Cold-Formed Steel Calculator, AISI S100-16 w/S3-22

What it checks

The module designs cold-formed steel studs, joists, or tracks using the LRFD method per AISI S100-16 with the S3-22 supplement. It operates in US Customary units, utilizing kips, inches, feet, and ksi for all calculations. The engine performs a sequence of checks that begins with determining the effective width of uniformly compressed stiffened elements. Following the width calculation, the module evaluates flexural strength by checking the initiation of yielding. It then assesses stability against lateral-torsional buckling and distortional buckling. The module also calculates web shear capacity and verifies the member under combined bending and axial loads.

Inputs

Section - SFIA label (e.g., "600S162-33") to lookup the specific cold-formed steel shape from the database.
Geometry - Flat width (in) and thickness (in) of the element, along with the plate buckling coefficient (k) for the specific stress condition.
Material - Applied stress (ksi), typically the yield strength (Fy) at first-yield, used to determine the effective width factor.
Loading - Uniformly distributed load (UDL) parameters and span length (ft) to calculate the design moment and deflection.
Boundary Conditions - End conditions (e.g., pinned-pinned, fixed-fixed) to determine the moment coefficient, deflection coefficient, and column buckling K factor.

What it reports

Effective Width Factor - The slenderness ratio (lambda) and the effective width ratio (rho) for the stiffened element.
Design Moment - The worst-case design moment coefficient derived from the end conditions and UDL, used to determine the maximum moment.
Deflection - The calculated deflection (δ) based on the load, span, and the deflection coefficient for the specific end conditions.
Buckling Coefficient - The K factor for column buckling corresponding to the selected end conditions.
Flexural Strength - The initiation of yielding flexural strength compared against the applied moment per §F2.
Lateral-Torsional Buckling - The stability check for lateral-torsional buckling per §F3.
Web Shear - The web shear capacity check for the member.
Combined Load - The interaction check for combined bending plus axial loads.

Code references

The engine cites AISI S100-16 w/S3-22 §B4.2 for effective width of uniformly compressed stiffened elements, §F2 for initiation of yielding flexural strength, §F3 for lateral-torsional buckling, §E3 for column buckling, and §G2 for web shear.

Limits

The module is a pure-Rust calculation engine that does not include Tauri imports or graphical interface components. It relies on a predefined database of SFIA labels; if a section is not in the database, the lookup returns None. The module assumes US Customary units and does not support other unit systems. Results are engineering aids; the engineer of record is responsible for the design.

This module ships in the desktop app

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