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Utilization of structural steel in buildings

In an examination of over 12,000 steel beams and 2,300 steel columns across 23 commercial buildings engineered by top UK design firms, the average beam was utilized to less than 50% of its capacity.  The authors considered utilization ratios for bending moment, shear, axial force, buckling, combined axial & moment buckling, and deflection limits, taking the highest utilization of the six as the scorecard for each element.  The average utilization ratio across all beams was 0.40, while across all columns, it rose to 0.49.

The authors cite supply chain simplicity, relatively high labor costs, demand for uniform floor depth, and fear of erection mistakes in over-complicated design schemes as “rationalization” factors given for this seeming ham-handed conservatism.  They argue that, in a society increasingly focused on using energy and carbon better, automation in fabrication and erection will be needed to help reduce the oversimplification of building designs, without skyrocketing labor costs.

Key Takeaway:  

Many steel building designs (and probably other materials as well) end up quite conservative from repetitive member sizing being carried far from the critical elements that governed their sizing.  Supply chain implications and labor costs also drive engineers towards using far more steel than would otherwise be economically viable.

Tekla Structures 2026 Service Pack 3

Forensic Investigation of Fire-Induced Collapse of a Steel Building

On May 23, 2020, a massive, unsprinklered 1926 historic warehouse at San Francisco’s Pier 45 collapsed in a fire.  Forensic investigation revealed that the first element to give was a large, unprotected, built-up (angles, plates, and rivets) interior column, which buckled at midheight as it approached its critical temperature of roughly 1000°F.  This column's giving out didn’t immediately collapse the rest of the building, but it did leave the building more vulnerable for what came next.

In typical fire-driven collapses of this type of building, exterior load-bearing walls topple outwards under the thrust of thermally-expanding roof and floor beams, but these walls did the opposite.  Robust enough to withstand the outward thermal expansion thrust, they were eventually dragged down to the interior of the building when steel beams softened enough in the heat to sag and transition into catenary curves.  This massive inward force actually helped to protect responding fire crews on the exterior of the building.

Key Takeaway:

Structural Fire Engineering is more than just spraying on a fireproofing coating: engineers need to consider load redistribution when one element fails to help prevent catastrophic progressive collapse scenarios.

Retaining Walls: Principles of Design, Monitoring, and Repair

PROFIS Engineering: Anchoring to Concrete

Fault Detection And Diagnostics (FDD) For HVAC Systems And Building Controls

Mass Timber Strategies for High-Performance Affordable Housing

👋 From the Editor

I’m Eric, the engineer behind the StructEd Bulletin.  I dig through stacks of journal articles and software patch notes to find useful information for practicing engineers and keep an eye on the scattered code updates & errata for you. I’m just getting started, so if you find this useful, the best way to support the newsletter is to share it with a colleague or post it on LinkedIn. It helps more than you’d think!

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