References for the structural design of brass/bronze members? 1

I think that the reason that the CDA says 'steel or wood' is that the limiting case (strength, stiffness, vibration, ...) may be quite different depending on the material.
Remember how low the modulus of Cu (and alloys) really is.
It might actually be closer to Al except for the weight.

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P.E. Metallurgy, consulting work welcomed

RenHen said:

Copper Developement Association saying bronze is designed using the same equations as "steel or wood", which gives me pause since wood and steel do not use the same equations for determining capacity.

Click to expand...

Until about 20 years, or so, ago steel and wood could be designed using the same equations... Allowable Stress Design ("old" ASD).

Compared to steel, the only difference for basic calculation with brass or bronze in "old" ASD:

Steel: E = 29 x 10[sup]6[/sup] PSI

According to this reference
For Bronze E = 16 x 10[sup]6[/sup] PSI +

Allowable Bending Stress = 0.67 F[sub]y[/sub] for compact shapes and 0.60 F[sub]y[/sub] for noncompact shapes.
Allowable Shear Stress = 0.4 F[sub]y[/sub]

Brass is probably about the same, you can check that out.

That's all there is to it.

Wood: E = 1.3 x 10[sup]6[/sup] PSI + (Depending on species)
In "old" ASD, wood is slightly different: Factors for load duration, flat use, etc. and horizontal shear governs instead of vertical shear, but you don't need to get into that for brass / bronze compared to steel.

Either find an "old" engineer who knows how to use Allowable Stress Design, or if you want to do it yourself, any AISC Manual of Steel Construction Ninth Edition, or earlier will make a fine text book.

In the 1970's when I needed to teach myself how to design wood, the AISC Steel Construction Manual Sixth Edition worked fine.

Doesn't brass and/or bronze have more brittle behavior than steel?

In general No, the Cu alloys will tolerate similar strain before failure.
Both groups of alloys have a huge range of properties, both strength and ductility.
The low yield strength of the bronze is likely to be the biggest issue that have to deal with.
And don't forget that Cu alloys have fairly high thermal expansion.

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P.E. Metallurgy, consulting work welcomed