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Mechanical and Structural Engineering Civil and Mechanical Engineering Civil Engineering and Construction Concrete and Cem

What is the difference between working stress method and

limit state method in the design of beams, slabs, columns,
and footing with examples that are easy to understand?

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12 ANSWERS

Ayush Singhania, MS Structural Engineering, Stanford University (2018)

Written Jan 30, 2015

The cardinal difference between Working state method (WSM) and Limit State method (LSM) is: WSM is
an elastic design method whereas LSM is a plastic design method.

In elastic design, i.e. WSM, the design strength is calculated such that the stress in material is
restrained to its yield limit, under which the material follows Hooke's law, and hence the term "elastic"
is used. This method yields to uneconomical design of simple beam, or other structural elements where
the design governing criteria is stress (static). However, in case of shift of governing criteria to other
factors such as fatigue stress, both the methods will give similar design. Also, WSM substantially
reduces the calculation efforts.

Now coming to plastic design, i.e. LSM, as the name suggests, the stress in material is allowed to go
beyond the yield limit and enter into the plastic zone to reach ultimate strength. Hence the "moment-
rotation" capacity of beam, for example, is utilized making the design more economical. However, due
to the utilization of the non-linear zone this method involves arduous calculation.

All other differences are mostly derived from the above stated fundamental difference along with few
general differences. Some of these differences are stated below:
1) Serviceability check in case of LSM is required because after the elastic region strain is higher, which
results in more deformation, hence a check is necessary.
2) LSM is strain based method whereas WSM is stress based method.
3) LSM is non-deterministic method whereas WSM is deterministic approach.
4) Partial safety factor is used in LSM whereas Safety factor is used in WSM.
5) Characteristic values (derived from probabilistic approach) are used in case of LSM whereas Average
or statistic values are used in WSM.

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OTHER ANSWERS

Kalyan Srinivas, TATA CONSULTING ENGINEERS LTD.

Written Jul 29, 2016

WORKING STRESS METHOD: It’s a traditional method used for reinforced concrete design where
concrete is assumed as elastic, steel and concrete act together elastically where the relation ship
between loads and stresses is linear.

ASSUMPTIONS:

1. A Section which is plane before bending remain plane after bending ( based on theory of
bending, Bernoulli’s equation).

2. Bond between steel and concrete is perfect with in elastic limit of steel.

3. All tensile stresses are taken by reinforcement and none by concrete, except as otherwise
specifically permitted.

4. The stress-strain relation ship of steel and concrete under working loads , is a straight line i.e
modulus of elasticity is constant.

5. The modular ration ‘m’ has the value (280/sigmacbc), where (sigmacbc) is the permissible
compressive stress due to bending in concrete in N/mm2.

LIMIT STATE METHOD: It’s a method of designing structures based on concept of safety and its
probability of safety. Here in addition to ultimate load approach addition serviceability is also given
importance. Limit state is a condition just before collapse. A structure designed by limit state should
give proper strength and serviceability through out its life

ASSUMPTIONS:

1. Plane section normal to the axis of the member remain plane after bending.

2. The tensile strength of concrete is ignored.

3. The maximum strain in concrete at the outer most compression fiber is 0.0035

4. The compressive stress strain curve may be assumed to be rectangular,trapezoidal , parabola ,

or any other shapes results in the prediction of strength in substantial agreements with results
of tests

PRINCIPLE LIMIT STATES:

Limit state of collapse——— FLEXURE,COMPRESSION,SHEAR,TORSION
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Limit state of serviceability——— DEFLECTION,CRACKING,VIBRATION.

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Sumanth Reddy, worked at Structural Engineering

Written Jan 28, 2015

I'll try to put this in as simple terms as possible. Isaac Gaetz's answer is much more accurate though.

The basic concept of design is pretty simple - Capacity > Demand. Any method of design has to follow
the same principle. Be it ASD/LRFD/Performance-based, every design method relies on this principle.

It is, however, not so easy to determine each side of that equation, especially in civil engineering.

For the estimation of capacity, a sound understanding of the mechanics of materials and their relation
to properties of materials in use is essential. Unfortunately for us, concrete / wood is not the most
homogenous of the materials and thus we are forced to make several assumptions about its behavior
during the design. This could lead to overestimation of capacity which is certainly not desired.

In the estimation of demand, we face a similar problem, primarily in calculating the loads and several
assumptions in behavior through solid mechanics, which could lead to underestimation of the
demand. This case is also not a desired one.

To deal with the above-mentioned issues, each method takes a different approach. ASD, for example,
does nothing to the loads acting on the structure. It contributes some factors on the material side of the
equation while LRFD uses factored loads instead of the actual ones acting.

Both these issues address the uncertainty in their own ways and they are both accepted. They also have
different advantages when used with different materials.

The backdrop is, in the interest of safety and conservatism, we are overestimating the requirements and
thus are spending more than what we need to.

This is where new methods of design like Performance-based design are filling the gaps through
adoption of better analysis using loads and using better statistically approved material characteristics
for a more accurate and self-sufficient design.

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Sandeep Mane Patil, Student-Civil Engineering

Written Aug 22, 2016

WORKING STRESS METHOD: It’s a traditional method used for reinforced concrete design where
concrete is assumed as elastic, steel and concrete act together elastically where the relation ship
between loads and stresses is linear.
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ASSUMPTIONS:

A Section which is plane before bending remain plane after bending ( based on theory of bending,
Bernoulli’s equation).

Bond between steel and concrete is perfect with in elastic limit of steel.

All tensile stresses are taken by reinforcement and none by concrete, except as otherwise specifically
permitted.

The stress-strain relation ship of steel and concrete under working loads , is a straight line i.e modulus
of elasticity is constant.

The modular ration ‘m’ has the value (280/sigmacbc), where (sigmacbc) is the permissible compressive
stress due to bending in concrete in N/mm2.

LIMIT STATE METHOD: It’s a method of designing structures based on concept of safety and its
probability of safety. Here in addition to ultimate load approach addition serviceability is also given
importance. Limit state is a condition just before collapse. A structure designed by limit state should
give proper strength and serviceability through out its life

ASSUMPTIONS:

Plane section normal to the axis of the member remain plane after bending.

The tensile strength of concrete is ignored.

The maximum strain in concrete at the outer most compression fiber is 0.0035

The compressive stress strain curve may be assumed to be rectangular,trapezoidal , parabola , or any
other shapes results in the prediction of strength in substantial agreements with results of tests

PRINCIPLE LIMIT STATES:

Limit state of collapse——— FLEXURE,COMPRESSION,SHEAR,TORSION

Limit state of serviceability——— DEFLECTION,CRACKING,VIBRATION.

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Taikhum Vahanvaty, B.Tech Civil Engineering from Sardar Patel College of

Engineering.
Written Mar 2, 2016

The difference between the two methods can be summarized as follows:

In Working Stress Method you treat dead and live loads equally, i.e. the factor of safety would
be same irrespective of the type of load(dead or live). Here, you take the total loads that you
expect on the structure and apply a single factor of safety to the members (say 1.5) regardless of
the nature of the load.
 Limit State Method recognizes the inherent unpredictability of loads and assigns a much
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higher factor of safety to live loads (we increase them by 1.5-1.6), whereas it recognizes that
dead loads are much closer to what we calculate (we only multiply dead loads by 1.2).

Limit State Method also recognizes the uncertainty of different failure modes. For example,
flexural capacity of a concrete beam is fairly predictable; therefore we count on 90% of the
theoretical value. Shear in concrete, on the other hand is much less predictable; therefore, we
only count on 70% of the value.

In Working stress method, the members are designed to never go beyond their elastic range.
The max. load a member can take is thus limited and the plastic range is not explored at all.

Limit state method uses the ultimate strength of the member beyond the initial yielding and
allows plastic deformation to a certain extent.

For this reason, limit state method provides a more economical design and thus more and more codes
are starting to use limit state method instead of working stress method. Hence work working stress
method is becoming more outdated.

Hope this helps...

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Asafa Khan (‫)اﺳﺎﻓﺎ ﺧﺎن‬, Civil Engineer

Written Aug 24, 2015

Working Stress Method

The Stresses in an element is obtained from the working loads and compared with permissible
stresses.

The method follows linear stress-strain behaviour of both the materials.

Modular ratio can be used to determine allowable stresses.

Material capabilities are under estimated to large extent. Factor of safety are used in working
stress method.

The member is considered as working stress.

Ultimate load carrying capacity cannot be predicted accurately.

The main drawback of this method is that it results in an uneconomical section.

Limit State Method

The stresses are obtained from design loads and compared with design strength.

In this method, it follows linear strain relationship but not linear  stress relationship (one of
the major difference between the two  methods of design).

The ultimate stresses of materials itself are used as allowable stresses.

 The material capabilities are not under estimated as much as they  are in working stress
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method. Partial safety factors are used in limit  state method.

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Tom Rose, studied at Tara Anglican School for Girls

Written Apr 10, 2016

Most structures are designed using the limit state method. Working stress method is the old way of
designing, and is more conservative.

Under the working stress method, and taking the example of a beam in bending, once the outer fibre of
the cross section reaches yield stress, you have reached the limit of the design. Under ultimate limit
state design, the cross section is allowed to yield beyond this point so that the full cross sectional depth
can achieve yield stress (unless buckling occurs prior). There might be a 50% "increase in capacity",
however the design loads also increase. In ultimate limit state design, the design loads are factored up,
and the capacity is factored down. The capacity is also factored down in working stress design. You
should read through a design code to understand this in detail. There will be many textbooks that give
examples of design based on a standard.

Ultimate Limit State Design of concrete structures is not necessarily any more difficult or tedious than
Working Stress Design, but it does lend itself to the use of software, given the many formulas.
Essentially, there were formulas in the old working stress method design as well. The formulas have
become more complex. There are also rules about redistribution of bending moments, through
formation of plastic hinges. You might find that, based on the elastic distribution of bending moments,
a beam is at its limit for negative bending over a support, however the midspan positive moment is well
within capacity. Provided ductility is ensured, the negative moment zones can be treated as hinges
(supporting their capacity, but no more), and any additional load causes only the positive midspan
moment to increase. In many cases, this is not necessary, and design is based on the elastic distribution
of moments as per the Working Stress Method, with loads factored up according to the code rules.

For some materials, aluminium being an example, redistribution of bending moments is not permitted
under ULSD. This is because the material does not possess sufficient ductility to undergo the required
deformations.

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Anonymous
Updated Aug 9, 2015

The Working, Allowable or Permissible stress method is an elastic design method. In this design
method, members are designed to never go beyond their elastic range. The primary benefit of this
benefit is that the same loads used for checking flexural, shear, torsional and axial design can also be
used for serviceability checks, ie. the loads are not amplified. This reduces book keeping efforts and
removes one potential source of error introduction. In practice, this means it is simpler.

Limit State or Load Resistance Factor design uses the ultimate strength of a member, beyond initial
yielding, to determine the allowable strength. The primary benefit of the limit state design method is
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that it is generally produces more economical designs than Working Stress Methods, and it provides a
more consistent safety factor across all elements.  LRFD allows for more control and understanding of
the structural behavior by explicitly considering each load type independently.

In practice, the two design approaches have been calibrated to provide similar results for common
loading ranges. Things get a bit out of alignment when the dead load to live/wind/earthquake load ratio
is very high or low.

There are many articles on this topic if you google "ASD vs. LRFD". These will not only explain in more
technical detail, they will also give you the historical background to understand how these two methods
came to be.

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Naresh Yadav, Was a site-draftsman for concrete structures.

Written Jul 1, 2016

If you are looking for deeper answers and have some time to read , reflect and discuss then please refer
to

Introduction

I found the treatment very appealing.

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Gideon Karthik, 4 years of Indian and Gulf experience

Updated Jun 29, 2015

Very simple.
Cost of lifting a leaf by an elephant: 1000$
Cost of lifting that same leaf by an ant: 1$
Which is economical?
Elephant- working stress design to carry load
Ant- limit state design to carry load

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Adarsh Anand
Written Oct 6, 2015

*LSD (plastic design method)

•new
•economical
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•based on linear strain and ult stress
•materials capabilities are not underestimated
•partial FOS taken( different b/w loads are properly taken care)
•non- deterministic
•characteristic values are used
•serviceability check is required
•two main limit state method are :
1.limit state of collapse:
Flexure , compression, torsion,share
2.limit state of serviceability
Deflection ,cracking are considered

*WSM ( elastic mtd of design)

•linear stress
•based on working load
•FOS(only for material)

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Abner T Yokum, worked at Construction

Written Jul 15, 2016

Bob I’m not sure, although the type of structural stress calculations remain fairly consistent with one
another up until you get into plastic design parameters.

2.9k Views · Answer requested by Bob Johansson

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