Steel Building Industry is a developing one and terms that are frequently used in it are unknown to most people more often than not. The terminology used in the steel building industry is particular and specific, therefore it is essential for anyone who wants to invest or buy a steel building to possess full knowledge of the jargon that is employed in steel building industry.

Following are some of the common terms used in steel building industry.

1. Allowable Strength Design or ASD – It is the method of proportioning structural components so that allowable strength exceeds or equals the required strength of the component under the action of the ASD load combinations.
2. ASD Load Combination – It is the applicable building code intended for allowable strength design.
3. Allowable Strength – Nominal strength divided by the safety factor, Rn/ohm.
4. Applicable Building Code – Building Code under which the structure is designed.
5. Available Strength – Design strength or allowable strength that is appropriate.
6. Braced Frame – A vertical truss providing resistance to lateral roads and stability for structural systems.
7. Cold-Formed Steel Structural Member – Shape formed by press-braking blanks sheared from sheets, cut lengths of coils or plates, or by roll forming cold or hot – rolled coils or sheets; both forming operations being performed at ambient room temperatures i.e without addition of heat such as would be required for hot forming.
8. Connection – Combination of structural elements and joints used to transmit forces between two members.
9. Design Load – Applied Load determined in accordance with LFRD Load Combinations or ASD Load Combinations.
10. Design Strength – Resistance factor multiplied by Nominal Strength, Rn.
11. Diaphragm – Membrane or bracing system such as roof, floor that transfers in-plane forces to lateral force resisting system.
12. Factored Load – Product of a Load Factor and the Nominal Load.
13. Flexural-Torsional Buckling – It is a buckling mode in which a compression member bends and twists simultaneously without change in cross sectional shape.
14. Girt – Horizontal Structural member that supports wall panels and is primarily subjected to bending under horizontal loads, such as wind load.
15. Joint – An area where two or more ends, surfaces or edges are attached. Various types of joints are classified on the basis of the type of fastener or weld used and the method of force transfer.
16. Load – It is the force resulting from the weight of building materials, occupants and their possessions, environmental effects, differential movement, or restrained dimensional changes.
17. Load Effect – Stresses and deformations produced in a structural component by the applied loads.
18. Load Factor – Factor that accounts any deviations in the transformation or analysis of the load effect. It also accounts for deviations of Nominal load from Actual load, for probability that more than one extreme load will occur simultaneously.
19. LRFD (Load and Resistance Factor Design) – It is the method of proportioning the structural components so as to make the design strength equal or exceed the required strength of the component.
20. LFRD (Load Combinations) – Applicable Building Code intended for strength design.
21. Moment Frame – These are the framing system which provide resistance and stability to structural system by shear and flexure of the farming members.
22. Nominal Load – It refers to the magnitude of the Loads as mentioned in the Applicable Building Code.
23. Nominal Strength – Strength of a structure or component without the resistance factor or a safety factor.
24. Permanent Load – It is a load in which variations over time are rare or of minimal magnitude.
25. Purlin – It is a horizontal structure that is used to provide support to roof decks and is therefore primarily subjected to bending under vertical loads such as snow, winds or dead loads.
26. Rational Engineering Analysis – It constitutes the analysis based on the theory which judges the building. For this there should be availability of relevant test data and sound engineering judgment.
27. Required Strength – The stresses, forces and deformations produced in the structural components which are determined by structural analysis, for LRFD or ASD Load Combinations.
28. Resistance Factor – It is the factor that takes into account unavoidable deviations of the nominal strength from the actual strength as well as for the manners and consequences of failures.
29. Safety Factor – It is the factor that takes into account the deviations of actual strength from nominal strength, deviations from actual load from nominal load, discrepancies and uncertainties in the analysis that transforms load into a load effect.
30. Service Load – Load under which serviceability limit states are evaluated.
31. Shear Wall – It is the wall that ensures resistance to lateral loads in the plane of the wall as well as stability for the structural system.
32. Specified Minimum Yield Stress – It is the lower limit of the Yield Stress that specified for a material as defined by ATSM.
33. Structural Analysis – Determination of Load Effects on members and connections based on doctrines of structural mechanics.
34. Structural Components – It is a member, connector, connecting element or assemblage.
35. Tensile Strength of the material – It is the maximum tension or tensile stress a material is capable of enduring or sustaining.
36. Variable Load – It is the load which is not Permanent Load.
37. Yield Point – It is the primary stress that occurs in a material accompanied by an increase in stress but no increase in strain.
38. Yield Strength – It is the point of stress at which the material manifests a specified limiting deviation from the proportionality of strain to stress.
39. Yield Stress – It is a term used generally to denote yield stress or yield strength, suitable to the material.