You are here: Home / Future students / Course search

Foundations of Steel Structures 1

CIVL5508

This unit of study is concerned with the behaviour and design of steel structures. Statics provided the fundamentals of equilibrium upon which most structural engineering is based. Structural Concepts and Structural Analysis provided information on the loads (actions) on a structure and how structures resist these actions with a resulting distribution of internal actions (bending moments, shear forces, axial forces; BMDs, SFDs and AFDs). Structural Mechanics considered how these internal actions resulted in stresses and strains in members. Materials considered the microscopic and molecular structure of metals to determine its inherent mechanical properties such as yield stress. This unit of study will then combine the knowledge of stresses, material properties of steel, structural analysis, and loading, and consider new concepts and modes of failure, such as local and flexural torsional buckling, combined actions and second-order effects to understand the behaviour of steel members and frames, and how this behaviour is accounted for in the design standard AS 4100. Both the units of study Steel Structures 1 and Concrete Structures 1 can be considered the culmination of the various elements of structural engineering begun in Engineering Mechanics in first year, and is further developed in Civil Engineering Design in final year. More advanced topics, such as plate behaviour, advanced buckling and connection design, are considered in the final year elective subject Steel Structures 2. It is recognised that not all students intend to become consulting structural engineers. The unit of study is designed so that students who make an effort to understand the concepts are most capable of passing. Students who are planning a career in the consulting structural engineering profession should be aiming at achieving a Distinction grade or higher.

Unit of study details

Unit of study level: Postgraduate

Credit points: 6

Commencing semesters: 2

Further unit of study information

Unit of study handbook: CIVL5508

Costs and scholarships information: Costs and Scholarships

Final dates to withdraw from units of study: Census Dates

Available for study abroad and exchange: No

Our courses that offer this unit of study