The world of engineering can be both fascinating and daunting for newcomers!
That is why I have created this beginner course to introduce you to the basics of steel design in a more welcoming way. Please note the course is in metric units and will often reference the Eurocode.
If you are looking for a solid introduction to, or refresher on, steel design where we run through:
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When to use steel
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How it fails
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Different loading conditions
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Lateral Restraint
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Stress/Strain and yield strengths
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Bending, Axial and Shear Resistance (including an example of each)
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Combined Axial and Bending Resistance (including example)
Then this course may be for you! I focus on not only running through the theory, but also real world considerations that are not often found in the text books.
I have also included examples on bending, shear and axial failure as well as introducing you to lateral torsional buckling (we’ll only run through what LTB is, the calculations are a bit too advanced for here).
This course has been specifically designed to give value to you, the student, and lifetime access means you will receive all future updates and additions free of charge.
If you are not 100% sure this course is for you, feel free to take a look around. If you are not convinced, there is a 30 day money back guarantee with no hard feelings or questions asked.
Thanks for taking the time to view this course, and I hope to see you in there!!
Foundations of Structural Steel
Lecture two will focus on the advantages of steel, why and when to use steel.
We're now on the the disadvantages of structural steel, engineers are better equipped to use this material well when they effects of residual stresses and fire resistance are understood.
Quick quiz on the advantages and disadvantages of using steel
How Steel Fails
Let's learn about how structural steel fails, we can't do much engineering without knowing what we're designing against.
Lateral torsional buckling, it can be tricky! First we'll investigate when this failure mechanism can occur.
This lecture will take a look at tension failure, you'll be amazed at how strong structural steel really is! Yield strength and the grade of steel play a big part here.
A quiz to test your knowledge of the failure modes, don't worry if you don't get things right first time, give the lectures another watch and then come back
Loading Conditions
Today's lecture is all about loading conditions, from the ACI to Eurocode, you will see all design codes tend to be more similar than not.
Quick quiz to test your understanding of the main safety factor design methods
Taking what we have learnt about the Eurocode loading conditions we will look at the permanent and imposed loads in a real life example.
Analysis Shortcuts
Before we can design anything in structural steel, we need to know the moment, axial an shear forces. In this lecture we will take a look at the analysis shortcuts that will have you designing in no time.
Taking what we have learnt we will run through an analysis shortcut to show you the quickest way to analyse simple frames. You'll be designing structural steel in no time!
Lateral Restraint & Section Classification
Understanding lateral restraint and effective lengths is vital in structural engineering. We'll take a quick run through the theory behind lateral restraint and then play a game of 'spot the restraint' to get you thinking.
The first step in structural design is to work out a sections classification. In this lecture we'll look at how the different sections react to load as well as a shortcut to confirming the class.
Now that we have an idea of how steel sections react to load, let's look at how steel in general acts under load. We'll look at the properties of steel, yield strength, ultimate strengths, elastic and plastic failures.
Bending resistance
The first step in steel design is to ensure the member is able to resist the applied bending forces, ie moment. The effective length and fixity conditions are ignored for this initial design check.
We will now take the forces we previously calculated and design a suitable beam section to resist the moment. This is where the structural steel design theory starts coming into practice.
Axial Forces
Following on from bending resistance, we will now take a look at the axial condition. This lecture covers the compressive resistance of a structural steel member.
The opposing axial force is that of tension. You will generally encounter this when designing bracing elements as well as in connection design. The grade and yield strength of these steel chosen is a major influencing factor.
Shear Resistance
Shear resistance is easy to overlook and in most cases will not be there critical case unless high point loads are present, however this vital step must always be taken. Shear failure is a brittle failure, meaning it gives no warning before collapse, and must be considered carefully.
This shear resistance will show how easily, and quickly, the shear resistance of structural steel can be calculated.
Combined Axial and Bending Resistance
Now that we understand how to calculate these bending and axial resistance of a member, what happens when we encounter the combined condition?
In this lecture we will look at the reduced moment method of calculating the structural section's resistance.
This example will go through the combined axial and bending checks, including a bi-axial moment resistance check.