What are the differences between steel frame structure and reinforced concrete structure?

Differences between steel frame structure and reinforced concrete structure

Steel frame structure is a steel structure mainly made of steel, which is one of the main types of building structures. It has the following characteristics: light deadweight, high working reliability, good earthquake resistance and impact resistance, high industrialization, easy to be made into a sealed structure, easy to be corroded, poor fire resistance, etc.

Reinforced concrete structure is a structure constructed of steel bars and concrete. The steel bars accept tension and the concrete accepts pressure. It has the advantages of consolidation, durability, good fire resistance, steel saving and low cost compared with steel structure.

As the steel has good vibration and toughness, it can have large deformation and can well accept dynamic load. Secondly, the steel has good homogeneity and isotropy, which is an ideal elastic body and conforms to the basic assumptions of general mechanics. Therefore, the seismic performance of steel frame structure is better than that of reinforced concrete structure.

The steel structure has small dead weight and stiffness, so when calculating the horizontal seismic action, the seismic force is usually smaller than that of the concrete structure. And its plasticity is strong, and it can absorb a lot of energy in the earthquake, so the steel structure is better. But the steel frame structure is too flexible, easy to produce large horizontal displacement, and poor fire performance, which are worse than concrete structures.