SAFETY ASSESSMENT METHOD FOR EXISTING LARGE SPAN STEEL STRUCTURES

Large span steel structures are widely used in modern buildings because of their novel shape, light weight and lower construction cost. Since large span steel structures are usually built for public buildings, more attention needs to be paid to their safety while in service. Reasonable safety assessment of existing large span steel structures is one of the national disaster prevention policies of civil engineering in China. However, most of the current safety assessment methods for existing structures are focused on masonry or concrete structures. There is little published research on safety assessment methods for large span steel structures. A new safety assessment guideline for existing large span steel structure is proposed, based on the reliability indices of the structural members. The load model and the resistance of the members are discussed in the paper. The safety levels of the structural members of the existing large span steel structures are determined from a reliability analysis. A safety assessment method is then proposed that considers the effects of member importance.