 24 to 100

ksi (170 to 690 MPa)
2.1. STEEL TYPES

- Structural steels from hot-rolled manufacturing:

- Carbon steel
- High-strength low alloy steels
- Alloy steels

- Which is which? Go to ASTM A6/A6M

- In general, we need to know

- Identification
- Minimum yield strength, and
- Tensile strength
2.1. STEEL TYPES
2.1. STEEL TYPES
2.1. STEEL TYPES
2.1. STEEL TYPES
2.2. COMMON PROPERTIES OF STEEL
Engineering Stress-Strain Curves
- Engineering stress σ. Ratio of applied force P to cross-
sectional area A

- Engineering strain. Ratio of ΔL/L. ΔL elongation over

specified gauge length L

- Key: anything leading to HIGHER yield strengths

(alloying, quenching and tempering) will REDUCE
a) maximum elongation at failure
b) length of the plastic plateau

- This is unimportant for commercial structural steels.

Enough plastic deformation capacity remains
2.2. COMMON PROPERTIES OF STEEL
Engineering Stress-Strain Curves
2.2. COMMON PROPERTIES OF STEEL
Engineering Stress-Strain Curves
2.2. COMMON PROPERTIES OF STEEL
Engineering Stress-Strain Curves
- An elastic range up to a strain of ϵy

- Elastic range followed by plastic plateau between

strains ϵy and ϵsh

- A strain-hardening range between ϵsh and ϵult

- ϵy, ϵsh, ϵult, strains at the onset of yielding, strain-

hardening, and necking, respectively

- Depending on the steel, ϵsh ~ 5 to 15 ϵy. Average

value of 10 ϵy
2.2. COMMON PROPERTIES OF STEEL
Engineering Stress-Strain Curves
- For all structural steels, modulus of elasticity E taken to
be 200’000 MPa (29’000 ksi)

- Tangent modulus at the onset of strain-hardening Esh

equal to 1/20 of E.

- Poisson ratio v, ratio of material’s transverse strain

contraction under applied axial strain

- Poisson ratio v is taken to be 0.3 for steel in the elastic

range.
2.2. COMMON PROPERTIES OF STEEL
Engineering Stress-Strain Curves
- In pure plastic behavior steel preserve its volume, so
Poisson ratio = 0.5. In the plastic range vp is

1 1
= −( − )
2 2

- Where is the effective tangent modulus.

2.2. COMMON PROPERTIES OF STEEL
Effect of Temperature on Stress-Strain Curve
- Shape of stress-strain curve varies at very high and
very low temperatures

- Yield and tensile strengths and modulus of elasticity

drop as temperature increases

- Drop is slow up to 500ºF (425ºC). Beyond that,

weakening and softening of steel accelerates

- More details discussed on fire resistance documents.

A constant thermal expansion coefficient α = 7.8x10-
5/ºF (1.4x10-5/ºC) is used
2.2. COMMON PROPERTIES OF STEEL
Effect of Temperature on Stress-Strain Curve
2.2. COMMON PROPERTIES OF STEEL
Effect of Temperature on Stress-Strain Curve
2.2. COMMON PROPERTIES OF STEEL
Effect of Temperature on Stress-Strain Curve
2.2. COMMON PROPERTIES OF STEEL
Effect of Temperature on Stress-Strain Curve
- Conservative values 600 J/kgºC and 45 W/mºC for
specific heat and thermal conductivity given by NIST

- The figure next shows the stress-strain model adopted

by Eurocode 3, replicated by the AISC specs

- Eurocode allows consideration of strain-hardening at

lower temperatures only when sophisticated models
are used
2.2. COMMON PROPERTIES OF STEEL
Effect of Temperature on Stress-Strain Curve
2.2. COMMON PROPERTIES OF STEEL
Effect of Temperature on Stress-Strain Curve
- NIST, the National Institute of Standards and
Technology, developed expressions to describe stress-
strain curves based on experimental data

- This work resulted from forensic study of collapse of

World Trade Center towers

- The basic expression is a power law,

=
With = 734 + 0. exp(−( /575) . ) and
η = 0.329 − 4. −4 exp(−( /637) . )
2.2. COMMON PROPERTIES OF STEEL
Effect of Temperature on Stress-Strain Curve
2.2. COMMON PROPERTIES OF STEEL
Effect of Temperature on Stress-Strain Curve
- Protecting steel from extreme temperatures clearly key
against structural collapse

- Done by applying coatings enhancing fire resistance.

- Coatings work by delaying the rise of steel temperature

either by insulating, energy absorbing or intumescent
materials

- Knowledge of steel protection against fire key for

structural steel design. A topic in itself. Beyond the
scope of this course
2.2. COMMON PROPERTIES OF STEEL
Effect of Temperature on Ductility and Notch-Toughness
- Steels stronger than A36 with no heat treatment shown
issues with lack of ductility and fracture.

- One must be aware of such issues when using strong

steels

- Toughness: a measure of the ability of the steel to

resist fracture, this is, of absorbing energy

- Rolfe’s definition of toughness: “The resistance to

unstable crack propagation in the presence of a notch”

- Unstable crack propagation induces brittle fracture

2.2. COMMON PROPERTIES OF STEEL
Effect of Temperature on Ductility and Notch-Toughness

- Temperatures below room temperature do not diminish

Fy, but can have critical impact on ductility

- Steel behavior from ductile to brittle after a threshold is

reached. Steel enters a “ductile-to-britle-transition-
temperature”, DBTT range

- This discovered in the 1940’s-1950’s after ships were

moving across the artic sea. More than 200 cases of
severe fractures and 16 ships lost at sea when their hulls
“snapped” in two.

- The Charpy V-notch test was created to find this range

2.2. COMMON PROPERTIES OF STEEL
Effect of Temperature on Ductility and Notch-Toughness

- For uniaxial tests, toughness, total area under the stress-

strain curve; But this loading condition is unusual. This
definition does not help!

- Instead, we talk about notch toughness, based on the

stress condition at the root of a notch

- Notch toughness: measure of the resistance of a metal

to start and propagation of a crack at the base of a
standard notch, estimated by the Charpy V-notch test
2.2. COMMON PROPERTIES OF STEEL
Effect of Temperature on Ductility and Notch-Toughness

- Charpy V-notch test: a small rectangular simply

supported beam has a V-notch at its center

- Beam fractured by a blow from a swinging pendulum

- Energy absorbed calculated from height the pendulum

reaches after breaking the specimen

- This amount of absorbed energy increases with

temperature
2.2. COMMON PROPERTIES OF STEEL
Effect of Temperature on Ductility and Notch-Toughness
2.2. COMMON PROPERTIES OF STEEL
Effect of Temperature on Ductility and Notch-Toughness
2.2. COMMON PROPERTIES OF STEEL
Effect of Temperature on Ductility and Notch-Toughness
2.2. COMMON PROPERTIES OF STEEL
Effect of Temperature on Ductility and Notch-Toughness

- Generally standards will require minimum energy

absorption capability at a predetermined temperature.
For example 15 ft.lb at 40ºF (20 N.m at 4.5ºC)

- Now, it seems this value is too close to brittleness, but

the test induces failure at very high strain rates

- So, compliance with specified Charpy V-notch 15 ft.lb

energy absorption at 14ºF should ensure ductile
behavior over the practical range of service
temperatures
2.2. COMMON PROPERTIES OF STEEL
Strain Rate Effect on Tensile and Yield Strengths
- Typically tensile and yield strengths will increase at
higher strain rates. The opposite occurs at high
temperatures.

- This is vital for blast-resistance design, but unimportant

for earthquake engineering applications

- Past studies show that expected increase of 5 to 10% in

yield strength at earthquake-induced strains negligible
compared to earthquake uncertainties
2.2. COMMON PROPERTIES OF STEEL
Probable Yield Strength
- In seismic design, knowing maximum probable yield
strength as important as knowing minimum reliable value

- It is known that actual value of yield strength increased

over time with no change in the material specification

- This translates into safer structures for non-seismic

design, but an unexpected higher value of yield strength
can be negative for seismic design
2.2. COMMON PROPERTIES OF STEEL
Probable Yield Strength
- To deal with this ASTM A992 standard introduced. This is
de-facto preferred grade for rolled wide-flange shapes

- ASTM A992 is an enhanced A572 Gr 50 with maximum

yield strength of 65 ksi (448 MPa) and minimum yield
strength value of 50 ksi (345 MPa)
2.3. PLASTICITY AND HYSTERESIS OF STEEL

- Interesting phenomena occur once steel reaches the

plastic range and has been unloaded, reloaded stress-
reversed

- Unloading to = 0 and reloading to a previous

maximum stress will be elastic with stiffness equal to
original stiffness

- Upon stress reversal, to = − , the sharp corner in the

stress-strain curve on the onset of yielding disappears,
this is the Bauschinger effect
2.3. PLASTICITY AND HYSTERESIS OF STEEL
2.3. PLASTICITY AND HYSTERESIS OF STEEL

- If stress reversal initiated before the strain-hardening

stage, a yield plateau will be found

- If strain-hardening occurs, the yielding plateau

disappears in both loading directions!

- A critical property of steel under cyclic inelastic loading is

it s ability to dissipate hysteretic energy.

- Unlike kinetic and strain energy, hysteretic energy is

non-recoverable dissipated energy
2.3. PLASTICITY AND HYSTERESIS OF STEEL
2.3. PLASTICITY AND HYSTERESIS OF STEEL

- In the figure before, the hysteretic energy, is

= ( − )

- This is the shaded area. For a full cycle of load reversal,

the hysteretic energy will be area within the loop of the
force-displacement curve

- Under repeated load cycles, the total dissipated energy

is simply the sum of the energy dissipated at each cycle

- This cumulative energy dissipation capacity is the

property that allows the structural survival under quakes!
2.4. METALLURGICAL PROCESS OF YIELDING

- Steel coupons tested axially show a well-defined plastic

plateau. In principle, the tangent modulus of elasticity is
effectively zero there.

- But, how can a member reach strain-hardening at

compression, if the critical strength is

=
( / ) 12(1 − ν )

- Accordingly, buckling should occur as soon as the plastic

plateau is reached, when the tangent modulus is zero …
2.4. METALLURGICAL PROCESS OF YIELDING

- To solve this paradox, we need to understand the

metallurgical process of yielding!

- Steel is a polycrystalline material. When loaded beyond

the elastic limit develops slip planes at 45º

- These visible yield lines, Luder lines, are a consequence

of the development of slip planes within the material

- At the location of a slip plane, strains can be thought of

as having “slipped” from to in a single jump
2.4. METALLURGICAL PROCESS OF YIELDING

- From this first slip, other planes will slip as their

respective slip resistances are reached

- Thus, under no perceptible variation of the applied

stress, the sections jumping from to will increase
until the whole member reaches strain-hardening

- Assuming that at any give time, all slip planes can be

grouped over a length ϕ with L the length of the
specimen, the average strain over the specimen is

∆ (L − )+
= =
2.4. METALLURGICAL PROCESS OF YIELDING
∆ (L − )+
= =
= (1 − ) +
= (1 − ) +

With S>0,
- This shows how the average strain can increase
progressively with no apparent increase of stress, while the
actual stiffness of the steel varies from E, when = 0, to
Esh, when = 1.0.
2.4. METALLURGICAL PROCESS OF YIELDING
2.4. METALLURGICAL PROCESS OF YIELDING
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Metallurgical transformations during welding
- Welding can embrittle material near the weld. Simple
solutions to avoid it are available, but they become
difficult to use for extremely heavy rolled sections

- Welding is a complex metallurgical process and not a

gluing operation that performs miracles

- New material deposited during welding. Also sound

fusion with base metal required for continuity between
welded components
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Metallurgical transformations during welding
- Three important zones in a weld: a) fusion zone, b) heat-
affected zone (HAZ), and c) base metal

- Fusion zone: metal melted during welding. Good

penetration of fusion zone into base metal, better weld

- Just next to the fusion zone: the HAZ, Heat-Affected

Zone. HAZ: steel whose grain structure modified by high
heat off the weld

- Crystalline constitution of the HAZ: will depend on nature

of base metal and cooling speed
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Metallurgical transformations during welding
- Too rapid cooling: metal in the HAZ becomes hard, brittle
martensite layer. Highly susceptible to cracking by stress
raisers/concentrations

- Rapid cooling critical in thicker steel section. Heat off

weld quickly dissipates into larger volumes of colder
steel = rapid cooling rates

- How to avoid it? Preheat base metal to specified

temperature before welding. Maintain that temperature
during process
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Metallurgical transformations during welding
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Metallurgical transformations during welding
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Metallurgical transformations during welding
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Hydrogen Embrittlement
- Temperature tables show differences when low hydrogen
electrodes are used. Why?

- Introduction of hydrogen into the fusion or HAZ zone

increases embrittlement

- Molten metal prone to capture hydrogen, but rejected

during cooling

- But, if cooling is too rapid, rejection does not occur! It

becomes entrapped at high pressure = microcracks
generation
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Hydrogen Embrittlement
- Solution: use low hydrogen electrodes. Also, as
hydrogen can originate from water, store electrodes in
dry environment

- Also: preheat to remove humidity from the base metal

before welding starts!
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Carbon Equivalent
- Concept developed to convert alloys into equivalent
carbon content for embrittlement likelihood measure

- Many compounds added to increase steel hardness. But,

each increase in strength comes with some ductility loss

- Most structural steels alloyed to guarantee weldability,

but many still have a high carbon equivalent content

- AWS, 2010 states that an equivalent content above 0.40

increases likelihood of cracking in the HAZ
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Carbon Equivalent
- For structural steels, AWS proposes this formula for the
carbon equivalent
(Mn + ) (Cr + + ) ( + )
= + + +
6 5 15

- Structural engineering standards do not limit carbon

content. Instead weldability controlled by limiting
maximum percentages of alloys

- Maybe this is done due to success in execution, so far,

and also because manufacture practices were
homogeneous. Now, steel in made not from pig iron, but
from scrap metal. Things are a-changing!
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Flame Cutting
- Some structural details can induce embrittlement

- Weld-access holes flame-cut (torch-cut) into beam webs

relieve stresses by reducing transverse restraint on
flange welds

- But, torch cutting creates irregular surface along holes.

This creates martensite up to 3 mm deep along the hole
edge

- Martensite is brittle and the condition induces crack

formation. So ground smooth the affected surface!
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Flame Cutting
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Flame Cutting
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Flame Cutting
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Weld Restraints
- Crack initiation and propagation requires a trigger
fracture. Residual stresses induced by restrained welds
can be that trigger

- Choice of weld sequence and weld configuration can

severely restrain weld shrinkage

- Visualize this: welds are molten steel that solidifies as it

cools

- As the hot weld shrinks, important distortions are bound

to occur in nonsymmetrical welds
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Weld Restraints
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Weld Restraints
- For single pass welds: welds in tension, connected
pieces in compression

- In multipass welds: some of the weld metal first laid will

start in tension as it cools: ends up in compression after
next passes

- To reduce tensile residual stresses in welds, choose

weld configuration that minimizes such stresses

- In some instances such stressing is unavoidable

2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Weld Restraints
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Weld Restraints
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Lamellar Tearing
- Steel usually treated as isotropic material. But based on
data for steel plates, it displays anisotropy

- Properties in the through-thickness direction different

from those in the plane directions

- Presence of inclusions in the metal, flattened during

rolling explains this difference

- Inclusions act as microcracks. These can grow and join

under stresses in the through-thickness direction
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Lamellar Tearing
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Lamellar Tearing
- This has been observed only in thick steel plates with
highly restrained weld details

- Solution: detail the weld connection using bevels that

penetrate deep into the cross-sections to be welded

- Goal: fully engage the thickness of the elements

connected instead of just the surface strength

- The weld must pull on all the layers of the thickness of

the steel plate instead of just on its surface
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Lamellar Tearing
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Thick Steel Sections

- Thick steel sections prone to embrittlement

- Special care with steel sections 60 mm (2.4 in.) and

thicker. Prone to lamellar tearing

- Complex triaxial stressed induced by highly restrained

welds
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Partial Penetration Welds
- These welds should be avoided whenever ductile
response is required

- Only weld yielding is possible, because its cross

sectional area is smaller than that of adjacent base metal

- From a fracture mechanics perspective: unwelded part is

an initial crack

- Also, discontinuity induces stress concentrations weld

toe. This is specially important at the flange-web location
of heavy steel sections
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Partial Penetration Welds
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
K-Area Fractures
- For every hot rolled section: certain amount of cold work
used to ensure geometric tolerances

- Done by a “rotary straightening” process. Shape run

through rollers to remove undesirable distortions

- However, this cold working hardens the steel, increases

yield and ultimate strength, but decreases ductility

- Combined effects reduce Charpy-V notch toughness at

web-flange zone in the area known as k-area
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
K-Area Fractures
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
K-Area Fractures
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
K-Area Fractures
- k-area in the web starts at midpoint of flange-to-web
radius. Extends aprox. 1.5 in beyond tangency point
between fillet and web

- The term k-area comes: distance k measured from

flange top to location web thickness becomes constant

- Some authors reported fractures initiating in the k-area.

Evidence not decisive. Based on this, some
specifications recommend avoiding welding in the area

- Some authors also suggest avoiding web doubler plates,

preheating, and proper weld sequencing/inspection
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
K-Area Fractures
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
K-Area Fractures
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Strain Aging
- After unloading following an strain-hardening range
excursion, steel left unstressed for some time changes
its molecular structure

- This change increases yield/ultimate strength, but

decreases ductility and fracture toughness

- This is called static strain aging. Attributed to filling of

dislocations by migrating nitrogen and carbon atoms

- This phenomenon is vital in the automotive industry, but

not so critical in structural steels at room temperature
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Strain Aging
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Stress Corrosion
- Different from regular corrosion. Common to several
metals and also for some polymers.

- Develops when materials in tension exposed to specific

chemicals. Accelerates at higher temperatures. Key in
petrochemical industry

- Small surface cracks propagate inside the steel, even

under low stresses.

- Avoided by proper steel selection, heat treatment to

relieve welding stresses, avoiding problematic details,
and avoiding cold work
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Stress Corrosion
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Corrosion Fatigue
- Another type of environmentally-assisted cracking

- It develops in uniformly corroded materials, with cracks

that may be visible

- It substantially reduces fatigue life of steel details,

connections, and members under cyclic loading,
eliminating the fatigue limit

- Fatigue limit: the stress below which high-cycle fatigue

life is theoretically infinite
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Corrosion Fatigue
- Under corrosion fatigue, period of crack nucleation is
much shorter. Cracks initiate sooner with sustained
growth in low stress regimes

- It can be prevented in the same way as regular fatigue

and corrosion
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Ductility of corroded steel
- Severe corrosion can lead to increased stress levels for
a given load or larger stress ranges for fatigue loading

- Corrosion also induces notable shifts in the type of

ultimate failure expected

- However, tests show that monotonic structural ductility is

not much affected by corrosion.

- Nonetheless, studies also show that fracture under

alternating plasticity will develop sooner than for an
unrusted member
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Ductility of corroded steel
2.5. BRITTLENESS IN WELDED SECTIONS
Ductility of corroded steel
2.6. YIELD STRESS FOR MULTIAXIAL STATES
OF STRESS
- The condition of uniaxial tension stress is uncommon.

- More complex stress states exist and yielding as a limit

state is considered reached when any one component
of stress reaches the uniaxial value Fy

- For all other stress states different from uniaxial a

yielding definition is required

- These definitions are called yield conditions or theories

of failure and are equations of interaction between the
differing action stresses
2.6. ENERGY OF DISTORTION (HUBER - VON
MISES – HENCKY) YIELD CRITERION
- Most commonly accepted theory

- It gives uniaxial yield stress in terms of the three

principal stresses as

- With σ1, σ2, σ3, the axial stresses acting in the three
principal directions

- Principal directions: three mutually orthogonal planes

of zero shear

- σy is the yield stress to be compared to the uniaxial Fy

2.6. ENERGY OF DISTORTION (HUBER - VON
MISES – HENCKY) YIELD CRITERION
- For most structural design situations, one of these
stresses is either small enough to be neglected or zero

- For the case of plane stress, i.e., all stresses

considered at one lane,

- Examples of conditions where one stress equals zero:

- Stress on thin plates
- Flexural stresses on beams
2.6. SHEAR YIELD STRESS

- Pure shear occurs on 45° planes to the principal

planes when σ2 = -σ1 and the shear stress τ = σ1

- What indicates that the yield condition for shear acting

alone is
2.6. SHEAR YIELD STRESS
2.6. POISSON’S RATIO μ

- Stress applied in a given direction also induces strain

in the other two perpendicular directions.

- μ, the Poisson’s ratio is obtained at uniaxial stress

conditions as the ratio of transverse strain to
longitudinal strain.

- For structural steel, μ is close to 0.3 in the elastic range

- This value is close to 0.5 in the plastic range

2.6. SHEAR MODULUS OF ELASTICITY

- Loading in pure shear produces a stress-strain curve

with a straight line portion whose slope is the shear
modulus of elasticity

- If μ and E are known the shear modulus G can be

determined from theory of elasticity as,

- For structural steel this value is close to 11’000 ksi

(75’800 MPa)
2.7. BRITTLE FRACTURE: SUMMARY
The following are risk factors for brittleness in steel,

1. Minimum service temperature: too low, failure will be

brittle
2. Is tension involved? Brittle failure only occurs under
tension
3. Is the element thick? The thicker, the more fragile
4. Is there 3D continuity? These conditions restrain
yielding in steel
5. Are notches present? They restrain yielding
6. Is load applied at high rate? The higher the rate, the
more concern should be given
7. Is there a change in stress?
8. Is welding involved? Weld cracks can act as notches