Steel columns, beams, trusses, stairs, handrails, braces, steel joists, metal decking, and many other large and small steel components are used in the construction of buildings, bridges, airports, and industrial plants. Without proper structural steel detailing, designing, and engineering, these structures could prove inefficient and cause disastrous accidents. The reason why structural steel is used extensively for building these structures is because this material is extremely reliable, durable, and can easily withstand harsh weather conditions.
Structural steel detailing helps in creating detailed structural drawings, design plans, and a variety of construction documents for the production and erection of steel members. The process of steel detailing is a crucial link for communications between the key professionals such as the steel fabricators, engineers, architects, and contractors involved in the project.
The design, strength, and integrity of steel structures are the responsibilities of the structural engineer and fabricator. On the other hand, complying with the major dimensions and building codes are the responsibilities of the architect. All of these professionals have to work hand-in-hand in order to avoid any kind of mishaps during or after the construction process.
What Does Structural Steel Detailing Process Involve?
Steel detailing involves the creation of detailed drawings along with detailed planning, and the estimation of the materials required. All these steps form the base of the entire structural steel detailing process.
There are two types of detailed drawings made - the erection drawing and shop drawing.
Erection Drawing:
Essential factors of erection drawing include the dimensioned plans and geographic location of each of the steel components. This illustration is utterly important as it consists of specific information about each component’s position, their installation requirements, and all other field works associate with the project such as wedge anchors, welding spots, and bolts installation.
Shop Drawing:
Shop drawings are more detailed and meticulous. Every miniscule detail of each steel beam, joist, column, and joint needs to be illustrated carefully. This helps the steel fabricators to assemble the components accordingly. Shop drawings include material specifications, bolting, welding, sizes and dimensions of each component, surface specifications, and other essential information that pertains to each component’s fabrication. These illustrations need to be extremely thorough as they will be used for steel fabrication uses.
How Is Structural Steel Detailing Useful?
Structural steel detailing is essential for public, commercial, and industrial constructions. Previously, structural steel components were not extensively used for construction purposes. But, today, right from industrial structures to residential and shopping complexes, structural steel detailing is vastly used for creating distinctly elegant building structures.
Steel fabrication has always played an important role in the manufacturing of heavy machinery for civil and military sectors. Additionally, these steel fabrications demand structural steel detailing to estimate costs, create designs, and devise production details. Engineers, fabricators, and architects take help of these processes to evaluate structural complexities, load, design efficacy, cost, and usage of steel elements.
Structural steel detailing is essential for any type and every of construction process. There are numerous construction projects which require the expertise of structural steel fabricators. Also, with the help of all the latest tools and equipment, the steel fabrication process can be done effectively, reducing the production time and costs. To learn more about structural steel detailing, get in touch with our professionals at Northern Weldarc.
