## 1 Introduction  
Steel structures are widely used in civil and industrial architecture for their advantages of high strength, light weight and strong deformation resistance [1]. With the development of design methods and construction technologies, the structural forms of steel structures are becoming more and more complex, and their engineering scale is growing; meanwhile, they are very sensitive to temperature variation. Within the lifecycle of a steel structure, which includes the construction and service periods, due to the dynamic coupling effects of solar radiation, longwave radiation, convective heat transfer, shadows, and other factors, its temperature field and effect will have significant time variations and non-uniformity [2, 3]. However, the traditional and familiar design methods regard the temperature variation of steel structures to be a slow and uniform process [4, 5, 6], mainly considering seasonal temperature variations and ignoring the influence of other environmental factors, which leads to differences between calculation results and the practical situation of temperature fields and effects of steel structures. During the construction period, steel structures are exposed to solar radiation, and their non-uniform temperature distributions can cause complex temperature effects, which will directly affect engineering construction quality and structural closure accuracy [7, 8], and the possible construction defects can even lead to potential safety hazards [9]. During the service period, the temperature fieldsof steel structures under outdoor or transparent rooves are also non-uniform, and the temperature effects caused by this not only reduce the structural working performance, but can even result in some damage [10]. An outdoor steel arch structure in Inner Mongolia was formed in summer, under conditions of strong solar radiation; the increase in structural temperature relative to air temperature as a result of environmental factors was not considered in the design and construction stage. After a sudden drop in air temperature in winter, the variation in air temperature and the fact that the increase in structural temperature had been ignored resulted in a great negative temperature difference, leading to the cracking of the welding seam area [11]. Some studies have shown that the adverse effects of temperature on the fatigue of orthotropic steel decks and the dynamic characteristics of long-span bridges cannot be ignored [12; 13], and a research report on the US 311 Bridge also refers to the detailed analysis of the temperature effect [14]. The non-uniform temperature effect is one of the important factors affecting the working performance of the Five-Hundred-Meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, and the structural calculation in the design stage shows that thermal deformation directly and significantly affects the surface accuracy of the reflector during the service period [15]. To date, the non-uniform temperature fields and effects of steel structures have been widely examined as important research topics in academic and engineering circles. However, the study of temperature field and effect is usually complex because of its multi-disciplinary nature, incorporating mechanics, heat transfer, meteorology, astronomy, computer graphics, etc. Therefore, it is necessary to summarize the research in this field and provide some valuable references. In this paper, previous studies of the non-uniform temperature field and effect of steel structures are first summarized, which mainly relate to space structures, bridges and radio telescopes. It is helpful to understand the current research situation in order to perceive opportunities for future development. According to the heat transfer process, the basic principle of temperature field simulation is presented; three common calculation models of solar radiation are reviewed, along with their history and formulas, and some representative expressions of convective heat transfer coefficient are also provided.