Steel column design 5

[bertyboy]

I am desperately looking for a combined bending and compression, column design spreadsheet, in accordance with the AISC codes.

Previously someone referred me to the MITCalc website, however the spreadsheet on there is not very useful for a Structural Engineer.

There must be people whom have produced spreadsheets to do this in the past, because it is such a boring and time consuming calculation.
Can anyone provide me with a copy of spreadsheet that does this, or put me in contact with someone that can help me ?

 

[boo1]

try

http://www.epcserver.com/olindex.asp

http://www.xcalcs.com/

 

[CAOranger]

If you think developing your spreadshet a boring, using somebody else's spreadsheet may put you in trouble unless you dissect it for correctness.

Look at appendices of AISC manual there are table which you can use and avoid using the lenghy formulas - eventually you will be doing simple multiplications or divisions only to get the answer.

 

[pba]

Why not write your own? I don't use AISC codes but I can imagine the type of fromulae used - A lot of number crunching only to find you need a bigger section. I've always found that type of work really hard!

The formulae usually lend themselves well to spreadsheets. For my work, and using different codes, I just have the basic formulae laid out on a page with explanatory text and input data arranged logically around them. I type in the load, moment, effective length etc. and appropriate data on the steel section from published tables. The computer then does only the number crunching, and I can see the result instantly.

To do this you need only a very basic understanding of excel and of the code requirements. I'm tempted to say that if you are lacking either, you should fix it now or look to stop doing engineering.

 

[bertyboy]

boo1, thanks for your advice.
The program in the epcserver location, is not that useful for a structural enginner, but thanks anyway. Also Xcalcs.com, seems to be down at the moment.

 

[KarlT]

I don't think this site has a specific beam/col spreadsheet but it is a pretty handy site anyhow....

http://www.engineersedge.com/directory.shtml

I agree with the others....I'd be pretty careful about blindly trusting a spreadsheet. I am currently trying to write a beam column spreadsheet for Cdn steel codes and it is pretty complex, so errors can occur in the sheet. Check it with a fine-toothed comb!

 

[amorrison]

KarlT
Please post this very useful site under its own heading
a la thread16-97096.
Thanks

 

[bjb]

are you using LRFD or ASD? I don't think the ASD method is very tough, and on page 3-10 there is a convenient approximation aid