Metal is one of the crucial elements in construction building. This material is an example of the most important and practical construction materials that are used currently in building construction.
In accordance with a construction news report, in general the metal structures are divided into four main groups:

* Frame Structures
* Shell Structures
* Suspension Structures
* Truss Retaining Structures

The following is the properties of each structure:

Frame Structures

Frame structures are a combination of columns and beams. In general, these structures are a collection of perpendicular members. In the construction of these types of structures, two perpendicular plate frames are used. The combination of perpendicular plate frames results in the formation of a space frame. These columns and beams are connected together using simple or rigid connections. Frame structures are used in the construction of the majority of modern buildings. Frame structures are used for the construction of bridges, besides industrial and multi-storey buildings.

Shell Structures

Shell structures are used in the construction of important structures such as liquid pressure vessels, silos, and dome roofs.

Read more: What is a gusset plate?

Suspension Structures

These structures are used for the construction of bridges with long spans and roofs. A frame structure is used in the construction of the suspension structures and this skeleton is suspended by main tension cables. Therefore, this structure is used in the construction of suspension bridges. These structures are also used in the construction of the skeleton of the roof and deck of bridges.

Truss Retaining Structures

In the truss retaining structures, the forces are transmitted to the bridge abutment using a triangular combination of its members with pin connections. In the truss retaining structures, a tensile and pressure axial force is formed. However, there might be bending stress among the connections of the members.

Advantages of Using Metal structures

As already mentioned, nowadays the metal structures are widely used in building construction. The following are the important advantages of using these structures.

Metal is an element with high resistance. Therefore, one of the evident advantages of using metal structures is the high strength and resistance of these types of structures to tensile and pressure. Considering that the quality of steel can be controlled during production, appropriate and high-quality steel can be selected and used.

The possibility of the development of the structure is another advantage of using metal structures. Using metal structures enables pre-construction of the required parts prior to execution. These types of structures can be installed and executed quite fast. Using the metal structures enables using them in long distances from the ground surface. The metal structure occupies fewer spaces. These types of structures have high earthquake resistance.

The materials used in the construction of the metal parts are continuous and homogeneous. Thus, the coherence and steady resistance of the metal is among other advantages of metal structures. The homogeneity of metal causes its computational elastic properties to be practically objective. Using metal leads to less waste in comparison to other materials. Besides, metal can be used again. Plasticity is another property of the metal. This property helps to prevent the centralization of stress and vibration, thus, it prevents deconstruction of a building.

Read more: Investigating the Advantages and Disadvantages of Metal structure in Construction

Advantages of Using Metal structures

Besides the aforementioned advantages, using metal structures has some disadvantages as well. Its lack of resistance to moisture and consequently, rusting is one of these disadvantages. In order to prevent this from happening a variety of methods such as painting can be employed.

Furthermore, another disadvantage of these structures is the improper connections with low-quality during welding. These types of structures have low fire resistance and fire can change their form.