Plate Grades

• Warning 1: Use caution when changing the Fu and Fy values assigned to particular steel grades. The Fu and Fy values assigned to steel grades are the correct ultimate strength and yield strength values for those grades. Changing Fu and Fy values affects connection design.

• Warning 2: Changing any steel grade definition (for example, changing line 3) assigns the new definition to all materials that had been assigned the previous definition. Since a steel grade is assigned to a material by its line number (index), this means that if you switch line 3 with line 4, the steel grades of existing materials using those definitions will also be switched.

Available Settings by Design Method

Screen	Columns	When Shown
ASD/LRFD/CISC	Line number, Steel Grade, Nonstandard Notation, Fy, Fu, Ry, Rt	shown when an ASD, LRFD, or CISC Connection design method is selected.
AS4100	Line number, Steel Grade, Nonstandard Notation, Fy, Fu, Minimum Thickness, Maximum Thickness	shown when AS 4100 is the Connection design method.
Eurocode	Line number, Steel Grade, Nonstandard Notation, Fy, Fu, Minimum Thickness, Maximum Thickness, Correlation Factor	shown when EUROCODE3 or EUROCODE3 UK is the Connection design method.

Settings

Line number: The index number (a positive integer) of the steel grade -- see Warning 2. The grade entered to line 1 on this screen is assigned by default to the first welded plate box or welded plate W member that is Added after starting up Modeling. Line 1 applies to rectangular plate, round plate, bent plate or rolled plate added using Add Material in the same way that it applies to members. Submaterials that are generated during connection design use the Plate material grade that is selected in Home > Project Settings > Fabricator > Standard Fabricator Connections > Preferred Connection Material Sizes > Preferred Plate Sizes. User base/cap plates use the Steel Grade set in the Base/Cap Plate Schedule.

To move a line up or down in priority: Left-click to select the line and hold down the left-mouse button, then drag the line up or down.

Steel Grade: Any text string (up to 29 characters) to denote the name of the steel grade (e.g., A36, A401, Peter, Joe, whatever name you want). Steel grades entered here are selectable ( ) in Modeling wherever a plate section is entered as the Section size. You can also select these steel grades on the Rectangular Plate Material, Round Plate Material, Bent Plate Material, Rolled Plate Material or Multi-Sided Flat Plate Material windows. Default steel grades for various connection plates that are generated during connection design are entered in Home > Project Settings > Fabricator > Standard Fabricator Connections > Preferred Connection Material Sizes > Preferred Plate Sizes.

Nonstandard Notation: Any text string (up to 29 characters) to denote that a particular steel grade used is not the standard steel grade.

For member main material: This Nonstandard Notation string may be made to appear as a part of the section size of welded plate members. In a Modeling erection view, the notation appears when Section sizes are shown and the Denote non-standard material setup option is turned on. To get the annotation on an erection view drawing, you need to check the box for Denote non-standard material when you auto detail the erection view. Example 1: Enter * as the Nonstandard Notation for all lines but the first line if you wanted section sizes for welded plate main materials with nonstandard plate steel grades to be marked with a *. Example 2: (A588) for A588 steel if you want (A588) to be displayed in the model next to the member's section size when A588 is selected ( ) as the member's Steel grade.

For submaterials: A callout is generated next to that material's submaterial piecemark callout on the member detail when Home > Project Settings > Fabricator > Piecemarking > Member and Material Piecemarking > Submaterial > Show non-std grade notation with piecemarks on member details is checked. The callout will consist of the steel grade if you do not enter a Nonstandard Notation. If, on the other hand, a Nonstandard Notation has been entered, that notation would be called out instead of the steel grade. For example, you might enter Non Std as a Nonstandard Notation.

Minimum Thickness & Maximum Thickness (AS4100 and Eurocode): These columns let you assign Fy (yield strength) and Fu (ultimate strength) values to a particular steel grade based on the thickness of the plate material.

Fy: The yield strength of the particular steel grade. If you are using imperial dimensioning, yield strength is measured in kips/sq. inch (ksi). If you are using metric dimensioning, yield strength is in megapascals (MPa). The value you enter for Fy is used to design connections.

Fu: The ultimate strength of the particular steel grade. If you are using imperial dimensioning, ultimate strength is measured in kips/sq. inch (ksi). If you are using metric dimensioning, ultimate strength is in megapascals (MPa). The value you enter for Fu is used to design connections.

Ry (ASD/LRFD): The ratio (no units) of expected yield stress to the specified minimum yield stress, Fy. See section I-6 of the AISC Seismic Design Manual. This overstrength factor is used during connection design for calculations related to member strength when the user has specified a Seismic brace (vertical brace). The default values used for Ry come from Table I -6 -1 of the AISC Seismic Design Manual. Ry is used only when the governing load (Tension load or Compression load) is Auto. Ry and Rt are not used for user-entered loads.

Rt (ASD/LRFD): The ratio (no units) of the expected tensile strength to the specified minimum tensile strength, Fu, as related to overstrength in material yield stress Ry. See section I-6 of the AISC Seismic Design Manual. This overstrength factor is used during connection design when the user has specified a Seismic brace. The default values used for Rt come from Table I -6 -1 of the AISC Seismic Design Manual. Rt is used only when the governing load (Tension load or Compression load) is Auto. Ry and Rt are not used for user-entered loads.

Correlation Factor (Eurocode): The appropriate correlation factor (ß _w) taken from Table 4.1 in BS EN 1993-1-8: 2005, Eurocode 3: Design of steel structures. The factor is used in calculations for fillet welds.

The position of these form buttons on the screen tells you what settings they apply to. Click here for more information. You can Copy ( ) the settings on this screen , then Paste ( ) those settings to a different screen of the same type. Save ( ) saves a file to a global folder ( ) that is used by your current version of SDS2. Give the file a name that will help other users identify its purpose. Load ( ) replaces the settings on this screen with the settings that are stored in the file that you select. When editing multiple screens at the same time, Paste and Load replace mixed entries to a single field with a single entry. Copy and Save ignore fields with mixed entries, treating them as if they have no entry or do not exist.

OK (or the Enter key) closes this screen and applies the settings.

Cancel (or the Esc key) closes this screen without saving any changes.

Reset undoes all changes made to this screen since you first opened it. The screen remains open.