This Specification has been based upon past successful usage, advances in the state of knowledge, and changes in design practice. The 2005 American Institute of Steel Construction’s Specification for Structural Steel Buildings for the first time provides an integrated treatment of Allowable Stress Design (ASD) and Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD), and thus combines and replaces earlier Specifications that treated the two design methods separately. As indicated in Chapter B of the Specification, designs can be made according to either ASD or LRFD provisions.
This Specification has been developed as a consensus document to provide a uniform practice in the design of steel-framed buildings and other structures. The intention is to provide design criteria for routine use and not to provide specific criteria for infrequently encountered problems, which occur in the full range of structural design.
This Specification is the result of the consensus deliberations of a committee of structural engineers with wide experience and high professional standing, representing a wide geographical distribution throughout the United States. The committee includes approximately equal numbers of engineers in private practice and code agencies, engineers involved in research and teaching, and engineers employed by steel fabricating and producing companies. The contributions and assistance of more than 50 additional professional volunteers working in ten task committees are also hereby acknowledged.
The Symbols, Glossary and Appendices to this Specification are an integral part of the Specification. A non-mandatory Commentary has been prepared to provide background for the Specification provisions and the user is encouraged to consult it. Additionally, non-mandatory User Notes are interspersed throughout the Specification to provide concise and practical guidance in the application of the provisions.
The reader is cautioned that professional judgment must be exercised when data or recommendations in the Specification are applied, as described more fully in the disclaimer notice preceding this Preface.
The Specification for Structural Steel Buildings, hereafter referred to as the Specification, shall apply to the design of the structural steel system, where the steel elements are defined in the AISC Code of Standard Practice for Steel Buildings and Bridges, Section 2.1.
This Specification includes the Symbols, the Glossary, Chapters A through M, and Appendices 1 through 7. The Commentary and the User Notes interspersed throughout are not part of the Specification.
This Specification sets forth criteria for the design, fabrication, and erection of structural steel buildings and other structures, where other structures are defined as those structures designed, fabricated, and erected in a manner similar to buildings, with building-like vertical and lateral load resisting elements. Where conditions are not covered by the Specification, designs are permitted to be based on tests or analysis, subject to the approval of the authority having jurisdiction. Alternate methods of analysis and design shall be permitted, provided such alternate methods or criteria are acceptable to the authority having jurisdiction.
