UPDATE

The New Red Book

BS 5950-1: 2000 was implemented in August 2001 and, in
response, BCSA and SCI have jointly published a new version
(the Third Edition) of the Handbook of Structural Steelwork,
commonly known as the Red Book.
The Red Book is an important handbook for steel designers,
giving practical design guidance, worked examples, section
properties and member capacities in tabular form for use in
design. It includes all common steel sections.
The first edition of the Red Book was published in 1990, and
the second edition in 1991. However, the recent major
amendment
to
BS 5950-1:2000 Structural use of steelwork in building.
Code of practice for design. Rolled and welded sections has
necessitated this new third edition of the handbook.
The amendment to BS 5950-1 contains some significant
technical changes to the rules for steelwork design; these
changes have, in turn, been translated into modifications to
the member capacities and resistances tabulated in the Red
Book. In some instances it has also been necessary to modify
the table formats to suit the new design standard. However,
designers will find the familiar look and fe el of the
publication reassuring, and usability has been increased
wherever possible.
The primary changes in the handbook comprise:
A new section giving practical design guidance to the new
standard,
New worked examples to demonstrate the use of the
member capacity tables,
Significant changes in the web bearing and buckling
tables,
Significant changes in the tables for members subject to
axial load and bending,
Increased compression resistance of slender sections,
based on the effective area approach of BS 5950-1: 2000 this has, in particular, improved the resistance of slender
UB sections subject to compression,
Section properties tables now include cold-formed hollow
sections, parallel flange channels, ASB (asymmetric
beams) and deep universal beams.
The Red Book has been drafted and published jointly by SCI
and BCSA, and constitutes a compressed version of the
majority of the information included in the Blue Book (Sixth
Edition). The Red Book retains its A5 format and the Blue
Book, with its slightly wider scope and detail, remains at A4
size.
The Blue Book is already available from BCSA or SCI; the
Red Book will be available in the near future (January 2002)
for 35.00 (UK sales - with 25% reduction for members of
SCI and BCSA).
Both Red and Blue Books are part of a range of joint products
and services aimed at easing the transition from the 1990
version of the standard to the new 2000 amendment. This
range also includes other design aids, currently under
development or already complete, such as:
The Green Book (simple connections) - being updated.
In-plane stability of portal frames new.
Commentary to BS 5950-1: 2000 new
CD - Electronic guide to BS 5950-1 Amendments new.
Seminars and Courses.
New Steel Construction Vol. 9, issue 2, 2001 was devoted to
the BS 5950-1: 2000 Amendment and designers may find it
helpful to refer to this.
Further information and the latest news are available on
www.steel-sci.org/bs5950 or www.steelconstruction.org