For medium and heavy construction, the tendency in Latin America is to follow the specifications of the AISC (American Institute of Steel Construction). The latest one in force corresponds to the Specification for Structural Steel Buildings, 2016 edition: A 2021 version is in preparation. This material is free to download in both its English version[2]​ and Spanish[3]​ This material is complemented by a Manual of which there are English and Spanish versions.

In the particular case of Brazil, there are NBR 8800: 2008 standards that, although they broadly respond to the AISC, have certain complements or variations on it.

In the rest of the Latin American countries there is a significant delay in the issuance of regulations for Steel Construction with respect to those issued by the AISC. This determines that in many cases, for important works, calculators take directly as reference the North American specifications.

Light steel construction whose elements are formed profiles are governed by AISI standards, and for these there is also a certain delay in the adoption of North American standards by Latin American countries.

The elements used in steel construction are:.

The issue of integrating the different stages of construction has begun to be raised in recent decades, due to standardization and the significant proportion that is carried out in the workshop. It is currently possible to integrate the stages of design-basic engineering (calculation)-detailing-manufacturing of structures and assembly by integrating the computer solutions of each stage. That is, if the need for an element (column) is determined, the entire process that it will undergo until its installation on the job can be followed.

Corrosion

Under certain atmospheric conditions, steel suffers corrosion phenomena. The ways to avoid it is by:.

Earthquakes

The low self-weight of a steel structure compared to other materials allows it to have better properties against seismic stresses. But in their design, special specifications must be considered to minimize this risk. In the last earthquake in Chile (2010), industrial steel structures have performed superior to other construction solutions. In the case of the lightweight Steel Framing type constructions, they did not suffer any damage either, given their very low weight and relative high resistance.

Two earthquakes that have determined important changes have been those of Northridge - California (1994) and Kobe - Japan (1995), which determined the correction of different vulnerabilities that determined failures. Likewise, in parallel, work began with performance design criteria. Different performance levels were thus established for different earthquake intensities. Example: no damage for frequent earthquakes, preservation of life for design level earthquakes and no collapse for major earthquakes.

To share research on the behavior of steel structures in the face of different earthquakes, an international association of scientists studying the subject has been formed at STESSA.[4]​.

Fire

Protection against Fire has experienced various stages that began with measures relating to the dimensions of buildings and their separation as a consequence of the experience of the Fires in Large Cities that occurred in the 20th century. An example was the Great Fire of London. Later, standard curves representative of the effect of fire on materials were incorporated, a diagram of envelope curves that took into account the fuel load. In parallel, passive protections begin to be applied to prevent rapid access of fire to the metal structures, which lose their resistance at 550 °C. The standards of developed countries subject products to critical temperatures set between 450 and 550 °C. Among the materials that limit heat transfer are intumescent paints, glass wool blankets or other insulating materials.

Likewise, the so-called active protection elements, such as sprinklers, complement the protection against fire.

Full-scale fire experiments carried out in the last decade of the last century (example: Cardington trials)[5]​

They allowed a more flexible approach to the nascent Fire Protection Engineering.

This has allowed us to consider all the variables that participate in a fire (such as fuel load, evacuation times). From these new developments, cases appear in which only the columns must be protected, and certain beams may remain unprotected, which improves the aesthetic character of the building, taking advantage of the attractiveness of the exposed steel structures. Unfortunately, this state of the art has not been incorporated into many of the regulations of Latin American countries, which implies incurring higher costs in construction.

In general, at a global level, standard constructions conform to standards, but in the most advanced countries in the material, it is allowed in certain cases such as special buildings or buildings of a certain size to work with models that allow simulating a real fire, thereby achieving more effective protection against fire while optimizing the investment in protection systems.

For medium and heavy construction, the tendency in Latin America is to follow the specifications of the AISC (American Institute of Steel Construction). The latest one in force corresponds to the Specification for Structural Steel Buildings, 2016 edition: A 2021 version is in preparation. This material is free to download in both its English version[2]​ and Spanish[3]​ This material is complemented by a Manual of which there are English and Spanish versions.

In the particular case of Brazil, there are NBR 8800: 2008 standards that, although they broadly respond to the AISC, have certain complements or variations on it.

In the rest of the Latin American countries there is a significant delay in the issuance of regulations for Steel Construction with respect to those issued by the AISC. This determines that in many cases, for important works, calculators take directly as reference the North American specifications.

Light steel construction whose elements are formed profiles are governed by AISI standards, and for these there is also a certain delay in the adoption of North American standards by Latin American countries.

The elements used in steel construction are:.

The issue of integrating the different stages of construction has begun to be raised in recent decades, due to standardization and the significant proportion that is carried out in the workshop. It is currently possible to integrate the stages of design-basic engineering (calculation)-detailing-manufacturing of structures and assembly by integrating the computer solutions of each stage. That is, if the need for an element (column) is determined, the entire process that it will undergo until its installation on the job can be followed.

Corrosion

Under certain atmospheric conditions, steel suffers corrosion phenomena. The ways to avoid it is by:.

Earthquakes

The low self-weight of a steel structure compared to other materials allows it to have better properties against seismic stresses. But in their design, special specifications must be considered to minimize this risk. In the last earthquake in Chile (2010), industrial steel structures have performed superior to other construction solutions. In the case of the lightweight Steel Framing type constructions, they did not suffer any damage either, given their very low weight and relative high resistance.

Two earthquakes that have determined important changes have been those of Northridge - California (1994) and Kobe - Japan (1995), which determined the correction of different vulnerabilities that determined failures. Likewise, in parallel, work began with performance design criteria. Different performance levels were thus established for different earthquake intensities. Example: no damage for frequent earthquakes, preservation of life for design level earthquakes and no collapse for major earthquakes.

To share research on the behavior of steel structures in the face of different earthquakes, an international association of scientists studying the subject has been formed at STESSA.[4]​.

Fire

Protection against Fire has experienced various stages that began with measures relating to the dimensions of buildings and their separation as a consequence of the experience of the Fires in Large Cities that occurred in the 20th century. An example was the Great Fire of London. Later, standard curves representative of the effect of fire on materials were incorporated, a diagram of envelope curves that took into account the fuel load. In parallel, passive protections begin to be applied to prevent rapid access of fire to the metal structures, which lose their resistance at 550 °C. The standards of developed countries subject products to critical temperatures set between 450 and 550 °C. Among the materials that limit heat transfer are intumescent paints, glass wool blankets or other insulating materials.

Likewise, the so-called active protection elements, such as sprinklers, complement the protection against fire.

Full-scale fire experiments carried out in the last decade of the last century (example: Cardington trials)[5]​

They allowed a more flexible approach to the nascent Fire Protection Engineering.

This has allowed us to consider all the variables that participate in a fire (such as fuel load, evacuation times). From these new developments, cases appear in which only the columns must be protected, and certain beams may remain unprotected, which improves the aesthetic character of the building, taking advantage of the attractiveness of the exposed steel structures. Unfortunately, this state of the art has not been incorporated into many of the regulations of Latin American countries, which implies incurring higher costs in construction.

In general, at a global level, standard constructions conform to standards, but in the most advanced countries in the material, it is allowed in certain cases such as special buildings or buildings of a certain size to work with models that allow simulating a real fire, thereby achieving more effective protection against fire while optimizing the investment in protection systems.