Uploaded June 2015 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
Using Less Metal Through Efficient Design in Composite Steel Beams
To explore the reality of material saving through efficient design, we’ve examined five case studies—universal beams, deep-sea oil and gas pipeline, car bodies/crash structures, rebar, and food cans. Globally, annual production of these components uses around 400 Mt of steel and aluminium, nearly 40 % of the total production of the two metals. We spent time with the companies making these components to learn about current practice, then we applied our principles from the previous section to propose a new lighter weight design. Then we went back to the companies to see what they made of our suggested change.
Standard universal beams are the key components of steel-framed buildings. They are designed for bending stiffness, and used as horizontal beams to support floors or roofs. They are manufactured in a standardized set of geometries, and listed in catalogues provided by steel producers. However, their geometry, which has a constant cross-section, is chosen for ease of manufacture, so is not perfectly efficient, as we saw with our simple example in the previous section.
So in our exploration of beams in construction, we’ve see that there are significant opportunities for using less metal, but we don’t currently pursue them because of the relative costs of materials and labour.
The UK INDEMAND Centre, announced in November 2012 in the UK Government's 'Energy Efficiency Strategy', is one of six national research centres on End Use Energy Demand reduction. With £6.2m initial funding from the RCUK Energy Programme, and commitments of over £5m from the founding project partners, the UK INDEMAND Centre aims to enable delivery of significant reductions in the use of both energy and energy-intensive materials in the Industries that supply the UK’s physical needs. This aim recognises that most energy used in industry is required for the highly efficient production of stock materials. Around 30 full-time research staff at four leading Universities are working to reveal the strategies that would lead to a step change reduction in UK demand for materials, and the policy and business conditions under which these strategies would become attractive. The outputs of the UK INDEMAND Centre include technical innovations to deliver material savings in production and design, demonstrations of the business case for material efficiency accounting for purchasing preferences, policy recommendations based on business, sector and trade analysis, and information tools to support well-informed decision making.
ukindemand.ac.uk
Using Less Metal Through Efficient Design in Composite Steel Beams
To explore the reality of material saving through efficient design, we’ve examined five case studies—universal beams, deep-sea oil and gas pipeline, car bodies/crash structures, rebar, and food cans. Globally, annual production of these components uses around 400 Mt of steel and aluminium, nearly 40 % of the total production of the two metals. We spent time with the companies making these components to learn about current practice, then we applied our principles from the previous section to propose a new lighter weight design. Then we went back to the companies to see what they made of our suggested change.
Standard universal beams are the key components of steel-framed buildings. They are designed for bending stiffness, and used as horizontal beams to support floors or roofs. They are manufactured in a standardized set of geometries, and listed in catalogues provided by steel producers. However, their geometry, which has a constant cross-section, is chosen for ease of manufacture, so is not perfectly efficient, as we saw with our simple example in the previous section.
So in our exploration of beams in construction, we’ve see that there are significant opportunities for using less metal, but we don’t currently pursue them because of the relative costs of materials and labour.
The UK INDEMAND Centre, announced in November 2012 in the UK Government's 'Energy Efficiency Strategy', is one of six national research centres on End Use Energy Demand reduction. With £6.2m initial funding from the RCUK Energy Programme, and commitments of over £5m from the founding project partners, the UK INDEMAND Centre aims to enable delivery of significant reductions in the use of both energy and energy-intensive materials in the Industries that supply the UK’s physical needs. This aim recognises that most energy used in industry is required for the highly efficient production of stock materials. Around 30 full-time research staff at four leading Universities are working to reveal the strategies that would lead to a step change reduction in UK demand for materials, and the policy and business conditions under which these strategies would become attractive. The outputs of the UK INDEMAND Centre include technical innovations to deliver material savings in production and design, demonstrations of the business case for material efficiency accounting for purchasing preferences, policy recommendations based on business, sector and trade analysis, and information tools to support well-informed decision making.
ukindemand.ac.uk
