Composite Beam Design 1

[Calif]

Good Afternoon everyone:

Whats the quickest way to design composite steel beams? I am doing hand calculations and it is taking a while to do just one. Is there a free software anywhere to experdite this process? Any help would be appreciated.

Thank You

Kmat

 

[OrlandoRelocate]

I thought that there was also a minimum width for a composite beam. Does anyone know what this is.

 

[patswfc]

Corus (formerly British Steel) has free software on its website (

http://www.corusconstruction.com)

called BDES that does compostie beam design. I have it on my PC and its quite good. The version I have designs to BS and Eurocode. It also has a button for AISC LRFD design but this is greyed out. Not sure if this is something that has been implemented in newer versions. You'll need to check for yourself.

Also available in the UK is free software from cellular beam fabricators (Westok and Fabsec) which can do composite design of cellular beams with and without openings in the web. I dont think these have US design code options.

Do the equivalent US companies not provide similar free software?