Best Steel Textbook for Learning Steel Design - hopefully digital version 2

Looking for recommended textbooks for learning Steel Design. Need it to comply with AISC version 14. Would prefer that a digital version is available.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Guastavino]

I'm guessing the Salmon book "Steel Structures" is digital. It's fantastic.

 

[smokiibear]

Thanks. Any confirmation that the fifth edition refers to AISC 13 Steel Design Manual. Hoping also to get it for the 14th, but having a difficult time finding it.

 

[Guastavino]

I think it only refers to the 13th manual at this point. Not a ton changes with steel but I understand your want of the most current book. Unfortunately, I don't know of another good one. I'm sure there are some though. Try amazon and search for steel structures and read reviews. I've always found amazon to be extremely helpful.

 

[BadgerPE]

I really like the simplicity of Segui for learning steel design. It is easy to read and especially easy to follow examples (I used the 4th edition for school). Salmon is by far the best for in-depth learning.

Segui Steel Design

 

[JoshPlumSE]

Segui is pretty straight forward. Excellent for an undergrad course. My main complaint is that it is kind of basic. A practicing engineer would need other references for more advanced topics.

 

[Archie264]

This might be your best bet, in my opinion. It's not a textbook but it's digital, free, complies with version 14, contains almost nothing but practice examples and it's put out by AISC, who, as I understand it, know a thing or two about steel. :-D

http://www.aisc.org/WorkArea/showcontent.aspx?id=33520

 

[KootK]

If you're studying for licensing exam, Sequi.

If want to become a black belt ninja of the underlying theory, Salmon.

Want to know the practical stuff that separates new grads from seasoned vets? Try these:

AISC Design Guide Series: Link (#23 especially).
Designing with Steel Joists and Joist Girders: Link.


I like to debate structural engineering theory -- a lot. If I challenge you on something, know that I'm doing so because I respect your opinion enough to either change it or adopt it.

 

[JoshPlumSE]

Good point KootK! I always forget about Joists and Joist Girders. But, those references cover really important stuff that's not particularly complicate but which you can't find elsewhere.

 

[smokiibear]

Thanks, fellows. Well past the license stage. Just very little experience with steel. Spend most of my time on wood framed residence...but steel shows up all the time. I wiggle my way through, but never feel comfortable with my knowledgbase or reading the steel design manual.

Thanks for the design example link and the other helpful considerations. I've heard that Salmon was good, but didn't think they had a current version for the version 14.

I'll have to call prentice hall and see if there are any plans to update.

Thanks, all. Keep it coming if you have any other thoughts!

 

[KootK]

I realize that one wants what they want and you've clearly stated that you want something up to date with the 14th ed AISC. I should probably just respect that but I just can't resist going off reservaton. I think that you're making too much of the 14 ed business. In my opinion, the two best books on structural steel are linked below. They're both wildly out of date and you could have the pair for $50. All you need to stay up to date with the 14E manual is the 14E manual. And, when it comes to getting into the meat of actual design, there's no substitute for reading the manual.

Beedle: Link
Blodgett: Link

The Blodgett book is so insanely useful, and simultaneously dirt cheap, that I frankly question the professional commitment of any structural engineer not in possession of a copy.


I like to debate structural engineering theory -- a lot. If I challenge you on something, know that I'm doing so because I respect your opinion enough to either change it or adopt it.

 

[smokiibear]

KootK...I think your point is valid. I like being able to lean on the text to get familiar with the code. I'm sure once I get familiar enought with the steel design, I wouldn't care about leaning so much. Jumping into steel design manual wihtout much experience is daunting, and I don't know that exceptions or changes to consider from on version to another.

Another little piece here is that I'm attempting to keep digital, so I can refer to the manuals wherever I do my work, which is multiple locations.

 

[KootK]

Yeah, convenience has me gradually migrating to digital references as well. Kindle's been a boon to me that way. I don't actually have one but I have the app on my iPad and all of my 'puters which is nice.

I like to debate structural engineering theory -- a lot. If I challenge you on something, know that I'm doing so because I respect your opinion enough to either change it or adopt it.

 

[Lomarandil]

"The Blodgett book is so insanely useful, and simultaneously dirt cheap, that I frankly question the professional commitment of any structural engineer not in possession of a copy."

Ha! Glad I'm not the only one. Whenever I'm touring structural engineering offices, I keep an eye out to see if there's a copy in the company library.

 

[Gumpmaster]

Buy the Blodgett reference straight from the J Lincoln foundation. It's quite a bit cheaper.

http://www.jflfoundation.com/default.asp

 

[Ron]

The Blodgett book is so insanely useful, and simultaneously dirt cheap, that I frankly question the professional commitment of any structural engineer not in possession of a copy.

I like that! In fact, the blue book (Design of Welded Structures) and the brown book (Design of Weldments) are absolute necessities for any structural engineer's library....along with a bunch of others!

My older copy of the brown book was getting pretty worn, so I found a pristine, new copy and bought it. I did the same for my trusty "Metals and How to Weld Them" from the Lincoln collection.

 

[TLHS]

Now I'm way off target. For anyone that already has Blodgett's other two books I'd heavily suggest his Solutions to Design Of Weldments. It's basically a little paperback book full of worked examples by Blodgett. It's neat, especially for young engineers. It shows a thought process for straightforward hand solutions to problems that would now typically be done black box style in FEM software.

Just demonstrating how to reasonably do design of non-standard configurations and weldments using some assumptions and basic structural mechanics is nice. It's a treat to be able to look at an excellent engineer's work product, written in his own hand.

Plus, it has extended tables for a couple of things including treating welds as lines. A nice reference.

Koot, what's Beedle's book like? I've never seen it.

 

[KootK]

Koot, what's Beedle's book like? I've never seen it.

It's like being mentored by the kind of old school, hand calc engineer that doesn't really exist anymore except, perhaps, in venues like this forum. It's written in contributing author format with the contributing authors mostly being the group formerly known as the Lehigh steel mafia. The list of authors pretty much says it all. Of particular interest to me are the chapters on approximate methods for multi story frame design using hand calcs. I came up in the SAP era and nobody really taught me this stuff properly.

@smokiibear: I hope that you don't mind a little digression here.

I like to debate structural engineering theory -- a lot. If I challenge you on something, know that I'm doing so because I respect your opinion enough to either change it or adopt it.

 

[SAIL3]

I second Blodgett's books....practical, cheap and more importantly demonstrate how to apply engineering principles and engineering judgement and not have to rely on the cookbook-type trend found in engineering literature today..and as mentioned "Solutions to the Design of Weldments" a softcover crammed with valuable examples and engineering design...

 

[FOX89]

@kootk can you organize/order these references in a simple chart or procedure ? this is my first time at this forum and you seems to be a godfather here !

Actually i asked these questions earlier today,if any of you wanna offer a little help it would be great.