What is BS 5950 about?
BS 5950-1 gives recommendations for the design of structural steelwork using hot rolled steel sections, flats, plates, hot finished structural hollow sections and cold formed structural hollow sections, in buildings and allied structures not specifically covered by other standards.
BS 5950-1 has been amended to take into account the issue of a number of new related standards adopting European or international standards for materials and processes, plus revisions to standards for loading.
Technically updated clauses include those for:
• sway stability
• avoidance of disproportionate collapse
• resistance to brittle fracture
• local buckling
• lateral-torsional buckling
• shear resistance
• stiffeners
• members subject to combined axial force and bending moment
• joints
• connections
• testing
In all cases the reason for changing the recommendations on a topic is structural safety, but where possible some adjustments based on improved knowledge have also been made to the recommendations on these topics to offset potential reductions in economy.
Some of the text has been edited to reduce the risk of misapplication. In addition some topics omitted until now have been added, including separators and diaphragms and eccentric loads on beams.
