Joist top chord widths

[fpst]

I have been looking everywhere for a way to find out how wide the top of a joist is based on structural plans (looking at the steel designation, and then looking it up).

Nothing seems to be standardized across manufacturers so I'm looking for some rules of thumb.

What I think is happening by looking at structural tables is that the deeper the joist, the wider the top chord seems to be, up to a limit. This makes intuitive sense to me just want to check, so I have some sort of way to guess at the widths better.
It also isn't clear if the chord is 4" wide for example, whether that is from end to end, including the gap in the middle, or for each side, excluding gap, or from end to end, not including gap. Ugh.

 

[MatthewJWillis]

In the old days, we got a "Bill of Laden" from the manufacturer of the steel just for this purpose.
There is a nice little book that is very useful on what the "W24x30" means along with sizes.
I would have to find it to give you the name.

I would suggest asking for the submittal that the GC has, or get the Bill of Laden.
After all, we are supposed to do this anyway. Used to, a copy of all submittals including electrical, mechanical, Tech.., etc.
This way we can truly evaluate the system we are designing. However; the "carpet before the steel" nowadays defeats this.

R/
Matt

 

[SprinklerDesigner2]

AISC American Institute of Steel Construction has a lot of material but as mentioned you will have to get the bill of laden for steel joists.

I think I have the AISC handbook around somewhere with my leather bound Smoley's Table of Slopes and Rises published in 1927. Hey, that was how we rolled 40 years ago!