ABeginner'sGuidetotheStructuralEngineering

BasicDesignConcepts
2006,2008T.BartlettQuimby

Introduction
toDesign
Theory

SectionDC.5

ASDvsLRFD

Design
Objectives

LastRevised:11/04/2014

LimitState Whendesigninginsteelandtimber,thereischoiceofdesignphilosophiesthatneedsto
Concepts bemade.Inconcretetheonlydesignphilosophyinextensiveuseisstrengthbased
(LRFD).
Searchingfor
theBest Steel
Design
Beforegettingtoodeepintothissection,itwouldbewiseforyourtoread
theAISCSteelConstructionManual(SCM)sectionsdescribingtheLoadand
ASDvsLRFD
ResistanceFactorDesignandAllowableStrengthDesignphilosophiesaswell
asthesectiononDesignFundamentals.Thesearefoundonpagesof26
and27oftheSCM.
Loadsand

Their
Combinations
Example
Problems
Homework
Problems
References
ReportErrors
orMake
Suggestions
Make
Donation

UntilAISCintroducedtheLoadandResistanceFactorDesign(LRFD)
specificationin1986,thedesignofsteelstructureswasbasedsolelyon
AllowableStressDesign(ASD)methodologies.TheshifttoLRFDhasnot
beenreadilyembracedbytheprofessioneventhoughalmostalluniversities
shiftedtoteachingtheLRFDspecificationwithintenyearsofits
introduction.Itsseemsthattherewasnotaperceivedneedbythe
professiontochangemethodologieseventhoughtherewasampleevidence
thatLRFDproducedstructureswithamoreconsistentfactorofsafety.
Timber
LRFDisrelativelynewtotimber.ItwasexplicitlyincludedwithASDinthe
NationalDesignSpecificationwiththelatesteditionofthespecification.
Concrete
Becauseofthecomplexitiesofanalyzingcompositesectionsusingworking
stressmethod,themuchsimplerstrengthapproachwaseasilyadoptedwith
itwasfirstintroduced.Thestrengthbased(LRFD)methodhasbeeninuse
intheconcretespecificationACI318sincethe1970s.
Thereweretwomajordifferencesbetweenthetwospecifications:
1.Thecomparisonofloadstoeitheractualorultimatestrengthsand
2.adifferenceineffectivefactorsofsafety.
Actualvs.UltimateStrength
Thefirstdifference
betweenASDand
LRFD,historically,
hasbeenthatthe

FigureDC.5.1
ComparisonofLRFD/ASDCapacities
OnaLoadvs.DisplacementDiagram

oldAllowable
StressDesign
comparedactualand
allowablestresses
whileLRFD
comparesrequired
strengthtoactual
strengths.The
differencebetween
lookingatstrengths
vs.stressesdoesnot
presentmuchofa
problemsincethe
differenceis
normallyjust
multiplyingor
dividingbothsides
ofthelimitstate
Rn/W=ASDCapacity
inequalitiesbya
sectionproperty,
fRn=LRFDCapacity
dependingonwhich
Rn=NominalCapacity
wayyouaregoing.
Infact,thenewAISCAllowableStrengthDesign(ASD),whichreplacestheold
allowablestressdesign,hasnowswitchedtheoldstressbasedterminologytoa
strengthbasedterminology,virtuallyeliminatingthisdifferencebetweenthe
philosophies.
FigureDC.5.1illustratesthememberstrengthlevelscomputedbythetwomethodson
atypicalmildsteelloadvs.deformationdiagram.Thecombinedforcelevels(Pa,Ma,
Va)forASDaretypicallykeptbelowtheyieldloadforthememberbycomputing
memberloadcapacityasthenominalstrength,Rn,dividedbyafactorofsafety,W,
thatreducesthecapacitytoapointbelowyielding.ForLRFD,thecombinedforce
levels(Pu,Mu,Vu)arekeptbelowacomputedmemberloadcapacitythatistheproduct
ofthenominalstrength,Rn,timesaresistancefactor,f.
Whenconsideringmemberstrengths,wealwayswanttokeepourfinaldesign'sactual
loadsbelowyieldingsoastopreventpermanentdeformationsinourstructure.
Consequently,iftheLRFDapproachisused,thenloadfactorsgreaterthan1.0must
beappliedtotheappliedloadstoexpressthemintermsthataresafelycomparableto
theultimatestrengthlevels.Thisisaccomplishedintheloadcombinationequations
thatconsidertheprobabilitiesassociatedwithsimultaneousoccurrenceofdifferent
typesofloads.
Fixedvs.VariableFactorsofSafety
Thesecondmajordifferencebetweenthetwomethodsisthemannerinwhichthe
relationshipbetweenappliedloadsandmembercapacitiesarehandled.TheLRFD
specificationaccountsseparatelyforthepredictabilityofappliedloadsthroughtheuse
ofloadfactorsappliedtotherequiredstrengthsideofthelimitstateinequalitiesand
formaterialandconstructionvariabilitiesthroughresistancefactorsonthenominal
strengthsideofthelimitstateinequality.TheASDspecificationcombinesthetwo
factorsintoasinglefactorofsafety.Bybreakingthefactorofsafetyapartintothe
independentloadandresistancefactors(asdoneintheLRFDapproach)amore
consistenteffectivefactorofsafetyisobtainedandcanresultinsaferorlighter
structures,dependingonthepredictabilityoftheloadtypesbeingused.

LoadCombinationComputations
ThebasisforstructuralloadcomputationsintheUnitedStatesisadocumentknownas
ASCE7:MinimumDesignLoadsforBuildings&OtherStructures.(SeeABeginner's
GuidetoASCE705fordetaileddiscussionaboutthisdocument.)Typically,eachload
type(i.e.dead,live,snow,wind,etc)areexpressedintermsoftheirserviceload
levels.Theoneexceptiontothisisearthquakeloads,whichareexpressedatstrength
levels.Theindividualloadsarethencombinedusingloadcombinationequationsthat
considertheprobabilityofsimultaneouslyoccurringloads.Theresultingcombined
loadsandloadeffectsfromLRFDcombinationsequationsaregivensubscriptof"u".A
subscriptof"a"isusedtoindicatealoadresultfromanASDloadcombination.
Particulartothistext,asubscriptof"s,equiv"isusedtorepresenttheresultofaload
combinationthatisthesimplealgebraicsumofalltheindividualloadcomponents.
LoadfactorsareappliedascoefficientsintheloadcombinationequationsforbothASD
andLRFD.Theresistancefactorisdenotedwiththesymbolf,andthefactorsofsafety
withthesymbolW.We'llseehowtheyareappliedbelow.
Theotherissuethatseemstobeconceptuallychallengingformanyengineersisthat,
sinceLRFDlooksatthestrengthofmembers(i.e.theloadsthatcausefailure)the
"applied"loadsare"fictitiously"increasedbyaloadfactorssothattheycanbesafely
comparedwiththeultimatestrengthsofthemembers.Throughoutthesenotesand
thespecificationloadsthathavehadLRFDloadfactorsapplied(andarehigherthan
theywillactuallybe)arecalledULTIMATEorFACTOREDloads.ASDloadsthatare
theresultofASDloadcombinationequationsarealsoFACTOREDloads.Loadsattheir
actuallevelsarereferredtoasSERVICEloads.
ComparingLRFDandASDLoads
UltimateorfactoredloadsCANNOTbedirectlycomparedwithserviceloads.Eitherthe
serviceloadsmustbefactoredortheultimateloadsmustbeunfactorediftheyareto
becompared.Thisgetsevenmorecomplicatedwhenyouconsidertheeffectonload
combinationequations.Onemethodforcomparingloadsistocomputeacomposite
loadfactor(CLF)thatistheratioofloadcombinationresult(PuorPa)tothealgebraic
sumoftheindividualloadcomponents(Ps,equivorPs,eq).Theloadcombinationwith
thelowestCLFisthecriticalloadcombination.ThecomputationofCLFisshownin
TableDC.5.1.
TableDC.5.1
CompositeLoadFactors

LRFD

ASD

Pu=Ps,equiv*CLFLRFD

Pa=Ps,equiv*CLFASD

CLFLRFD=Pu/Ps,equiv

CLFASD=Pu/Ps,equiv

Where:
Ps,equivisthealgebraicsumofalltheserviceloadcomponents(i.e.Ps,equiv=D
+L+....)and
CLFistheCompositeLoadFactorforeachcase.
Examplesofthisaregiveninthenextsectiononloadcombinationssinceitisinthe
loadcombinationequationswheretheloadfactorsareapplied.

Puttingitalltogether,thegeneralformofthelimitstateinequalitiescaneachbe
expressedthreeways.TableDC.5.2showshowthisisdoneforLRFDandASDforfour
commonstrengthlimitstates.Notethateachequationisequivalent.
TableDC.5.2
LimitStateExpressions

LRFD

ASD

AxialForce

Pu<fPn
Req'dPn=Pu/f<Pn
Pu/fPn<1.00

Pa<Pn/W
Req'dPn=PaW<Pn
PaW/Pn<1.00

BendingMoment

Mu<fMn
Req'dMn=Mu/f<Mn
Mu/fMn<1.00

Ma<Mn/W
Req'dMn=MaW<Mn
MaW/Mn<1.00

ShearForce

Vu<fVn
Req'dVn=Vu/f<Vn
Vu/fVn<1.00

Va<Vn/W
Req'dVn=VaW<Vn
VaW/Vn<1.00

Reaction/Resistance

Ru<fRn
Req'dRn=Ru/f<Rn
Ru/fRn<1.00

Ra<Rn/W
Req'dRn=RaW<Rn
RaW/Rn<1.00

Thechoiceofformisdependentonwhatyouaretryingtodo.Thiswillbecome
evidentasthelimitstatesareexplainedanddemonstratedthroughoutthistext.In
general,thesecondform(Req'dnominaleffect<actualnominalstrength)isuseful
whenyouareselecting(ordesigning)memberforaparticularapplication.Theother
twoformsareusefulwhenanalyzingthecapacityofaparticularmember.
LRFDEffectiveFactorofSafety
Anotherapproachtocomparingthetwomethodsistocomputeaneffectivefactorof
safetyfortheLRFDmethodthatcanbecomparedwiththeASDfactorsofsafety.This
involvescombiningtheloadandresistancefactors.
LetustaketheaxialforcelimitstatetoconductacomparativeexamplebetweenASD
andLRFD.Youcandividethroughbytheloadfactorstogetanequivalentfactorof
safety:
LRFD:Ps,equiv<Pn(f/CLFLRFD)=Pn/Weff
WheretheLRFDequivalentfactorofsafetyisthetermWeff=(f/CLFLRFD).fisa
constant.Thecompositeloadfactor,CLF=Pu/(Ps,equiv),varieswiththerelative
magnitudesofthedifferenttypesofloads.Theresultisavariablefactorofsafetyfor
LRFD.InASDthisfactorofsafetyistakenasaconstant.
ItcanbearguedthatthevariableLRFDWeffismoreconsistentwiththeprobabilities
associatedwithdesign.Theresultisthatstructureswithhighlypredictableloadings
(i.e.predominatelydeadload)theLRFDWeffislowerthantheASDWwhichresultsin
apotentiallylighterstructure.Forstructuressubjectedtohighlyunpredictableloads
(live,wind,andseismicloadsforexample)theLRFDWeffishigherthantheASDW
whichresultsinstrongerstructures.TheLRFDargumentisthatASDisoverly

conservativeforstructureswithpredicableloadsandnonconservativeforthosesubject
tolesspredictableloads.
UseofASDandLRFD
Finally,youshouldbeawarethatyoumustselectoneortheotherofthedesign
philosophieswhenyoudesignastructure.Youcannotswitchbetweenthetwo
philosophiesinagivenproject!InthistextweusebothASDandLRFDsothatyou
canbeconversantinbothbutthisisnotthestandardinpractice.