Steel structures built with steel pipes take advantage of the excellent properties of the tubular profile to withstand the forces of compression, torsion and bending in all directions. With regard to the strength and stability, tubular sections have superiority over other families of sections of steel. In particular, circular hollow sections are closed section more effectively to torques, having all the material distributed around the polar axis. The torsion modulus of the tubular section profiles is 200-300 times higher than that of the open section profiles. For some time, the branches of bamboo, for its tubular structure, were converted into light building materials that were taking advantage of these benefits. In the nineteenth century, along with the development of steel industry, came the first methods of manufacture of pipes with circular hollow sections at the same time developing the production of the classic hot-rolled open sections (Profiles I, L and U). Circular section tubes are made from a solid block of steel, if the resulting tubes are not soldiers. In the case of circular welded pipe, the pipe is manufactured from a plate or flat.
The manufacturing process of steel circular tubes is practically the same in the case of use as fluid handling or structural element. However, it was the Stewart & Lloyds in the UK in 1952, pioneered the industrial production of rectangular hollow section profiles. Square tubes, rectangular, hexagonal or octagonal, are obtained from the strain, both hot and cold, a circular tube shape as the centerpiece. To this end, the tube is passed through a cylinder shape working in series to provide the original pipe as required. In selecting a particular profile in a steel structure dependent issues such as advantages and disadvantages with respect to mechanical properties unit costs of material and manufacturing costs, assembly and maintenance.