Steel & Composite Structures

Steel structure is a type of building structure with steel as the main material. It has the advantages of high strength, light weight, high stiffness, good shock resistance, fast construction, etc., and is widely used in industrial, civil, bridge, sports venues and other fields. The structural forms of steel structure are mainly as follows:

portal frame

portal frame is a flat frame composed of steel columns and steel beams, can form a single span or multi-span space structure, suitable for small span plants, warehouses, workshops and other buildings. The portal rigid frame has the advantages of simple force, clear force transmission path, fast construction speed and economical application.

Steel frame

Steel frame is a kind of space rigid frame composed of steel columns and steel beams, which can form multi-storey or high-rise space structure, suitable for buildings with large span or high height, such as office buildings, shopping malls, hotels, conference centers and so on. The plane layout of the steel frame is flexible, which can form a large space, but the requirements of resistance to side forces also need to be considered.

Steel truss

Steel truss is a spatial structure composed of a number of rods according to a certain law, can use small cross-section of rods to form a larger cross-section of components, suitable for large span or high buildings, such as stadiums, exhibition halls, hangars, TV towers and so on. The steel truss is light in weight and high in stiffness, but it is also necessary to consider the problems of stability and connection mode.

steel grid

steel grid is a spatial structure composed of a number of rods in accordance with a certain grid form through the node connection, can form a complex curved or curved shape, suitable for roof or wall buildings, such as waiting halls, awnings, domes, etc. The space force of the steel grid is small and the seismic resistance is good, but the design and production of nodes also need to be considered.

Composite structure

Composite structure is a broad concept that is used to describe any building structure that involves a combination of many different materials. This structure has a wide range of applications in the field of construction, especially in the construction of aircraft, ships and large building structures. There are several obvious advantages to using composite materials as the primary building material, including improving the overall strength of the structure, increasing aesthetics, and ensuring environmental sustainability.

In the practice of structural engineering, when two or more different materials are so closely bonded together that, from the perspective of the overall structure, they appear to be a single unit, collectively bearing external loads and functioning, we call it a composite structure. When this happens, the combination is called a compound action. To explain the concept more intuitively, we can take a simple example: steel beams supporting concrete floors.

Imagine if the steel beams were not securely attached to the floor, then all the weight of the floor would be transferred to the steel beams. In this case, the floor does not contribute anything to the bearing capacity of the steel beam. However, if the floor is connected to the steel beam by studs, then it can be considered that a part of the floor and the steel beam form a composite effect. In fact, the effect of this composite material is that the bearing capacity of the steel beam is significantly increased, resulting in a beam that is larger and stronger than the steel beam alone.