Allowable Stress for AISC Steel Construction Manual, 5th Edition, 1962

[Deadblow]

All,
I have a wide flange beam that I believe is a WF16x8.5 that would have been constructed in the early 1960s. What is the allowable stress for this beam if it was designed per the 5th edition of the AISC Manual? What is the allowable stress for this beam if it was designed per the 6th edition of the AISC Manual circa 1964?

Thank you for your help! It's on my bucket list to start to acquire the previous editions of the manual for my library (especially if SlideRuleEra's website is MIA).

EIT

 

[phamENG]

If you're looking for the manual, go to AISC's website. They have all of them on there free for members. If you're not a member, you should be. Lots of great stuff.

I would be less concerned about the allowable stress and more concerned about the yield and tensile strengths of the material. You can use AISC's Design Guide 15 to help you judge the material specification that was most likely used. Do your analysis based on that F[sub]y[/sub] and F[sub]u[/sub], and then have testing done on the material to confirm (if necessary).

The spec dictates the minimum strength of the material (and occasionally maximum, like A992), the specification is based on our understanding of the material behavior. It doesn't make sense to use an outdated understanding of material behavior to judge its capacity.

 

[Deadblow]

phamENG, thanks for your advice. Design Guide 15 answered my questions. I didn't even know to look there. What a great resource that is!

EIT