WT Grades

The WT Grades screen lets you add a new grade so that you can assign it to W tee or S tee material, or edit existing grades.
These settings are stored for your currently selected Connection design method.
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The columns shown here are for the latest AISC Connection design method. Additional columns may be shown if another Connection design method is selected.

To add a new Grade Type or Grade, right-click inside the table and select Add Grade Type or Add Grade.
  • Warning 1: Use caution when changing the Fu and Fy values assigned to particular grades. The Fu and Fy values assigned to grades are the correct ultimate strength and yield strength values for those grades. Changing Fu and Fy values affects connection design.
  • Warning 2: When you change a grade definition, all materials that used the previous definition automatically adopt the new grade. Because grades are linked to materials by their index, switching the 3rd and 4th grades in the table will also swap the grades of all existing materials that use them.

Available Settings by Design Method

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

Settings

Grade Type: Any text string (up to 29 characters) to denote the name of the grade type (e.g., Steel, Stainless, Aluminum).

Grade: Any text string (up to 29 characters) to denote the name of the grade (e.g., A36, A401, Peter, Joe, whatever name you want). Grades entered here are selectable ( ) in Modeling wherever a W tee or S tee section is entered as the Section size. You can, for instance, select these grades on the Rolled Section Material or Horizontal Brace Edit or Vertical Brace Edit windows.

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

For member main material: This Nonstandard Notation string may be made to appear as a part of the section size of a member whose main material is tee material. 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 tee member main materials with nonstandard grades to be marked with a *. Example 2: Enter (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 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 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 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 grade based on the thickness of the tee material.

Fy: The yield strength of the 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 measured in megapascals (MPa). The value you enter for Fy is used to design connections.

Fu: The ultimate strength of the 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.

Density: The density value of the grade. If you are using imperial dimensioning, density is measured in lb/ft3. If you are using metric dimensioning, density is measured in kg/m3. The value you enter for density is used to calculate material weight.

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.
  • You can Save the settings on this screen 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. You can Load a saved file to replace the settings on this screen with the settings that are stored in the file 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.

  • Cut ( Ctrl + x ), copy ( Ctrl + c ) and paste ( Ctrl + v ) are available to help you more quickly edit grades.
  • To delete a grade, left-click to select the grade, then right-click and select Erase grade.
  • 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.
  • Before beginning to input a Job, you may want to make the Tee sections connection material grade match the grade entered to line 1 on this table.
  • Red or yellow exclamation point icons or indicate that a setting field is required to be filled out or corrected before the settings can be accepted by clicking OK. Hover your mouse cursor over the icon to make a tooltip appear with more information.