Chapter 9: Steelwork design

Structural steel is in many ways an ideal material for earthquake resistance, possessing high material ductility and high strength to mass ratio. However, considerable care is needed in the design and detailing of steel structures in order to ensure that a ductile end result is achieved under the conditions of extreme cyclic loading experienced during an earthquake. Special attention is needed in the design of connections (particularly welded connections) joining members intended to yield, and to compression struts intended to buckle during the design earthquake. Also, in general, steel structures tend to be more flexible than equivalent concrete structures and, unless controlled, the resulting larger displacements may lead to higher levels of damage to non-structural components and to more significant P-delta effects.