WORKING STRESS AND LIMIT

STATE METHOD OF DESIGN

Prepared by:
Abdul Mateen Warsi
WORKING STRESS METHOD
• Working Stress Method is the traditional method of design not only
for Reinforced Concrete but also for structural steel and timber
design.

• The conceptual basis of the WSM assumes that the structural

material behaves in a linear elastic manner and
that appropriate safety can be ensured by suitably limiting the
stresses in the material due to the presumed working loads or service
loads on the structure.
WORKING STRESS METHOD(contd.)
• WSM also assumes that both the steel and concrete act together and
are perfectly elastic at all stages, and hence the modular ratio can be
used to determine the stresses in steel and concrete.

• The stresses caused by the ‘characteristic’ or service loads are

checked against the permissible or allowable stress, which is a
fraction of the ultimate or yield stress.

• The permissible stress may be defined in terms of a factor of safety,

which takes care of the overload or other unknown factors.
WORKING STRESS METHOD(contd.)

Permissible or allowable stress = Ultimate or yield stress

Factor Of Safety

Thus in WSM,

Working Stress ≤ Permissible Stress

LIMITATIONS OF WORKING STRESS METHOD
• The use of the imaginary concept of modular ratio results in larger
percentage of compression steel and generally larger member sizes
than the members designed using limit states design.

• The stress–strain curve for concrete is non-linear and is time

dependent.

• This method does not consider the consequences of this material

non-linearity.
LIMITATIONS OF WORKING STRESS(contd.)
• WSM does not discriminate between the different types of loads that
act simultaneously but also have different degrees of uncertainty.

• This may result in unconservative designs, particularly when two

different loads say dead loads and wind loads have counteracting
effects.

• The main assumption of a linear elastic behavior and the

implied assumption that the stresses under working loads can be kept
within the ‘permissible stresses’ are found to be unrealistic.
LIMIT STATE METHOD OF DESIGN
• In structural design, design constraints are frequently referred to
as LIMIT STATES.
• Limit States are conditions of potential failure . Failure being defined
as any state that makes the design to be infeasible i.e. it will not work
for its intended purpose.

• Structural limit states tend to fall into two major categories:

1) Limit State Of Collapse
2) Limit State Of Serviceability
1.LIMIT STATE OF COLLAPSE

• To satisfy this limit state the strength of the member must be

adequate to carry the loads.

• Further, the limit state of collapse includes the limit states of :

i) Flexure
ii) Compression
iii) Tension
iv) Shear
2.LIMIT STATE OF SERVICEABILITY
• Serviceability limit states are those conditions that are not strength
based but still may make the structure unsuitable for its intended
use.

• The most common serviceability limit states in structural design are

i)Deflection
ii) Vibration
iii) Slenderness and
iv) Clearance
2.LIMIT STATE OF SERVICEABILITY(contd.)
• Serviceability limit states tend to be less rigid requirements than
strength based limit states since the safety of the structure is not in
question.
• Serviceability limit states don’t tend to put people’s lives at risk nor
do they risk property damage.

• Figure1 : Limit state of

serviceability failure