What are the advantages of steel structures compared with other structures?

Question

i need to know more about the advantages of steel structures compared with other structures..the others maybe made of wood, concrete of something else..

Answer 1

Steel structures are a great option to consider because they are cheaper to build, faster to erect, and the structural integrity is unsurpassed.  Today, you will see a lot of steel buildings being built in the tornado belt of the USA, and in the coastal areas, such as, Florida where Hurricanes are prevalent.  Steel buildings are lighter overall in weight. Lighter weight means less materials, faster erection, and lighter foundation design loads.  Steel is also the most environmentally friendly material around.  With steel it can be recycled, with very little extra cost. One response stated concrete had not other applications once a building is torn down and that is not true.  Concrete can be recycled!  Concrete and asphalt are two of the most recycled materials in construction, and can be used for many different options.  Crushed concrete is used for wall backfill, as aggregate base course, and many others.  Recycled asphalt can be used as road base material, incorporated in new asphalt mixes, general fill, and many other options.  

Hope I gave you some insight.....

Answer 2

when you design a structure in concrete it is nearly 8 or 9 times heavier than if you design the same thing in steel, and the lighter the building is the better it reacts to the seismic forces....

Answer 3

All of the advantages really depend on the structure being built, but overall steel tends to be less expensive than concrete (especially when considering that steel rebar is needed to add stability to concrete during construction), tends to be a very flexible material, not be as damaged by the elements or fire (where as wood rots when exposed to moisture and humidity and concrete degrades when exposed to salt molecules).

If the environment is of concern to you, steel offers the benefit that unused material can be resold back to steel fabricators for recycling and concrete is considered an earth friendly material, but any extra concrete can't (to my knowledge) be resold for recycling and, unfortunately, just gets thrown away.  I hope I've offered some assistance.  For some further information you can try:

http://www.steeljoist.org/pages/default....

http://www.corrpro.com/pdf/CP48.pdf

http://www.generalsteelbuilding.com/inst...