Steel Column & Base Plate Designer

Preliminary steel column design aid for W-shape, rectangular HSS, and round HSS columns. Computes KL/r-style compression resistance, strong/weak-axis moment screens, axial utilization, preliminary axial-plus-bending interaction, a strong-axis shear screen, a lateral-deflection serviceability screen, slenderness warnings, economical passing starter-section recommendation, utilization bars, and CSV/JSON/Print export. 1, and Fy is taken from the selected section grade - neither is a free input.

Includes an interactive column elevation (drag the unbraced length, add/drag lateral shear loads) with support symbols, an axial-load arrow, live shear / bending-moment / deflection diagrams (first-order Euler-Bernoulli beam FE) carrying dashed Vr / Mrx / L-240 capacity lines that flag exceedance, and a cross-section view annotated with the axial load and strong-axis moment. 8 concrete bearing plus CISC cantilever (upside-down slab) plate bending, shear, and deflection screens with a bearing-pressure free-body diagram.

Design-aid / screening only. Starter/sample section database is incomplete and must be verified. Compression curve, moment resistance, and axial-plus-bending interaction are simplified; no second-order analysis, notional-load workflow, frame-stability design, local slenderness classification, or final CSA S16 compliance claim.

Base-plate screen assumes direct bearing on concrete with peak-pressure cantilever bending; anchor rods, welds, shear lugs, grout, and uplift/partial-bearing anchorage are not designed. Engineer review required for every output.

Use for preliminary column and base-plate sizing and review-package preparation. Confirm K factors, effective lengths, bracing, frame stability, section class, current CISC/HSS properties, S16 interaction requirements, and base-plate anchorage/bearing assumptions before design use.