Six cold-formed steel design guidelines have been modified by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has accredited AISI as a consensus group for creating American National Standards (ANS). The process of defining and revising cold-formed steel design standards is handled by two voluntary consensus committees—the AISI Committee on Specifications and the AISI Committee on Framing Standards.
The modified standards include:
- Cold-formed steel structural framing Code of Standard Practice, AISI S202
- North American Standard for Cold-Formed Steel Nonstructural Framing, or AISI S220
- North American Standard for Cold-Formed Steel Structural Framing, or AISI S240
- The North American Standard for the Design of Profiled Steel Diaphragm Panels is known as AISI S310.
- Cold-formed steel structural systems must meet the North American Standard for Seismic Design, or AISI S400.
- North American Specification for the Design of Cold-Formed Steel Structural Members, 2016 Edition (reaffirmed 2020), with Supplement 2 (AISI S100-16 (2020) w/S2-20)
The 2021 International Building Code now includes these enhanced criteria, according to Jay Larson, P.E., F.ASCE, managing director of AISI’s Construction Technical Program. They incorporate the most recent industry research, cutting-edge techniques, and substantial changes that guarantee the dependability of steel and its ability to compete with other building materials. We value the efforts of all researchers who contributed to the growth of the body of knowledge as well as the diligence of the AISI Committee on Specifications and the AISI Committee on Framing Standards members in taking into account changes that were suggested, going over suggestions, and enhancing the provisions of these significant standards.
The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) represents the interests of the American steel industry in matters of public policy and promotes the use of steel as the material of choice in the marketplace. In addition, AISI takes the lead in the creation and use of new steels and steelmaking technologies. Integrated and electric arc furnace steel producers, as well as associate members who are suppliers to or consumers of the steel industry, make up AISI’s membership.
Conclusion
Through improved design and installation standards, the AISI Committee on Framing Standards (COFS) has steadfastly pursued its goal of removing regulatory obstacles and raising the dependability and cost competitiveness of cold-formed steel framing.
Using the AISI Specification as a foundation, the COFS created and released six ANSI-accredited consensus standards, including:
- General Provisions
- Lateral Design
- Truss Design
- Wall Stud Design
- Prescriptive Method
- Header Design
A much-appreciated industry Code of Standard Practice was made possible by the COFS.In order to establish and promote the manufacturing and use of standardized products in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, work is still being done to produce a North American Product Standard to standardize specifications for cold-formed steel-framing products.
The American Iron & Steel Institute (www.steel.org) and the Steel Framing Alliance (www.steelframingalliance.com) both have the COFS documents in stock.
