Steel structures form the critical building blocks of our nation's infrastructure. Structural steel elements form the backbone of building structures, bridges and major infrastructure. Structural steel is one of the most sustainable building materials available as it is 100% recyclable and is being increasingly reused. It is therefore increasingly becoming one of the most important materials to assist in the reduction of embodied carbon in the built environment. Civil/structural engineers play a key role in being able to conceive, design and construct these structures in an efficient and safe manner. This course will introduce these design concepts and will focus on the design of structural elements subject to bending, shear and combined bending and axial compression. Topics include: introduction to limit states design and codes of practice (design objectives; strength and serviceability limit states); loads and load combinations (permanent/dead, imposed/live and wind loads); design of structural steel tension members; Euler column buckling; design of stocky and slender compression members; design of laterally supported steel beams, laterally unsupported steel beams (lateral-torsional buckling in bending and shear strength); steel beam-columns (in-plane and out-of-plane failure); steel members subjected to biaxial bending; design of steel frames, steel connections and detailing (force and moment connections).
