11 Braced multi-storey buildings – bracing and other members

11.1 Introduction
This Section describes the design of bracing and other members that are subject to compression
or tension only, and bending combined with compression or tension.
The slenderness λ obtained by dividing the effective length LE by the radius of gyration
about the relevant axis should be limited to a reasonable value to allow practical detailing, for
general robustness and for handling and erection. Whilst not a requirement of BS 5950-1:20001,
in the absence of better information the following limits may be applied:
• for members resisting loads other than wind loads 180
• for members resisting self-weight and wind loads only 250
• for any member normally acting as a tie but subject to
reversal of stress resulting from the action of the wind 350

11.2 Bracing members in compression only

For members in compression only, the compressive resistance Pc should be obtained in
accordance with the design procedure in Section 10.4.2. For discontinuous struts composed of
angles, channels or T-sections, the eccentricities arising from the connections may be ignored, and
members shown in Table 15 may be designed as axially loaded only.
The slenderness should be obtained from Table 15, where the length L should be taken as
the distance between the intersection of centroidal axes or the intersections of the setting out lines
of the bolts, and r is the radius of gyration about the relevant axis defined in Table 15.
It should be noted that Table D3 in Appendix D should be used to obtain pc for rolled
angles, channels, T-sections and laced and battened sections.

11.3 Bracing members in compression and bending with moments other than
those due to connection eccentricities
Members in combined bending and compression should be designed in accordance with the
procedure in Section 10.5. For sections other than angles and T-sections the section should be
chosen as indicated in Section 10.3 in order to avoid the use of slender elements. For angles and
T-sections, the section should be chosen such that:
• for angles, b/t and d/t G 15ε and (b+d)/t G 24ε
• for T-sections, b/T G 15ε and D/t G 18ε

; 275 E 0.5
where f = py

11.4 Bracing members in tension only

The tension capacity of a member should be calculated from
Pt = Ae py
where Ae is the effective area of the section but not more than 1.2 x the total net area An
py is the design strength obtained from Table 2 according to the grade of steel and
thickness of the flange.

IStructE/ICE Manual for the design of steelwork building structures 3rd edition 61