Steel Construction Manual [Hardcover]

Helmut C. Schulitz (Author), Werner Sobek (Author), Karl J. Habermann (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 3764361816 | ISBN-13: 978-3764361815 | Publication Date: April 10, 2000 | Edition: 1

Steel is one of the most versatile materials available in the construction industry and its many applications have enabled architects and engineers to
go far beyond what was once considered possible. The volume documents all aspects of steel as a construction material, first looking at the historical development of building with steel. This is followed by several chapters which examine to a high degree of technical detail the physical properties of the material, the principles of construction using steel and the wide range of steel elements and their uses. The final chapter presents 54 examples which illustrate the many applications of steel in construction – from simple halls to complex multistorey buildings. These examples were selected because of their innovative use of steel, demonstrating its great potential for minimising the materials and montage necessary. For ease of comparison all the plans have been drawn to the same scale. The volume concludes with a listing of the relevant norms and standards.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 404 pages
• Publisher: Birkhäuser Basel; 1 edition (April 10, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3764361816
• ISBN-13: 978-3764361815
• Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 9.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,303,136 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ideal for architects and engineers, October 8, 2003

By 

misterbeets "misterbeets" (Safe Harbor, MD USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Steel Construction Manual (Hardcover)

This book gives an overview of steel in building construction, mostly its structural uses. It differs from the Concrete and Masonry versions, which lean more towards a summary of the building codes, and the Glass version, which goes on at length about solar effects, in its more lengthy review of the engineering basics involved. (But perhaps the subject lends itself to this approach, being more specialized.) The text is also the easiest to read of all the books, more than compensating for the lack of color pictures anywhere. The middle technical section covers the subject in a very orderly way, beginning with the structural properties of small components and proceeding on to the assembled skyscraper. The last sections will leave you scratching your head unless you're a structural engineer though.

There is also a section on construction practices, where you might be reminded to leave an inch or two of space under your column base plates to allow for construction tolerances, and to use special expanding grout for filling it instead of mortar or concrete, which would shrink on curing and provide opportunities for water to get in. Or to try to achieve equal compression in all your columns, so settling will be uniform.

Surprisingly enjoyable, and not used in the other books but maybe not possible there, owing to their extensive excerpting of tables from building codes, is the way the text does not normally keep referring you to figures, but allows you to read uninterrupted. The figures are there, as in the other books, but they have more extensive captions which allow them to stand alone and be read in parallel with the main text.

Like the other books in the series, there are no equations to speak of, or very few. Just an attempt to explain all the relevant principles in a qualitative way and to demonstrate their use with hundreds of meticulous drawings.

5.0 out of 5 stars Steel Construction Manual, August 27, 2007

By 

J. Laver "student of architecture" (Southwest USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Steel Construction Manual (Hardcover)

This book has multitudes of examples of how steel use has developed and is developing. It offers the designer basic details and sizing ideas. If one is looking for a book on detailed steel sizes, forms, and dimensioned details this is not it. However, if one is looking for an overview of the product to better understand it and how to incorporate it into projects, this book is for you.

18 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Steel Construction Manual, January 29, 2004

By 

Wayne Cothran (White, Georgia United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Steel Construction Manual (Hardcover)

The title of this book, in my mind, is a misnomer. If you're looking for a true manual of steel construction, meaning a how-to book, this isn't the book to buy. This book is centered around architecture, not down and dirty steel construction techniques. There are no methods included in the book for such things as calculating loads, yield, tensile, etc. If you want a world wide sampling of connecting means, truss designs, etc. with no dimensions in the examples then this is the book for you. In short I am very disappointed in my purchase as it doesn't suit my needs.