ABSTRACT
Structural design is an all-embracing term, which is used to cover general aspects of the subject, for example the choice of a particular structural form and a particular material, through the series of increasingly narrower decisions that leads eventually to points of detail such as the size of bolt required in a particular connection. Progress through each of these stages usually involves treating the problem in an increasingly quantitative manner. Although this book is concerned largely with the more detailed end of the process as it applies to steel structures, the material of this chapter should provide the reader with a taste of the wider aspects of the subject. Since BS 5950 is written principally, but not exclusively, with steel building structures in mind, the text concentrates on examples drawn from that area. Readers wishing to gain a wider appreciation of steel structures should therefore consult some of the references given in the Bibliography at the end of this chapter.
