SEU, a program provided by SE Solutions, LLC

Steel Design – Rules of Thumb

Have you ever noticed how some engineers can come up with a member size in their heads without needing to plug something into a computer? Have you had another engineer look at your design and quickly point out a different size that could be used?

One seminar at previous Steel Conferences (NASCC) presented many helpful rules of thumb for steel design. Structural Affiliates International gave this session, and has even made cards with the rules of thumb available for download on their website.  

A sample of the information presented in this session includes (time mark in presentation):

Approximate area and moment of inertia of steel sections based on section weight (9:50)
Approximate beam weight based on the maximum moment in the beam (15:20)
Approximate truss weight based on the maximum moment in the truss (25:55)
Approximate beam depth based on the beam span (29:59)
Approximate Steel tonnage based on the number of stories (36:37)

To review the NASCC Session (it’s about 1 hour), please use the link below.

(Please note: the session label when it opens in the player indicates that it is the Spanish Translation, but in reviewing the information, the session is in English.)

Link to Session: http://www.aisc.org/UploadedContent/2009NASCCSessions/E8/default.htm

To access the card for printing, please use the link to Structural Affiliates’ website:

http://www.saii.com/pubs/Card.pdf

We hope you find this helpful – if you have any questions, please let us know.