The idea for this Project was born out of a lunchtime conversation this writer had with Mr. R.K. Prasannan, Development Commissioner for Iron and Steel, and Mr. M.S. Ramanujam, the Regional Development Commissioner (Ministry of Steel) in late 1998. It became obvious that the low usage of Structural Steel in India was largely attributable to skills shortage in the effective use of this material in construction. The urgent need to reorient the education of student engineers and to retrain the current stock of practising professionals (based on the current state-of-the-art) was clearly identified. It was noted that the British Steel industry, when faced with similar problems of skills shortage in the 1980's, solved it by generating a Teaching Resource to enhance the teaching quality in the Universities, under the expert direction of Professor Patrick Dowling. The present success of the British Steel Industry is generally regarded as a direct consequence.

An Expert Team led by Professor Rangachari Narayanan, Retired Head of the Education and Publications Division, The Steel Construction Institute, England, working in co-operation with Professor V. Kalyanaraman, (Head of the Department of Civil Engineering at IIT Madras), Professor A.R. Santha Kumar, (Dean, Anna University, Chennai) and Dr. S.Seetharaman (Assistant Director, Structural Engineering Research Centre, Chennai), representing Dr. T.V.S.R. Appa Rao, (Director, SERC, Chennai) was entrusted with the task of compiling this Teaching Resource which could be used for the purposes outlined above. Dr. S.R. Mediratta, the Director General of the newly formed Institute for Steel development and Growth (INSDAG) was requested to act as the facilitator. The Team commenced its work in August 1999 with the added strength of three young experts, Dr. Satish Kumar (IIT, Madras), Mr. Arul Jayachandran (SERC) and Mr. R. Senthil (Anna University). Rapid progress of the work was made possible by the willing support given by the young Project Associates, Miss R. S. Priyadarsini, Mr. S. Sambasiva Rao, Mr. G. Venkateswara Rao, Mr. Indranil Banerjee and Miss P. Usha who joined the Team.

Till the late 1960's, Structural Steel Design was based on the “Working Stress Method” all over the world. The more modern “Limit State Design” approach - developed in the early 1970's - is technologically sound and results in significant economy in the completed structures. This is of particular advantage as Steel is a reusable material and is environment-friendly. Moreover, modern Steel Mills have made substantial improvements in the quality of finished steel in recent years. To derive the fullest benefits from this improved steel, the Codes of Practice in the use of Steel will need updating. Unfortunately, the Bureau of Indian Standards has not revised the Indian Codes for Steel Construction to conform to Limit State methods, unlike the Codes for the Structural Use of Concrete. This makes the use of steel in construction an uneconomic proposition. Professor Kalyanaraman of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras had very kindly volunteered to provide the necessary leadership for revising the Codes to modern Standards and the work is in progress.

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