STEEL41 – AS4100 design software for steel members using the limit state method

AS4100 is the Australian Standard that governs the required design process when working with structural steel. Conforming to the standard added an additional layer of complexity for steel designers, who not only have to comply with the standard, but must also maintain an easily audited record of that compliance.

• ESS has used its engineering expertise to create STEEL41, a comprehensive application that has become the best selling AS4100 design system on the Australian market. The easy-to-use STEEL41 program quickly and accurately performs calculations to ensure designs meet the AS/4100 standard. STEEL41 rejects the "black box" design approach by providing total auditability so you can examine the calculation process and actually track the working out of each detail. Leading Australian companies including BHP have tested STEEL41 and found that it meets the grade.

• STEEL41 is a powerful tool for engineers and technical designers involved in the design of structural steel to the " Limit State " AS4100 Steel Structures Code. STEEL41 has become Australia 's industry standard application for designing steel members to AS4100 with more than 4000 users. It is an ideal tool for designers, engineers and other technical staff. STEEL41 is also widely used by educational institutes and their students to understand the application of the Limit State design by examining the working out produced by STEEL41 report writer.

• Simple AS4100 compliance: STEEL41 is a quick and easy design tool that has become Australia 's most popular tool for producing AS4100-compliant steel structures

• Simple section creation: STEEL41 contains a comprehensive section catalogue for easier entry of sectional properties. Designers can use the STEEL41 section properties creator to create their own fabricated sections.

• Simple design auditing: STEEL41 contains a report generator that shows all the mathematical calculations used including the relevant formula and clause reference from the AS4100 standard. This means that at any stage a design can be audited to ensure design compliance without the mystery of a "Black Box" solution.

• Simplifies complex designs: STEEL41 calculates combined actions using either the first or higher tier formulae for Mi, Mo, etc. This allows the designer to determine if the more advanced calculation method is required to optimise the design or to simply address more complex designs.

• Easy to learn: STEEL41 is easy to learn by providing the designer with interactive help screens to assist with data entry and reduce entry errors.

• Easy to use: STEEL41 takes the complexity and hassle out of designing steel sections to the AS4100 Australian Standard.

• Easy to understand: STEEL41 requires just five simple steps to produce efficient member designs. Results are shown as SAFE or UNSAFE, with appropriate capacities and load factors.

Three Simple steps to efficient member design

1. Enter your basic analysis data from manual calculations results from STEELbeam or the “EasySolve” (F1) option supplied with STEEL41’

2. Chose a trial section and grade of steel from the comprehensive catalogue of Onesteel and Tubemakers sections.

3. Hit calculate button for instant results of all member capacities and load factors.

EasySolve is unique to STEEL41 and it can save you hours of flicking through the code to determine the auxiliary elements of your design i.e. bolting, Alpha M value etc.

Features

Designs:

§ Tension Members

§ Compression Members

§ Bending members

§ Combined Bending and Compression Members

§ Combined Bending and Tension Members

§ First or Second Tier

§ Optional Shear/Bending Interaction Formula

§ RHS and SHS Optional Bearing/Bending Interaction Formula

§ Create Fabricated Equal Flanged Girder

§ Create Fabricated Unequal Flanged Girder

§ Create Fabricated Box Girder

§ Create Fabricated CHS

§ Bolts in Bearing

§ Bolts in Friction

§ Bolts in Ply in Bearing

§ Custom Grades

§ Varying Degrees of work stress on Fabricated Section

Interface Options:

§ Icon Toolbar and Pulldown Menu

§ Interactive Online Help Pages

§ Selectable Interface Colours

§ Real Time Design Scrolling Option

§ Detail Section Capacities

§ Detail Member Capacities

§ Clause 6.3.3 Member Values

§ Web Shear Capacities

§ Combine Actions Values

Data:

§ Onesteel Sections

§ Fabricated Sections

§ Tubemakers Section

Reporting Options:

§ Company Details on Reports

§ Input Data

§ Show Formula and AS4100 Clause in Reports

§ Substitutes actual Values into Formula

§ Summary of Results

§ Summary of Load Factors

§ Provides Final Result as Safe/Not Safe and overall Load Factor Result

§ Preview with Zoom

§ Selectable Font Size

§ Portrait or Landscape Report

§ Separate Section Property Report

§ Date/Time Stamp, Page Number and File Name on Reports

§ Job Identifier and Designers Name Shown on Report

Documentation:

§ Comprehensive User Guide and Quick Start Tutorial

• ESS partners with clients to make the impossible happen. As well as solving business problems for the steel industry, ESS engineers software that improves quality, reduces risk and cuts costs for clients in a wide range of industries. For more, visit www.ess.com.au.