Introduction to

Limit State Design

Concept
Design Methods

Allowable Stress Design

Allowable Stress Design (ASD) is also referred to as the
service load design or working stress design (WSD) or
Elastic Design Method (ASM). The basic conception (or
design philosophy) of this method is that the maximum
stress in a structural member is always smaller than a
certain allowable stress .

The designer ensures that the stresses developed in a

structure due to service loads do not exceed the elastic
limit. This limit is usually determined by ensuring that
stresses remain within the limits through the use of
factors of safety
Limit state design (LSD), ( LRF
D)
Limit state design (LSD), also known as Load and Resistance
Design (LRFD), refers to a structural engineering design
method.

A degree of loading or other actions imposed on a structure

can result in a ‘limit state’, where the structure’s condition no
longer fulfils its design criteria, such as; fitness for use,
structural integrity, durability, and so on. Limit states are
conditions of potential failure.

All actions likely to occur during a structure’s design life are

considered during the LSD method, to ensure that the
structure remains fit for use with appropriate levels of
reliability.
Rn/ W= ASD Capacity fRn = LRFD Capacity Rn = Nominal
Capacity
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

A design philosophy is a set of assumptions and procedures
which are used to meet the conditions of serviceability, safety,
economy and functionality of the structure. Design philosophies
adopted in this class
This philosophy is an advancement over the traditional design
philosophies. It considers the safety at the ultimate load and
serviceability at the working load.

Limit state is the state of impending failure, beyond which a

structure ceases to perform its intended function satisfactorily,
in terms of either safety or serviceability.” There are 2 types
of limit states

1. 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. It
considers strength, overturning, fatigue, sliding etc.
1) Stability to prevent overturning,

sliding or buckling of the structure, or

parts of it, under the action of loads,

2) Strength to resist safely the stresses

induced by the loads in the various
structural members; and

3) Serviceability to ensure satisfactory

performance under service load
conditions – which implies providing
adequate stiffness and reinforcements
to contain deflections, crack-widths and
vibrations within acceptable limits, and
Project Design Procedure
CSA Steelwork Costs
• Design & materials
25%
• Fabrication and Others
15% Material
erection 60% 25%

Erection
25%

Fabrication
35%
Interfaces - Structural
Seismic Parameters

Equipment data Site plan

Mechanical Civil
Dimensions, loads, bolts

Structure, FP
Buildings
foundations
Structural
Plant Design Engineering Architectural

Equipment, Structure
piping,
supports

Electrical Equipment Soil data

-------------------- Geotechnical
- Control cable trays
Systems
 This viewgraph summarizes the Structural interfaces with other
disciplines and gives an overview of the coordination effort involved
in performing the structural functions on project.
Plant design: general arrangement drawings define the layout of
Mechanical: provides layout of mechanical equipment, loads, and support
the facility and spatial requirements, routing of above ground
requirements
piping, loads, support requirements; define penetration
requirements.
Electrical: routing of cable trays and conduit, location, loading, support
All disciplines check for interferences with plant elements and
requirements
structural framing
Control Systems: location, loading, and support requirements for panels

Civil: site plan, location of underground utilities

Architectural: architectural layout

Geotechnical: soils information ( i.e., maximum soil bearing pressure,

active and passive soil pressure) for foundation design

Once again, the multidisciplinary effort and ongoing changes that

occur during the development of a project emphasize the need for
coordination of information at all stages of design. Review of
drawings, interference checks, verification of final layout, loading,
Introduction To Code of
Design
• This class briefly explains the theoretical background
for the design check of steel members in accordance
with BS 5950-1:2000

• Steel members are checked under ultimate and

serviceability limit state .

• Under ultimate limit state (ULS) load combinations,

each section is checked for the limit state of strength
and each potential buckling segment is checked for
the stability limit state.

• serviceability limit state (SLS) load combinations,

each span is checked for deflection, vibration and
BS 5950 is part of a group of codes dealing with the
design of structural steelwork:

• Part 1: Code of practice for design of rolled and welded

sections
• Part 2: Specification for materials; fabrication and
erection, rolled and welded sections
• Part 3 Design in composite construction
• Part 4 Code of practice for the design of composite slabs
with profiled steel sheeting
• Part 5 Code of practice for the design of cold-formed thin
guage sections
• Part 6 Code of practice for design of light gauge profiled
steel sheeting
• Part 7 Specification for materials fabrication and erection
of cold-formed
Scope of BS 5950-1

• It is intended primarily for building structures and other

structures not
specifically covered by other standards.
• Design of structural steelwork using hot rolled sections,
flats plates, hot finished
and cold rolled structural hollow sections
 Design methods
Within the overall concept of Limit state design three basic
design (or analysis)
methods ( These are given in 2.1.2 of the code)

• Simple design: using elastic methods of analysis, in

which the joints are generally assumed not to transmit
moments.

• Continuous design: using elastic or plastic methods of

analysis in which the joints are designed to transmit
moments.

• Semi-continuous design:using both elastic or plastic

methods of anaysis using joints which do not have
 Properties
The strength ofof Steel
steel used in design (py) is based on the
the minimum guaranteed yield strength of steel as quoted
in a variety of British Standards quoted in Tables 4 and 5
of the code.
Design is usually carried out using the yield
strength of the steel as shown in Table 9 of the
code and Table 1of these notes:
Application of
load the
When factors
structure reaches a limit state of strength or
stability it is on the point of being unsafe or about to
collapse. It is necessary to verify that there is an
adequate factor of safety against this limiting
condition.
For steel design the load factors γ f given in BS 5950-1
Table 2 .
In buildings not subject to loads from travelling cranes,
the following load combinations should be checked:

• Load combination 1: Dead load and imposed load

(gravity loads) plus notional horizontal forces (see
Section 1.6.3) •

Load combination 2: Dead load and wind load • Load

Loads and Load combinations
Effect of forces
Summary of load
factors
The following load combinations
should be
checked:

Gravity
Load combination 1: 1.4 Dead load +
1.6 Imposed load

Load combination 2 1.2 Dead Load +

1.2 Imposed Load +
1.2 Wind load

Load combination 3 1.4 Dead load +

1.4 Wind load

Uplift
Load combination 1: 1.0 Dead Load
Example 1 Consider the simple case of a beam spanning
between two supports as show
in Figure 5: Using load combination 1.(Dead load +
Imposed Load)

Load on Simply supported beam

The maximum reaction will be = (25 x 1.6 + 20 x 1.4) x
5 /2= 170kN
Example 2
Consider uplift on the roof of a single storey building as
shown in Figure 6. In this common situation load
combination (Dead load + wind load) will be used. A
factor of 1.0 will be used on the dead load and a
factor of 1.4 used on the wind uplift to find the net
uplift on the roof for design purposes. This will often
result in a reversal of force in the members.
Example 3
A gantry structure, subjected to wind loads as shown
Loading data
Platform dead load (including self weight) = 3.0 kN
Platform imposed load (people) = 3.5 kN
Self weight of each gantry column = 2.0 kN
Wind load (with people) = 5.0 kN
Wind load (without people) = 4.0 kN

A number of load combinations should be considered:

Gravity
Load combination 1a : 1.4Dead load + 1.6 Imposed load
Load combination 2a : 1.4 Dead Load + 1.4 Wind load [with
people]
Load combination 3a: 1.2Dead Load + 1.2Imposed Load + 1
Wind load

Uplift
Load combination 1b: 1.0 Dead Load + 1.4Wind load [witho
people]

Load combination 3b:

1.0Dead Load + 1.2 Imposed Load + 1.2Wind load [with peo
Load combination 1a: Dead load + Imposed load

Ultimate load = 1.4 Dead load + 1.6 Imposed load

= 1.4 (3 + 2 + 2) + 1.6 (3.5) = 15.4 kN

Thus the reaction at A, RA = 15.4 / 2 = 7.7 kN

and the reaction at B, RB = 15.4 / 2 = 7.7 kN
Load combination 2a: Dead Load + Wind load [without
people]
Ultimate load = 1.4 Dead load + 1.4 Wind load
Dead load not restraining uplift, γ DL = 1.4
Take moments about A:

(1.4 × 2 × 4) + (1.4 × 3 × 2) + … … (1.4× 4 × 7) – (RB

× 4) = 0
Thus RB = 14.7 kN
Load combination 3a: Dead Load + Imposed Load + Wind
load
Ultimate load = 1.2 Dead Load + 1.2 Imposed Load +
1.2 Wind load
Take moments about A:
(1.2 × 2 × 4) + (1.2 × 3 × 2) +(1.2 × 3.5 × 2) + … …
(1.2 × 5 × 7) – (RB × 4) = 0
Thus RB = 16.8 kN
Load combination 1b: 1.0 Dead Load + 1.4Wind load
[without people] Ultimate load
Dead load restraining uplift, γ DL factor = 1.0 WL
factor =1.4
Take moments about B:
(RA × 4) − (1.0 × 2 × 4) – (1.0 × 3 × 2) + (1.4 × 4 × 7) =
0
Thus RA = − 6.3 kN (uplift)
 Load combination 2 b: Dead Load + Imposed Load +
Wind load [with people]

Ultimate load = 1.0 Dead Load + 1.2 Imposed Load +

1.2 Wind load
Dead load restraining uplift, γ DL = 1.0

Take moments about B:

(RA × 4) − (1.0 × 2 × 4) – (1.0 × 3 × 2) −
(1.2 × 3.5 × 2) + (1.2 × 5 × 7) = 0
Thus RA = − 4.9
kN (uplift)

Take
The moments
maximum about A
reaction at B (and compression in the
(RA × 4) − (1.0 × 2
column above) equals 16.8× 4) –kN
(1.0 × 3combination
(load × 2) − (1.2 × 3.5
3a)
× 2) –And the minimum reaction (and tension in the column
(1.2 at
above) × 5A ×
= 7)
– 6.=30kN (load combination
T hus RB 1b).
= 16.1 kN