What is the difference between working stress method and limit state method

in the design of beams, slabs, columns, and footing with examples that are
easy to understand?
The cardinal difference between Working state method (WSM) and Limit State
method (LSM) is: WSM is an elastic design method whereas LSM is a plastic design
method.

In elastic design, i.e. WSM, the design strength is calculated such that the stress
in material is restrained to its yield limit, under which the material follows Hooke's
law, and hence the term "elastic" is used. This method yields to uneconomical
design of simple beam, or other structural elements where the design governing
criteria is stress (static). However, in case of shift of governing criteria to other
factors such as fatigue stress, both the methods will give similar design. Also, WSM
substantially reduces the calculation efforts.

Now coming to plastic design, i.e. LSM, as the name suggests, the stress in
material is allowed to go beyond the yield limit and enter into the plastic zone to
reach ultimate strength. Hence the "moment-rotation" capacity of beam, for
example, is utilized making the design more economical. However, due to the
utilization of the non-linear zone this method involves arduous calculation.

All other differences are mostly derived from the above stated fundamental
difference along with few general differences. Some of these differences are stated
below:
1) Serviceability check in case of LSM is required because after the elastic region
strain is higher, which results in more deformation, hence a check is necessary.
2) LSM is strain based method whereas WSM is stress based method.
3) LSM is non-deterministic method whereas WSM is deterministic approach.
4) Partial safety factor is used in LSM whereas Safety factor is used in WSM.
5) Characteristic values (derived from probabilistic approach) are used in case of
LSM whereas Average or statistic values are used in WSM.

WORKING STRESS METHOD: Its a traditional method used for reinforced concrete design
where concrete is assumed as elastic, steel and concrete act together elastically where the relation
ship between loads and stresses is linear.

ASSUMPTIONS:

1. A Section which is plane before bending remain plane after bending ( based on theory of
bending, Bernoullis equation).

2. Bond between steel and concrete is perfect with in elastic limit of steel.
 3. All tensile stresses are taken by reinforcement and none by concrete, except as otherwise
specifically permitted.

4. The stress-strain relation ship of steel and concrete under working loads , is a straight line
i.e modulus of elasticity is constant.

5. The modular ration m has the value (280/sigmacbc), where (sigmacbc) is the
permissible compressive stress due to bending in concrete in N/mm2.

LIMIT STATE METHOD: Its a method of designing structures based on concept of safety and
its probability of safety. Here in addition to ultimate load approach addition serviceability is also
given importance. Limit state is a condition just before collapse. A structure designed by limit
state should give proper strength and serviceability through out its life

ASSUMPTIONS:

1. Plane section normal to the axis of the member remain plane after bending.

2. The tensile strength of concrete is ignored.

3. The maximum strain in concrete at the outer most compression fiber is 0.0035

4. The compressive stress strain curve may be assumed to be rectangular,trapezoidal ,

parabola , or any other shapes results in the prediction of strength in substantial
agreements with results of tests

PRINCIPLE LIMIT STATES:

Limit state of collapse FLEXURE,COMPRESSION,SHEAR,TORSION

Limit state of serviceability DEFLECTION,CRACKING,VIBRATION.

The difference between the two methods can be summarized as follows:

In Working Stress Method you treat dead and live loads equally, i.e. the factor of safety
would be same irrespective of the type of load(dead or live). Here, you take the total
loads that you expect on the structure and apply a single factor of safety to the members
(say 1.5) regardless of the nature of the load.

Limit State Method recognizes the inherent unpredictability of loads and assigns a much
higher factor of safety to live loads (we increase them by 1.5-1.6), whereas it recognizes
that dead loads are much closer to what we calculate (we only multiply dead loads by
1.2).

Limit State Method also recognizes the uncertainty of different failure modes. For
example, flexural capacity of a concrete beam is fairly predictable; therefore we count on
 90% of the theoretical value. Shear in concrete, on the other hand is much less
predictable; therefore, we only count on 70% of the value.

In Working stress method, the members are designed to never go beyond their elastic
range. The max. load a member can take is thus limited and the plastic range is not
explored at all.

Limit state method uses the ultimate strength of the member beyond the initial yielding
and allows plastic deformation to a certain extent.

For this reason, limit state method provides a more economical design and thus more and more
codes are starting to use limit state method instead of working stress method. Hence work
working stress method is becoming more outdated.

Hope this helps...