Accounting for the effects of different construction skills in frame stability analysis : technical paper

This paper is based on investigative work seeking to explicitly link the different skills levels of fabricators erecting steel frames to the amount of column out-of-plumbs the induce. Stability factors can then be chosen at the frame design stage and linked to different out-of-plumb tolerances depending on the skills available or anticipated from steel fabricators and erectors. A survey of column out-of-plumbs was carried out on nine structures around the Johannesburg area, ranging from simple portal frame parking bays built by contractors with an informal sector type of constructional track records. Test were also carried out on laboratory-size portal frames to establish the equivalent induced lateral forces due to initial column out-of plumb.