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Comparison of US steel sections to British sections

Comparison of US steel sections to British sections

Comparison of US steel sections to British sections

(OP)
Hello,
Does anyone know of a quick way of determining Equivalent US steel sections for British sections?
I have designed some steel framing for a project in the middle east and have specified BS sections. The contractor wants to use US sections as they are more readily available. I therefore need to give him alternatives.
I'm too lazy to troll through the AISC section tables, does anyone know of a quick way of say determining a universal beam section with comparable properties, obviously for the same grade of steel (S275)?
Thanks in advance

RE: Comparison of US steel sections to British sections

Maybe compare based on the respective moment and shear capacity tables?

You're probably going to have to accept some inefficiency to protect your geometry. The US and brits do not use the same steel Fy grades. The British 275 MPa yield is closer to the old A36 steel, but modern sections are rolled to A992 in the US and have an Fy of 345MPa (50ksi).

If you have a geometry that requires LTB and other slenderness effect checks you are going to have to do a fair amount of work to show that this is okay. Otherwise the similarly shaped US sections are always going go out perform your UK spec.

RE: Comparison of US steel sections to British sections

There are a few 'standard' European sections, one of the more common is the IPE and they have differing material properties. There is little similarity other than overall shapes W, C, etc. Dimensions are different; same with tubes. It's a matter of comparing section properties for flexure, shear, etc. as CEL noted.

If you can get a section database, then it's possible to write an excel sheet to compare them directly.

Dik

RE: Comparison of US steel sections to British sections

The contractor gets the benefit. He should compensate you for your work. Maybe a better way is for him to propose the alternatives, with you reviewing. But if you use US sections of the same weight, they generally should be fine.

RE: Comparison of US steel sections to British sections

(OP)
Thanks for all the responses guys, some good advice there.

RE: Comparison of US steel sections to British sections

Some internationally used programs for structural design have all database from many countries implemented.
so it is easy to pick a similar profile from another code/country
the same for different material properties


best regards
Klaus

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