Sections

About 4,500 structural steel sections (beams, columns, channels, angles, tees, piles and hollow sections) from AS/NZS, ASTM and BS/EN tables. Pick one and its properties land on the calcsheet, units attached. No more copying $Z_{x}$ out of a table (or copying it wrong).

Two ways to use one:

Insert: the properties you tick, as ordinary definitions like $A_{g} := 5210 m m^{2}$ . Visible, and it prints.
Add to worksheet: a member name like b1, with every property kept in the background ( $A_{b 1. g}$ , $Z_{b 1. x}$ …). Any number of sections, no name clashes.

Free on every plan; needs an account. The catalogue loads when you first open the panel. If it can’t, you get Could not load the section catalogue. and a Retry button.

Find a section

Click the section icon in the activity bar. The panel opens on Catalogue.

The Sections panel on the Catalogue tab: a search box, the Show all standards and Show all (4548) menus, and the first few sections

Three filters, applied in order:

Standard (Show all standards): AS/NZS sections, ASTM sections, ASTM A1085 HSS or BS/EN sections.
Family (Show all): universal beam, equal angle, circular hollow section and so on, narrowed to the chosen standard.
Search: the letters you type, in order, against designation, alternative names and family; best match first. 310ub40 finds 310 UB 40.4. American shapes answer to their metric names too: S250X37.8 finds S10X25.4.

The list stops at 200: Showing the first 200 of 4548 sections — refine your search to see the rest.

See its properties

The chevron under + opens a section: its outline, then every property the data has, in your units and symbols. Hover over a row for its full name.

310 UB 40.4 expanded: the I-section outline, Include outline diagram, eighteen properties from m l to r 1 with their values, and the Add to worksheet box

What’s listed depends on the shape: flange and web for an I-section, diameter and wall for a tube. Pre-ticked are mass per metre, area, both second moments, both elastic moduli, and depth and flange width (or diameter and wall thickness).

Include outline diagram comes first. Compound sections (back-to-back angles and channels) have no outline, so no box.

Insert a section

Click the page to place the beacon, then press +. With no beacon it goes below everything. + on a closed row inserts the pre-ticked set; open the list to choose.

310 UB 40.4 on the calcsheet: the heading with AS/NZS 3679.1, Table 9, p. 12 in italics below it, the outline, then eight definitions from m l = 40.4 kg/m to b f = 165 mm, each with a description

You get:

A heading: the designation, with the standard, table and page in italics. The calc cites its source for you.
The outline, as a diagram block, unless unticked.
One definition per ticked property, its full name alongside.

It arrives selected, so it drags as one. One Undo removes it.

Ordinary definitions, ordinary names. Insert a second section and its $A_{g}$ and $I_{x}$ replace the first’s from there down, silently. So: one inserted section per sheet. For more, name them.

Name a section

In the open list, type a member name beside Add to worksheet (blank takes the suggested s1) and click it. The panel switches to In worksheet:

The In worksheet tab: b1, 310 UB 40.4, with Rename, Change section, Refresh and Remove, the outline, and every property from m b1.l to r b1.1 with its value

Every property is now defined under that name: $A_{b 1. g}$ , $I_{b 1. x}$ , $Z_{b 1. x}$ … Type Z_b1.x for $Z_{b 1. x}$ ; autosuggest offers them too.

f y := 300 MPa, then M s := f y times Z b1.x, then M s = 170.7 kN·m

M_{s} := f_{y} \cdot Z_{b 1. x} = 300 MPa \times 569000 m m^{3} = 170.7 kN \cdot m

Left alone it reads $170.7 kJ$ – a joule is a newton metre, and the units engine can’t tell you meant a moment. Put kN.m in the unit box.

Worth knowing:

Available everywhere. They’re worked out before anything on the page, so a formula can use them above or below where you added them.
Saved with the calcsheet. They work for anyone who opens it, Sections on or off.
Not printed. A printout shows $Z_{b 1. x}$ but not its value. Give the checker a block holding just $Z_{b 1. x}$ .
Names are a letter then letters or digits (b1, col2, rafter), once per calcsheet. No underscores or dots.
Symbols are fixed when added. Changing the notation later doesn’t rename existing members.
The list rounds; the values don’t. Big values show in metres at the sheet’s decimal places: $I_{b 1. x}$ as $0.0001 m^{4}$ , the warping constant as $0 m^{6}$ . Put mm^4 in a block’s unit box and $I_{b 1. x}$ reads $86400000 m m^{4}$ .

Manage named sections

Open a member on In worksheet:

Rename: every reference follows (the dialog counts them). One Undo reverses it.
Change section: swaps in another section, keeping the name and symbols. Properties the new one lacks go undefined, and the panel says so: The new section lacks 1 previously referenced property — those references now show as undefined.
Refresh: fetches the values again, for when the source data is corrected.
Remove: deletes it. The dialog counts the references left undefined.

Settings

Open ⋮ at the top of the panel, then Settings….

The Section settings dialog: Units, with mm and SI (m), and Notation, set to Australia / NZ (AS/NZS)

Units: mm inserts $A_{g} := 5210 m m^{2}$ , SI (m) inserts $A_{g} := 0.00521 m^{2}$ . Same quantity, different literal. Named sections always store mm.
Notation: six regional symbol sets. Australia / NZ (AS/NZS) is the default.

Both are saved to your account.

The notations

The same in every notation:

Property	Symbol
Mass per metre	$m_{l}$
Cross-section area	$A_{g}$
Depth of section	$d_{s}$
Width of section	$b_{s}$
Flange width	$b_{f}$
Flange thickness	$t_{f}$
Web thickness	$t_{w}$
Depth between flanges	$d_{1}$
Root radius	$r_{1}$
Outside diameter	$d_{o}$
Wall thickness	$t_{s}$

The rest follow the design standards:

Property	Europe	US / Canada	Australia / NZ	China	Japan	India
Second moment of area, major	$I_{y}$	$I_{x}$	$I_{x}$	$I_{x}$	$I_{x}$	$I_{z}$
Second moment of area, minor	$I_{z}$	$I_{y}$	$I_{y}$	$I_{y}$	$I_{y}$	$I_{y}$
Elastic modulus, major	$W_{e l . y}$	$S_{x}$	$Z_{x}$	$W_{x}$	$Z_{x}$	$Z_{ez}$
Elastic modulus, minor	$W_{e l . z}$	$S_{y}$	$Z_{y}$	$W_{y}$	$Z_{y}$	$Z_{ey}$
Plastic modulus, major	$W_{pl . y}$	$Z_{x}$	$S_{x}$	$W_{p x}$	$Z_{p x}$	$Z_{p z}$
Plastic modulus, minor	$W_{pl . z}$	$Z_{y}$	$S_{y}$	$W_{p y}$	$Z_{p y}$	$Z_{p y}$
Radius of gyration, major	$i_{y}$	$r_{x}$	$r_{x}$	$i_{x}$	$i_{x}$	$r_{z}$
Radius of gyration, minor	$i_{z}$	$r_{y}$	$r_{y}$	$i_{y}$	$i_{y}$	$r_{y}$
Torsion constant	$I_{t}$	$J_{t}$	$J_{t}$	$I_{t}$	$J_{t}$	$I_{t}$
Warping constant	$I_{w}$	$C_{w}$	$I_{w}$	$I_{w}$	$I_{w}$	$I_{w}$

Every symbol has a subscript on purpose. A bare $A$ is the ampere and a bare $m$ the metre; a property named either would take over the unit for the whole sheet.

Stick to one notation per calcsheet. $Z_{x}$ is elastic in AS/NZS and plastic in US / Canada; $I_{y}$ is the major axis in Europe and the minor everywhere else. Mix them and a formula quietly picks up the wrong property.