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Hot Finished SHS for Multi-storey Columns

Structural hollow sections make beautiful and efficient buildings

Contents

01 01 02 04 06 10 12 14 16 17 18 19 20 26 28 30 32

Structural Hollow Sections Steel and the Environment Moda in Casa Store Fleet Place House, London Montevetro Rank Xerox Facilities Building Queensberry House, London Tay House, Glasgow Putney Bridge Restaurant Tutorial Block, Manchester College of Art & Technology Westside Office Building, Apsley Buttercrane Centre multi-storey Car Park, Newry Connections Structural Design Fire Resistance Cost Comparisons Bibliography

Structural hollow sections make beautiful and efficient buildings. This is evident in many single storey buildings where SHS has allowed Architects to give full vent to expressing the stucture in creative, exciting architecture. Following recent developments in beam to column connections, and in composite and fire resistant construction, Architects have seized the opportunity to exploit the structural and aesthetic advantages of SHS in multi-storey buildings. They present exciting design opportunities regardless of the number of storeys. When used in compression, as building columns, SHS are more efficient than other column types. The resulting reduction in structural weight presents the opportunity to make storey-by-storey cost savings. SHS, with or without concrete filling, provide smaller column footprints than other design solutions, increasing lettable floor area. Further, because each serial size of SHS has a constant external dimension, the same column size can be maintained throughout the full height of the building - simplifying architectural details and ensuring economy in fabrication. This all adds up to great news. Great news for building Owners, Developers and Facilities Managers as well as Architects, Engineers and Design & Build contractors.

Steel and the Environment

Steel is the most recycled material in the world. Most scrap steel simply needs compressing or cutting up before being remelted. The quantity of steel remelted to make new products currently constitutes nearly 50% of the worlds annual steel production. The production of steel meets increasingly stringent environmental standards. Some of these standards are imposed by law, others by the companies themselves. Modern steelworks now incorporate dust and fume collection, water recirculation systems, noise control and, in many cases, odour control as well. Almost all of the liquid steel produced by British Steel uses the Basic Oxygen process and the continuous casting process, which takes 77% less energy than the traditional ingot method. The principle by-products of the steelmaking process are recyclable too. For example, slag, which is non-pollutant, can be recycled for use in slag cements and as a sub-base in road construction. The use of steel sections in buildings gives unparalleled opportunities for remodelling of building frameworks representing a major cost and environmental advantage over those cases where demolition and reconstruction are required. If necessary, steel-framed buildings may be designed for demounting and reassembly.

Hot Finished SHS for Multi-storey Columns 1

Case Study

A 3D grid allowing views through shimmering panels of glass

View of access stair and glazing panels

Moda in Casa Store Architect: E Norton Structural Engineer: Prof dr ir M Eekhout Fabricator: Octatube Space Structures BV Detail of glazing panels

Side Facade Column showing attachments for glazing support

2 Hot Finished SHS for Multi-storey Columns

Moda in Casa Store

Circular hollow section columns are used both as principal load-bearing elements and as glazing supports in this showroom building which faces out onto the high street. The merchandise, high-tech furniture, is displayed within a pure threedimensional grid made up of slender round columns, glass walls and floors and light cross-bracing. The building is three-storeys high, 45 metres deep and between 15 metres and 18 metres wide, being set out on a 3 metre module. It is steel-framed with concrete floors except within the front 3 metre module where the floors are glass, supported by underslung, pyramid-shaped steel rods. The front part of the building is stabilised against earthquake forces by steel cross-bracing on all three sides. A 200mm wide flexible rubber zone, on one side of the building allows up to 200mm of movement to occur between the front

module and the wall behind which serves to stabilise the main part of the building. On the opposite side, cross-bracing is used to stabilise the facade. The interior CHS columns are connected to beams by flange and web plates which are designed to develop moment and shear forces. All glazing panels on the facades are supported at their four corners by brackets. On the front facade, the glazing panels have dimensions of 1.5m x 1.5m and the brackets are either welded to supporting columns, which are full-height 90mm diameter CHS, or are supported by a cats cradle arrangement of diagonal rods behind the glass line. These rods double up as lateral bracing. On the sides, the glazing panels have dimensions of 3m x 1.5m with all brackets being welded to the CHS supporting columns, which are 193.7mm in diameter.

Hot Finished SHS for Multi-storey Columns 3

Case Study

Axonometric view of building

Steel tubular columns and raking struts support an eight storey office building

323.9 CHS column with concrete infill cladding line

;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
Architect: Skidmore Owings & Merrill Structural Engineer: Waterman Partnership Client: Heron Property Corporation Limited
60 diameter clevis pin truss end block connection with welded side plates

FFL

17.5 m span asymmetric floor truss

Vertical section on beam to column connection detail

323.9 CHS column with concrete infill 450 x 250 x 16 RHS edge beam

;;; ;;; ;;; ;;;

solid block column bracket

Plan on beam to column connection

Plan at typical floor level

4 Hot Finished SHS for Multi-storey Columns

Fleet Place House, London

Built on one of the last sites to be developed on Fleet Place, this new office building is fitted onto a restricted city centre location and placed astride a railway line immediately below. The office is eight storeys high, with a superstructure plan area of 71 x17 metres, below which is a car park in the basement level with plant space and equipment at the sub-basement level. It has been ingeniously designed to re-use the existing pile cap foundations of the previous building on the site. There are no internal columns. The 323.9mm diameter hot-finished steel CHS columns are placed outside the cladding line and support steel truss beams with a composite deck spanning 17.5 metres across the full width of the building. At ground floor level, heavy raking CHS columns effect the difficult transition between the positions of the existing

foundations and the column positions for the office superstructure. A horizontal steel truss cast into the first floor slab enables the large forces at the knuckle joints at the top of the raking columns to be balanced. The steel superstructure is separated from the substructure by acoustic bearings. Shear keys with vertically mounted thrust bearings prevent sliding at the joint. The walls are tied across the acoustic joint by high tensile steel bars. The required fire rating of internal structural elements is generally two hours and one hour in the basement. However a fire load analysis test of the external tubular columns indicated that, for these elements, a fire rating of 35 minutes would be sufficient because of their distance from the seat of any fire. The columns are filled with concrete which achieves a fire rating of 45 minutes.

Hot Finished SHS for Multi-storey Columns 5

Case Study

A twenty storey apartment building by the River Thames where residents enjoy the view of Londons spectacular skyline
Montevetro Apartments, London. Architect: Richard Rodgers Partnership Structural Engineer: Waterman Partnership

6 Hot Finished SHS for Multi-storey Columns

Montevetro

The Montrevetro apartment building occupies a prime position on the bank of the River Thames and has fine views out. A conscious attempt has been made not only to take advantage of its riverside setting but minimise capital outlay per unit by designing to a large scale. The shape of the building is distinctive, a block tapering from 20 storeys at the end nearest the Thames to 3 storeys at the other end. The structure of the building comprises steel and concrete columns and load-bearing concrete walls, which all support concrete flat-slab floors at each level. The steel columns are CHS and are used along the west facade so as to give minimum visual obstruction; concrete columns in this position would have been too bulky.

The CHS columns are spaced at 3.6 metre centres inside the cladding line and provide support to the external edge of the concrete flat slab; they support between 3 and 20 storeys but have been able to be standardised in the typical case to 244.5 CHS columns with wall thicknesses varying from 10 to 16mm, depending on the plan position and the floor level. The maximum size used is a 355.6 CHS column 16mm thick. The steel column head plates were sized so as to avoid the need to provide shear link reinforcement in the concrete slabs.

Hot Finished SHS for Multi-storey Columns 7

Case Study

Montevetro

Montevetro Apartments, London. Architect: Richard Rodgers Partnership Structural Engineer: Waterman Partnership

The fire rating required for the columns varied between one and two hours and was achieved by combining concrete filling of steel columns with use of an intumescent paint. The paint thicknesses vary from 0.97mm to 2.42mm, being optimised against column wall thicknesses. No column reinforcement was used. The columns were brought to site in threestorey height lengths. It was found possible to dispense with the need for temporary erection brackets at column splices by grinding flush the ends of the CHS columns over part of their thickness and welding the remaining prepared faces. RHS columns were used, as well as CHS columns, in locations where their shape better suited the surrounding construction.

8 Hot Finished SHS for Multi-storey Columns

244.5 x 16/ 355.6 x 16 CHS with shop applied intumescent paint

cruciform locating spigot

zone for site applied intumescent paint butt joint

20 or 30 steel soffit plate

250 or 275 concrete slab

Vertical section at typical shearhead connection to floor slabs

lacer bar

244.5 x 16/ 335.6 x 16 CHS with shop applied intumescent paint

vertical tab plates

Plan on shearhead connection

Vertical section on typical column baseplate connection

Plan on part of building at fifth floor level

Hot Finished SHS for Multi-storey Columns 9

Case Study

Rank Xerox Facilities Building

A three storey column-free building centred around a naturally lit atrium

When Rank Xerox commissioned this electronic research and development facility, they asked for flexible column-free space with good circulation between areas. A three storey open plan building centred around a naturally lit atrium has achieved this, together with energy efficiency and construction costs at the lowest end of the expected range. Circular hollow sections were chosen as columns and are spaced at 3 metre centres around the perimeter and at 6 metre centres around the central atrium, serving both as main structure and as supports for cladding and glazing. With this arrangement, the design achieved a 42 m x 30 m floor plate area with only eight internal columns. The floor beams are composite, spanning 12 metres from the atrium directly onto the perimeter columns, so that only light tie beams are required between columns at

these positions. The relatively close spacing of these columns kept foundation costs to a minimum and allowed simple strip foundations. The cross-braced frames providing lateral stability, the escape stairs, goods lifts and service risers are located in pods outside the main space. In general, cable and electrics are taken in the raised floor zone and air-conditioning ducts in the ceiling void. Two air-handling units are located externally above the pods on the north and south sides with ducts dropping down on the outside to serve each floor. Because the cooling load in this building is high, external shading is provided, in particular by motorised horizontal louvre blades cantilevered from the perimeter columns; these also support catwalks. The cantilevered supports for the motorised louvres were welded to the columns in the fabrication shop, this giving

Rank Xerox Facilities Building, Welwyn Garden City. Architect: Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners Engineer: Ove Arup & Partners

10 Hot Finished SHS for Multi-storey Columns

substantial cost savings over the alternative of supplying them as part of the facade system. On dull days the louvres can be orientated to reflect light onto the ceiling. All steelwork members were within 12 metres overall length, thus facilitating transport. The benefits of the use of SHS columns on this project derive directly from the basic properties of the tube: it is efficient against lateral buckling; its shape mirrored the architectural details and gave the minimum overall mullion size; it provided a suitable corner detail both at the perimeter and within the atrium; and SHS have low Hp/A ratios, so minimising fire protection costs. The total all-up weight of the steelworks including all connections is 45 kg per sq metre of floor area.

Model of building

Corner detail

219.3 x 6.3 CHS column

external catwalk

support brackets

motorised louvre supports 457 x 152 x 67 floor beam 10mm fin plate bracket welded to column internal cassette and external rainscreen cladding

Vertical section through wall at perimeter

internal partition

219.3 x 6.3 CHS column with 30 fire protection

internal cassette panels

glazing frame

Louvre shades
rainscreen cladding 30 insulation

Horizontal section through 219 x 6.3mm CHS showing cladding fixings

CHS columns

Plan at first floor level showing 12 metre clear space surrounding atrium; service pods and stairs are outside

Hot Finished SHS for Multi-storey Columns 11

Case Study

Queensberry House, London

Shafts of natural light illuminate the central atrium of this six storey office building

To an increasing degree, property managers are finding that only the clear space provided by long span beams can properly meet the requirements for varying floor layouts and a simple distribution of services. This six storey commercial building, which is 30 x 50 metres on plan, is an elegant example of the type. In section, it provides clear spans of 12 metres on each side of the office divided by a 6 metres wide atrium, which contains all the internal columns. The columns make use of an innovative tube-intube system, in which one steel circular

hollow section is placed inside a larger one, with all the voids grouted up after erection. The columns were designed as composite in accordance with Eurocode 4, with the fire resistance undertaken to Eurocode 4.1. The columns not only have a smaller size when compared to the equivalent fire protected steel column but have much higher capacity than similarly sized reinforced concrete elements because of the steel tubes and the high capacity of the concrete confined within the tubes. The columns were delivered to site in two three-storey lengths

Queensberry House, London. Architect: RHWL Structural Engineer: Buro Happold

12 Hot Finished SHS for Multi-storey Columns

323.9 x 6.3 CHS inner tube 457 x 10 CHS outer tube

130 composite rc slab on 203 x 133 x 30 UB

and joined by means of an in-situ concrete joint in the inner tube and by bolting and welding on the outer tube. The floor zone has a total depth of 510 mm and accommodates twin cellular beams placed each side of the columns, with services passing through the beam. In order to save depth, the concrete floor slab, which is directly supported by the secondary beams, is lowered so as to be level with the top of the main cellular beams, rather than being placed on top of it. The top flange of the main beam is fire protected on its upper side.

twin 513 deep cellular beams

Vertical section through cellular beams

grout infill

203 x 203 x 30 UB composite secondary beam

twin 513 deep cellular beams

Horizontal section through typical column showing connection to beam, not showing floor

Plan at typical level

Hot Finished SHS for Multi-storey Columns 13

; ;

40 thick through fin plate

Case Study

Tay House, Glasgow

Strongly modelled elevation for a seven-storey office building

Tay House, Glasgow Architect: Abbey Holford Rowe Structural Engineer: Ove Arup & Partners Scotland

This seven-storey office building is placed in a highly prominent position. The designers have addressed this fact by making the building a reference point on its corner, the hinge between a busy city street and the tangent road for the motorway going South. The facade is layered and given strong relief by the use of external twin tubular columns at each structural bay. This not only allows column-free space inside the building but also breaks down the facade and helps it to match the existing street frontage to one side. A tapered steel beam spans 18.2 m from front to back of the building. Being only 500 mm deep near the facades, but 1000 mm in the centre, there is space for services to run under the beam ends near the cladding line.

The beams are generally not painted but are treated with a vermiculite spray to provide one and a half hours fire resistance. Floor beams are given a pre-camber of 0.3 per cent of their span to allow for live load deflection. The weatherproof facade is made up from a standard cladding system and is built around the ends of the floor beam which penetrates it. It consists of tinted anti-sun glazing with glazed insulation infill panels. The accessways outside which are supported by the floor beams at each level also serve as sunshades. The exterior CHS columns are protected against corrosion by an epoxy paint system which is overpainted with an intumescent paint to provide a nominal one and a half hours fire resistance.

14 SHS Welding

twin 323.9 CHS columns cladding line

;;;;;;;;;; ;;;;;;;;;;
125 concrete composite floor slab 18.2m span tapered floor beam

27 diameter studs passing through bearing and welded to cross-beam 250 x 250 x 16 RHS cross-beam

View on main beam to column connection Vertical section on beam to column connection

twin 323.9 CHS columns

18.2m span tapered floor beam

250 x 250 x 16 RHS cross-beam

Close-up view on entrance

Plan on beam to column connection

Plan at typical floor level

SHS Welding 15

Case Study

Putney Bridge Restaurant

A sparkling addition to the piecemeal development of the cityscape

Putney Bridge Restaurant Architect: Paskin Kyriakides Sands Structural Engineer: Alan Conisbee & Associates

It is a measure of the success of its design that this small restaurant building is already a landmark, a sparkling addition to the piecemeal development of the cityscape. The building provides for customers a sense of enclosure but with good views out across the River Thames. By night, it is transformed into a beacon of light and social activity. The ground floor is clad in precast concrete with marble-like finish, while the first floor, being completely glazed, looks over the river. The first floor and the oversailing roof above it are supported by hollow section columns. At the back of the building, the columns are vertical. Elsewhere, however, the columns are vertical at ground floor level only and, at first floor level and near the entrance, the columns are jauntily raked around the open

glass sides. The vertical columns consist of two 200 x 100 x 6.3 RHS welded together on a hit and miss pattern or, alternatively, a single 250 x 250 x 6.3 RHS. The raking columns are 168.3 x 6.3 CHS and, in general, attach to a series of open trusses, spanning the width of the building. These trusses are made up of steel roundels, 88.9 x 5 mm CHS and 40 mm diameter solid rod and, as well as their unusual appearance, have good torsional stiffness. The suspended first floor is concrete and consists of 150 mm deep precast concrete planks with a 75 mm topping spanning between standard UB or UC steel sections. No fire protection was necessary for the raking columns.

2no 200 x 200 x 6.3 RHS hit and miss welded

75 screed on 150 precast slab supported on UC bottom flange

203 x 203 x 46 UC beam fin plate connection

250 x 250 x 6.3 RHS column

Vertical section at rear column showing connection to beam

16 SHS Welding

Case Study

Tutorial Block, Manchester College of Art & Technology

Design and build, as a method of procurement, is increasingly becoming the first choice for building owners and, in some applications, this threatens to displace traditional methods of building entirely. All-round design standards of buildings with prefabricated components are improving and the speed of construction is unsurpassed, in spite of the infrastructure work that is still required. This teaching block for technology students was largely pre-fabricated off-site. It has a total floor area of 2,368 square metres over four storeys but was completed within a total site time of 26 weeks to meet term dates. The heart of the system is a structural steel frame consisting of 200 x 200 RHS columns and standard 533 deep main beams which in turn support twin 424 x 90 x 3.2 cold formed steel beams carrying the floor. The hollow section columns all have the same outer dimensions but vary in wall thickness through the height of the building, depending on load. The wall cladding consists of prefabricated panels on the inner skin and brickwork or insulated panels on the outer skin. The hollow section columns are fire-protected by plasterboard panels and the beams by enclosure between fire-resistant floor and ceiling constructions.

A four storey technology teaching block built in 26 weeks

Tutorial Block, Manchester College of Arts and Technology. Architect and Engineer: Terrapin Limited

200 x 200 x 10 SHS column with plasterboard fire casing

stub connecting piece welded to column

20mm splice plates with 8 M20 bolts

Vertical section at column position

RHS columns

SHS Welding 17

Case Study

Westside Office Building, Apsley

A two storey commercial building designed to provide a light and airy interior

Westside is a slickly planned and executed office building with low-maintenance finishes, clean surfaces and light and airy interiors in the best traditions of commercial practice. The building is two storeys high with two interior courtyard areas, the larger one being roofed over at first floor level to provide a restaurant area and meeting place. A structural steel frame is used. The columns are all hot-finished steel hollow sections, the perimeter columns being 200 x 200 x 8 RHS and all internal columns 250 x 250 x 8 RHS. At first floor level, 610 mm deep secondary steel tubular lattice trusses span 12 metres from the perimeter columns to the internal column lines; they support a precast concrete floor with topping.

The primary beams are similar trusses of the same depth but span 6 metres. Castellated beams are used in the roof and also as perimeter beams at first floor level. The building is clad with curtain walling from ground to roof, which is supported directly off the columns or from horizontal tie members at roof and first floor level. Steel T section brackets are used with slotted holes at their ends to allow adjustment of the position of the cladding mullions. The steelwork, including columns, was required to have a one hour fire rating; this was generally achieved by use of intumescent paints.

Westside Office Building, Apsley. Architect: Aukett Associates Structural Engineer: Anthony Hunt Associates Client: Royal and Sun Alliance Property

cladding mullion attached to column with adjustable bracket 200 x 200 x 8 RHS column

610 deep tubular truss end plate bolted to plated UC intermediate section

Vertical section through floor at external column

Plan at ground floor

18 Hot Finished SHS for Multi-storey Columns

Case Study

Buttercrane Centre Multi-storey Car Park, Newry

This multi-storey car park has 5 levels in the highest part and is notable for its provision of a floor to floor height of 3.0 m, giving well-lit and safe spaces for users. The height chosen has the further advantage of allowing the use of deep cellular beams which gives column free interior space over the full 15.6m width of the parking area, and good cross-ventilation in the event of fire. The main car park areas are placed each side of a row of columns along the central spine. The steel columns support 690 x 229/191 asymmetric cellular steel beams at 4.8 m centres which act compositely with a concrete slab. All the interior columns along the central spine are 355.6 CHS columns spaced at 4.8m centres to support the floor beams on each side. The CHS columns occupy minimum volume, are without obtrusions and have good resistance to vehicular impact. In this case, it was not considered necessary to increase the impact resistance of the hollow sections by concrete filling. The CHS columns were supplied in single lengths and did not need to be tied together at the top in the temporary condition. The car park has a floor area of 12,300 sq metres and was built in a period of 30 weeks. The total weight of steel used averaged 40 kg per sq metre of floor area.

A five level well-lit multi-storey Car Park

Buttercrane Centre Multi-storey Car Park, Newry Architect and Structural Engineer: WDR & RT Taggart

Buttercrane Centre Multi-storey Car Park, Newry

355.6 x 12.5 CHS column

115mm concrete topping on 50mm precast concrete plate

693 x 229 cellular beam with shear studs

500 x 150 x 15 fin plate connection

Vertical section through floor at internal column

Hot Finished SHS for Multi-storey Columns 19

Connections
Hollow section structures, whether simple elements or complete welded assemblies, have a slenderness and clarity of line that is unsurpassed. Welded joints, usually undertaken in a steelwork fabrication shop, allow a continuity to be achieved between the lines of the different CHS or RHS elements which are joined together. The complement to this is the bolted connection, almost always part of the site operation, and this has its own vocabulary, which provides a means of achieving elegant connections on site. A selection of some of the most common types of bolted connections are presented on the following pages. The most common arrangements for beam to column joints make use of bolted connections via attachments welded to the faces of the hollow section column. By far the most common connection of this type is the fin plate connection, using a flat plate welded to each column face. For RHS columns, an alternative is the web cleat connection, using single angle sections or T-sections welded to the column face. The use of double angles is a further option and provides greater capacity than a single angle would. An increasingly popular option for CHS or RHS columns is the use of the reverse channel connection. The above connection types can all be classed as simple connections. Of these the most economic is the fin plate connection or the web cleat connection using a single angle. Simple steel connections using flexible end plates or double angle cleats, which are bolted direct to the column, are also possible with RHS columns. These joints use either expanding bolt types, such as Hollobolt, or fully threaded bolts in tapped holes produced by the Flowdrill system. Rigid or semi-rigid moment connections are feasible with all types of hollow section column. These may use flange plates or beam stubs, which are usually of the same section as the beam being connected. Through-plated connections are another popular type of moment connection. This is similar in appearance to the fin plate connection but has slots in the column to allow a single plate to be taken thorough it. In almost all cases moment connections are more expensive than simple connections but the extra cost of the connection can be more than offset by savings in beam sizes or by provision of more usable floor space. Connection details can be applied to both unfilled and composite concrete filled hollow section columns. For all these, except Flowdrill or Hollobolt connections, the filling can be in-situ or pre-filled off-site. The latter will give the shortest construction times.

20 Hot Finished SHS for Multi-storey Columns

Hot Finished SHS for Multi-storey Columns 21

Beam to Column Connections

Simple Connections Simple connections are normally assumed to give vertical support but to provide only limited restraint against rotation. The connections are assumed to be able to rotate without damage. Reverse channel connection Section through floor with steel beams connected to CHS columns by a channel fixing; a standard flexible end plate is normal at the beam end which then develops only nominal moments. A similar detail is used for RHS columns.

Web cleat connection Section through floor with secondary and primary beams which are connected to RHS columns by a T-section web cleat; this connection has greater stiffness and robustness than the equivalent fin plate connection.

Fin plate/Shear tab connection Section through composite deck floor with steel beam connected to RHS or CHS column by a finplate; a very economic and ductile joint; a seating cleat may be used to help erection, for removal afterwards if required.

Hollobolt or Flowdrill connection Section through floor with steel beam connected to face of RHS column by Hollobolts or fully threaded bolts in Flowdrill holes; only nominal moments develop with flush or partial depth flexible end plates; thicker plates can develop between 10 to 15 per cent of beam capacity.

22 Hot Finished SHS for Multi-storey Columns

Moment Connections Connections which are assumed to give vertical support and to provide a degree of restraint against rotation and to develop some moment capacity.

Composite beam moment connection Section through floor with composite beam connected to RHS or CHS columns by fin plates and bottom flange plate to provide continuous or semi-continuous joints; the top reinforcement in the concrete slab is designed to provide the other arm of the moment couple.

Steel beam moment connection Section through floor with secondary steel beams on top of primary beams which are connected to RHS or CHS columns by fin plates and flange plates to provide continuous or semi-continuous joints.

Stub connection Section through floor with stub beam sections welded to face of RHS columns; moment capacity usually limited by yielding of column face; large moments require internal diaphragms or external flange plates.

Through-plate connection Section through floor with through-plate passed through slots and welded to each face of RHS or CHS column; the through plate connection allows significant axial forces and bending moments to be transferred from the beam, if this is required.

Hot Finished SHS for Multi-storey Columns 23

Shearhead Connections to Slabs

Shearhead Connections Connections providing shear and moment transfer between concrete flat slabs and steel RHS or CHS columns Centre stub shearhead Section through concrete flat slab floor with column stubs welded to RHS or CHS columns; stiffening collar is required around the column where there are large moments from unbalanced loads.

Grid shearhead Section through concrete flat slab floor with grid welded to faces of RHS columns; the connection is designed for transfer of tensile and compressive forces from slab to shearhead elements.

Baseplate Connections
Baseplate with loose bolts Section through base with cast-in bolts in boxes; bolts loosened soon after concrete has set; underside of base and bolt boxes are grouted after baseplate is packed up and column is plumb.

24 Hot Finished SHS for Multi-storey Columns

Column Splice Connections

Column Splice Connections Flange plate connection Section through floor with flange plates on RHS or CHS columns cast into concrete slab. The bottom plate has projecting studs welded to it; for flange plates connected above the slab, in a raised floor space, a normal bolting arrangement may be used. In general the flange plate connection provides transfer of axial forces but only limited moment transfer.

Welded splice connection Elevation on RHS column with weld backing strip and angle brackets for erection; brackets are removed after some welding completed; backing strip also used as alignment spigot. For CHS Columns, vertical plates are used instead of brackets.

Welded splice connection with long bolts The use of long bolts with double nuts permits accurate alignment of the SHS and backing material before site welding.

Note: When adopting concrete filled columns special details for splice flange plates and column cap plates are required see British Steel Tubes & Pipes brochure Design Manual for SHS Concrete Filled Columns TD 296.

Hot Finished SHS for Multi-storey Columns 25

Structural Design
The choice of design options available to the engineer when hollow sections are used is unique. Not only is there an unparalleled range of section sizes to choose from, there are also options to increase the capacity of the column by composite action with a concrete infill. Yet a further option exists for the infill to be reinforced or left unreinforced. Combination of options means that these options are available for use on the same project. Composite columns can be used on the lower, highly loaded columns, with unfilled columns being used in the upper storeys. Substantial cost savings have been shown to be possible following tests in which composite concrete filled hollow section columns were coated with intumescent paint. The results indicated that significant reductions were feasible in the weight of intumescent paint specified.

26 Hot Finished SHS for Multi-storey Columns

Options 1

Options 2

Options 3
Roof

Column Design Options Three basic design options are possible for column design of SHS in multi-storey buildings: Option 1 Columns are designed on a floor by floor basis or by grouping two or three storeys together. The lightest steel section is selected for each column lift. This option produces the minimum weight column with sizes reducing through the height of the building. Option 2 Columns are designed on a floor by floor basis or by grouping two or three storeys together but have constant external dimensions throughout the height of the building. The column at the lowest level is designed for the least weight solution and it is the external dimensions of this section that are used for all other sections at higher levels. At the higher levels, the wall thickness of the hollow sections are progressively reduced. Option 3 Columns are designed on a floor by floor basis or by grouping two or three storeys together and have constant external dimensions throughout the height of the building, but the type of column selected is optimised for all the columns over the height of the building, rather than just the ground floor, as in Option 2. Generally this means that the ground floor column is smaller and thicker than that in Option 2 but the column serial size chosen allows the overall weight of columns to be reduced.

6th 168.3 x 8.0 323.9 x 6.3 193.7 x 8.0

5th

4th

193.7 x 10.0

193.7 x 10.0

323.9 x 6.3

3rd

2nd

193.7 x 16.0

323.9 x 8.0

323.9 x 8.0

1st

1104 kg

1310 kg

1213 kg

Column weight

CHS columns filled with concrete off-site

RHS columns filled with concrete on site

Hot Finished SHS for Multi-storey Columns 27

Fire Resistance
All fire resistance options that are commonly available for steel sections are also available for SHS columns. However hollow sections allow additional methods for fire protection including concrete or water filling. The following paragraphs summarise the main options available for the fire protection of SHS columns. It should be noted that the choice of protection system can have a significant effect on the final column cost.

EXTERNALLY PROTECTED COLUMNS Unfilled Hollow Section Columns A wide range of options are available including protection of the SHS columns by plasterboard, traditionally one of the cheaper methods, or by use of cementitious sprays, intumescent coatings or preformed casings, including the use of tube-in-tube systems. In all cases, the fire-protected SHS columns will have the minimum area compared to all other similarly loaded columns in other materials. Composite Concrete Filled Hollow Section Columns A composite column consisting of the hollow section with structural grade concrete filling can be designed very simply. In the first instance, the column is checked for room temperature loadings. The fire resistance is then checked and, if required, an external protection system added. This method has been found to give economic solutions as it both minimises the wall thickness of the tube, because of the presence of the concrete, and as shown in recent fire tests, gives a reduction in the external protection system markedly below that of the unfilled section. Load ratio design methods can be used to check that the limiting temperatures are not exceeded for the particular construction chosen.

Internal steelwork

Externally protected

Unfilled

Concrete filled

28 Hot Finished SHS for Multi-storey Columns

INTERNALLY PROTECTED COLUMNS Plain or Bar Reinforced Concrete Filled Hollow Sections Internal protection enables steel hollow section columns to be used without any fire protection whatever. In a fire, after approximately 30 minutes, the steel shell becomes unserviceable and sheds its load to the concrete. The core is then designed to carry the whole of the load at the fire limit state. Plain concrete is suitable for mainly axially loaded columns. Bar reinforced concrete is required for columns with significant moments. In both cases, as the concrete is the principle load-carrying element in fire, the resultant columns are bigger if internal, rather than external protection is chosen. Comparison of Column Sizes The following table provides a guide to the practical effects of the different fire design methods. It compares columns designed for either external or internal fire protection, all carrying the same load and with a one hour fire rating.
Externally Protected
Unfilled Board Protected Composite Concrete Filled intumescent coated

Internally Protected
Non composite plain concrete filled Non composite bar reinforced concrete filled

230sq

200sq

180sq

400sq

300sq

Table comparing sizes of RHS columns for various options; the Externally Protected columns are assumed to act compositely in a fire; the Internally Protected columns are not assumed to work compositely in a fire.

Fire Design Paths for hollow sections

External steelwork

Internally protected

Concrete filled

Water filled

Hot Finished SHS for Multi-storey Columns 29

Cost Comparisons
SHS column costs SHS columns offer a competitive first cost solution for columns in multi-storey buildings, a position established from the results of a cost comparison based on a typical internal column in a 7 storey building. The comparison looked at a completed, fire protected column with a one hour fire rating, and established the relative cost difference between hollow section columns and other steel sections. The study also highlighted that comparison costs for the steel only solution may result in a false economy. THE STUDY MADE THE FOLLOWING ASSUMPTIONS: Steelwork The study compared options for a typical 7-storey internal column carrying a loading of 6 kN/m2 on a grid layout of 7.2 metres by 6 metres. The study looked at floor arrangements both where primary and secondary beams were used and where only primary beams were used. All three column design options referenced in the previous Structural Design section were used in combination with the fire protection given in the table on page 31. Where possible steel of grade S355 was used as, in general, this gives the most economical solution for structural steelwork. The costs used, to include supply, delivery and erection, were 975 per tonne for UC columns of grade S355, 1,350 per tonne for SHS columns of grade S275 and 1,400 per tonne for SHS columns of grade S355. Concrete The following costs were assumed for the concrete filling material for both composite and non-composite design. Non-composite design is used for internally protected concrete filled columns. The costs used, to include for supply, delivery and placing, were 158 per cubic metre for plain concrete and 266 per cubic metre for bar reinforced concrete. Fire Protection In the case of internal protection, plain or bar reinforced concrete is assumed. In the case of external protection, fire resistant boards were assumed for non-circular columns, such as UC and RHS sections, with intumescent paint used for both CHS and RHS columns. Recent research has indicated that significant savings can be had by using intumescent paint on composite columns as shown in the table below. The fire resistant boards were assumed to be British Gypsum 15 mm Glasroc S, supplied and fixed at 19.50 per square metre. The intumescent paint was assumed to be Nullifire S605 ENOB applied off-site at 10.7 per square metre for 400 m thickness, 15.9 for 750 m thickness, 21.0 for 900 m thickness and 27.0 for 1300 m thickness.

Nullifire S605 Coating thickness m for concrete filled CHS Typical Column 168.3 x 8.0 193.7 x 10.0 244.3 x 6.3 323.9 x 8.0 Previous 2,250 1,550 3,450 2,250 Revised 900 600 750 400

Table indicating reductions in thickness of intumescent paint for fire protection that have been made possible by recent tests.

30 Hot Finished SHS for Multi-storey Columns

CHS

Fire Protection Options External board Intumescent Paint Internal Concrete filling

Column Options

UC Unfilled 100 100 100 111 159 111

Circular Hollow Sections Composite 88 113 97 Plain concrete 134 186 186 Bar Reinforced concrete 88 107 107

Option 1 Option 2 Option 3

RHS

Fire Protection Options External board External board Intumescent Paint Internal Concrete filling

Column Options

UC Unfilled 100 100 100 108 111 111

Rectangular Hollow Sections Composite 92 121 100 Composite 90 115 102 Plain concrete 163 231 231 Bar Reinforced concrete 113 123 123

Option 1 Option 2 Option 3

Above Tables: comparing relative costs of typical internal column after fire protection; the table compares costs of UC, CHS and RHS columns for various methods of fire protection.

Hot Finished SHS for Multi-storey Columns 31

Bibliography
1. British Steel Tubes & Pipes: Design of SHS Welded Joints: BS5950 and ENV1993-1-1-Annex K TD393 British Steel Tubes & Pipes: SHS Welding TD394 British Steel Tubes & Pipes: Fire resisant design: A guide to evaluation of structural hollow sections using BS5950 Part8 TD408 & TD409 British Steel Tubes & Pipes: Intumescent coatings & SHS concrete filled columns TD410 British Steel Tubes & Pipes: Design manual for SHS concrete filled columns: Part 1 Structural Design; Part 2 Fire Resistant Design TD296 British Steel Tubes & Pipes: SHS Design to BS5950 Part 1 TD365 British Steel Sections, Plates and Commercial Steels: Fire resistant design of Structural Steelwork - Information sheets M01-M09

2. 3.

4.

5.

6. 7.

*8. CIDECT: Structural stability of hollow sections Verlag TUV 1996 *9. CIDECT: Design guide for structural hollow section columns exposed to fire Verlag TUV 1996 *10. CIDECT: Design guide for concrete filled hollow section columns under static and seismic loading Verlag TUV 1995 *11. CIDECT: Design guide for fabrication, assembly and erection of hollow section structures Verlag TUV 1998 12. Steel Construction Institute: Composite column design to Eurocode 4 SCI publication142 1994 13. Steel Construction Institute: Joints in steel construction - Composite connections SCI publication 213 1998 14. Steel Construction Institute: Joints in simple construction - Volumes 1 & 2 SCI publications P205 & P206 1993 15. Tubular Structures VII: Proceedings of the sixth international symposium on tubular structures A A Balkema 1996 16. Tubular Structures VIII: Proceedings of the seventh international symposium on tubular structures A A Balkema 1998 17. Ove Arup & Partners: Composite hollow steel tubular columns filled using high strength concrete Dept. of the Environment 1995 18. Association for International Cooperation and Research in Steel-Concrete Composite Structures: Concrete filled columns - A comparison of international codes and practices: International conference on composite construction - September 1997 19. L H Lu: The static strength of I-beam to rectangular hollow section column connections Delft University Press 1997 * CIDECT design publications are available from the Steel Construction Institute

Note: Further information on Structural Hollow Sections is available on Tubes & Pipes Technical Data CD-Rom or contact us on our freephone technical helpline 0500 123 133

32 Hot Finished SHS for Multi-storey Columns

Tubes & Pipes PO Box 101 Weldon Road Corby Northants NN17 5UA Tel +44 (0)1536 402121 Fax +44 (0)1536 404111 Freephone Technical Helpline 0500 123133 Website www.britishsteel.co.uk

PLEASE NOTE Care has been taken to ensure that the contents of this publication are accurate, but British Steel plc and its subsidiary companies do not accept responsibility for errors or for information which is found to be misleading. Suggestions for or descriptions of the end use or application of products or methods of

working are for information only and British Steel plc and its subsidiaries accept no liability in respect thereof. Before using products supplied or manufactured by British Steel plc the customer should satisfy himself of their suitability.

TD416/15E/99
revised 02/2003