ADVANTAGES OF USING STEEL IN CONSTRUCTION

Steel construction of buildings is very fast and less expensive when compared to
buildings of other materials. Its very rare to hear about steel construction but its very
common.

Steel construction of materials has become a need for the promotion. It has become
useful for the business and commercial sectors for a long period of time.

Steel components are light and will not expand or contract with climatic changes.
Progress of steel construction has become more tradition for residential as well as
commercial buildings.

Nowadays Steel constructions are placed in the top list because it safeguards the
buildings against damages in case of climatic effects like earthquakes and more. The
steel constructions will act in an expected or dependable way to survive when
earthquake occurs.

Structural steel sections can be bent and rolled to create non-linear members to further
enhance the aesthetic appeal of the structure.

It is light-weight compared to timber, which makes it easier to transport and thus,

reduces fuel costs and accelerates project schedules. Aside from this, it is also energy
efficient and can be recycled, creating minimal raw material wastes.

It can withstand extreme forces or harsh weather conditions, such as strong winds,
earthquakes, hurricanes and heavy snow. They are also unreceptive to rust and, unlike
wood frames, they are not affected by termites, bugs, mildew, mold and fungi.
Additionally, they are more fire-resistant compared to wooden frames.

TERM AND TERMINOLOGIES USE IN STEEL DESIGN

Steel design - is an area of knowledge of structural engineering used to design

steel structures. The structures can range from schools to homes to bridges.

Structural steel - is a category of steel used as a construction material for making

structural steel shapes. A structural steel shape is a profile, formed with a specific cross
section and following certain standards for chemical and mechanical properties.

Allowable Stress Design (ASD) - This method is conservative and give safe results.
The structure can be assumed to act perfectly within elastic range. Elastic analysis for
loads and elastic behavior of material become studied in this procedure. To separate it
from the load and resistance factors (phi), this factor of safety is named as safety factor.
There is a deviation between actual strength and nominal strength, actual loads and
nominal loads. Safety factor is the factor that accounts for such deviation.

Limit state design (LSD), load and resistance factor design (LRFD) - refers to a
design method used in structural engineering. A limit state is a condition of a structure
beyond which it no longer fulfills the relevant design criteria. The condition may refer to
a degree of loading or other actions on the structure, while the criteria refer to structural
integrity, fitness for use, durability or other design requirements. A structure designed by
LSD is proportioned to sustain all actions likely to occur during its design life, and to
remain fit for use, with an appropriate level of reliability for each limit state. Building
codes based on LSD implicitly define the appropriate levels of reliability by their
prescriptions.

Compression members - are structural elements that are pushed together or carry a
load, more technically they are subjected only to axial compressive forces.

Tension members - are structural elements that are subjected to axial tensile forces.
Examples of tension members are bracing for buildings and bridges, truss members,
and cables in suspended roof systems.

Riveted connections - A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being

installed, a rivet consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end
opposite the head is called the tail. On installation the rivet is placed in a punched or
drilled hole, and the tail is upset, or bucked (i.e., deformed), so that it expands to about
1.5 times the original shaft diameter, holding the rivet in place. In other words, pounding
creates a new "head" on the other end by smashing the "tail" material flatter, resulting in
a rivet that is roughly a dumbbell shape. To distinguish between the two ends of the
rivet, the original head is called the factory head and the deformed end is called the
shop head or buck-tail.

Lap joints - a joint made with two pieces of metal, timber, etc., by halving the thickness
of each member at the joint and fitting them together.

Web crippling - Crippling is just like buckling, but it happens in the web of a beam
when it is being compressed. It often occurs at the supports of a beam, where the
bottom flange is resting on a support, and the top flange is holding up the load, such as
on a bridge abutment.

Base plates - l is metal formed by an industrial process into thin, flat pieces. It is one of
the fundamental forms used in metalworking and it can be cut and bent into a variety of
shapes. Countless everyday objects are constructed with sheet metal. Thicknesses can
vary significantly; extremely thin thicknesses are considered foil or leaf, and pieces
thicker than 6 mm (0.25 in) are considered plate.

Collapse Mechanism - By inserting a plastic hinge at a plastic limit load into a statically
determinate beam, a kinematic mechanism permitting an unbounded displacement of
the system can be formed. This is known as the collapse mechanism. For each degree
of static indeterminacy of the beam, an additional plastic hinge must be added to form a
collapse mechanism. It is used in structural analysis and design.

ADVANTAGES OF USING TIMBER IN CONSTRUCTION

Timber is one of the few natural building material. This has a lot of advantages.
Generally, timber is not toxic, does not leak chemical vapor into the building and is safe
to handle and touch. It also means that as timber ages, it does so naturally and doesnt
break down into environmentally damaging materials.

People have been building with timber for thousands of years. Timber is continually
being grown in our forests and plantations. As long as new trees are planted to replace
those harvested, timber will continue to be available.

It takes very little energy to convert the wood in trees to the timber used in building. This
means that the embodied energy in timber is very low, the lowest of almost all common
building materials.

Timber is made from carbon drawn from the atmosphere. This carbon would otherwise
be adding to the greenhouse effect. Using timber in buildings stores the carbon for as
long as the building stands or the timber is used.

In reducing the amount of energy used to heat and operate a building, insulation is very
important. Timber is a natural insulator and can reduce energy needs especially when it
is used in windows, doors and floors.

Timber is milled all over Australia and is often used close to where it is produced. This
promotes local economies and reduces the energy needed to transport materials long
distances.

Timber is versatile and can be used in a wide variety of ways. Being light, it is easy to
install and can be worked with simple equipment. This reduces the energy needed for
construction.

TERM AND TERMINOLOGIES USE IN STEEL DESIGN

Arris - Sharp external angle of a piece of wood where two surfaces meet

Bark - The outer protective covering of a tree.

Board - A piece of square- or waney-edged sawn timber 50mm or less in thickness.

Character - Hardwood timber with a mix of inter-grown knots, pin knots, heart shake,
and colour variation.

Discolouration - Stain in timber, due to fungi, chemical reaction, or other causes, that
may lower its merchantable value in some markets

Drying - The process of bringing timber to a moisture content range that is suitable for
an intended use.

Epicormic shoots - Small buds and branches which appear on the trunk of some
timber species usually as a result of an increased exposure to sunlight. Eventually these
shoots become engulfed by the enlarging trunk, which creates a decorative feature
called a burr.

Fibre saturation point (FSP) - A zone at which virtually all moisture has been removed
from the cell cavities of timber but where the cell walls remain saturated. In most
species it equates to a moisture content of 25 30%. Many timber properties change as
the moisture content passes the FSP.

Grading - A way of sorting pieces of timber into broadly similar groups, according to
quality or mechanical performance, so that marketing can be rationalised and selection
for a specific use is simplified; it is usually divided into structural and appearance
grading.

Heartwood - The inner zone of wood that, in growing trees, has ceased to contain living
cells. In some species, such as oak, the heartwood is darker than the sapwood while in
other species such as sycamore it is not easily identifiable. Heartwood is often more
durable than sapwood.

Moisture movement - Ongoing moisture-induced change in across-the-grain

dimension exhibited by timber after its initial shrinkage due to drying.

Natural durability - Resistance of timber to damage by wood destroying organisms

such as fungi or insects. For example, European Standard EN 350-2 gives a relative
classification of the inherent resistance of wood to attack by wood destroying fungi.
Note that all sapwood should be considered as being not durable

Oven dry - Moisture content of timber that has been dried in a ventilated oven at 103C
until there is no further fall in moisture content.

Pin knot - An inter-grown or non-inter-grown knot with a maximum diameter of 5mm.

Rotten knot - A knot that is softer than the surrounding wood due to fungal decay

Sapwood - The outer zone of a tree underneath the bark that, when the tree is growing,
contains living cells and conducts sap. Sapwood is frequently paler than the heartwood
though is not clearly differentiated in all species. Sapwood has a low natural durability.

Steaming - Steam is sometimes used as a convenient heat source to enable some

timber species such as ash to be bent into tight curves. In other cases, steam is used to
darken timbers such as beech and pear, and to make them easier to work.

Wane - Original rounded surface of a log, with or without the bark, which occurs on any
face or edge.

UNIVERSITY OF THE EAST CALOOCAN CAMPUS

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
CIVIL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

Plate No. 1

Terms and Terminologies use in Steel and Timber Design

Advantages of using Steel or Timber in Construction

ALCORIZA, Kenneth J.
2012111033
NCE 511 2CEM
6:00PM-9:00PM/ MWF/ EN 111B

REFERENCES

1. Structural Engineering and Construction 4 th Edition by Besavilla

2. Manual of Steel Construction (Allowable Stress Design) ,. Ninth Edition

3. Ductile Design of Steel Structures,. 2nd Edition by Rafael Sabili

4. www.wikipedia.com/ph

5. Making the Grade : UK grown Timber by Ivor Davis and Guy Watt.