Steel Beam Analysis and Design Software

About the Steel Beam Design Module

The Steel Beam Design Module analyzes prismatic steel beams using the Euler-Bernoulli beam-element method and performs selected steel-member design checks. The module supports combinations of distributed, trapezoidal, point, and applied-moment loads.

The module can:

Model pinned and fixed support conditions, cantilevers, simple spans, and continuous beams up to 4 spans.
Calculate reactions, shear, bending moment, rotation, and deflection.
Use LRFD combinations for design and ASD combinations for reactions and deflections.
Identify governing shear and moment demands.
Classify applicable steel sections as compact or non-compact.
Calculate flexural and shear strengths.
Check total-load and live-load deflection ratios.
Display loading, shear, moment, deflection, stress, reaction, and element diagrams.
Generate an organized printable report.

Quick-Start Procedure

Start a new design or open an existing project.
Enter a meaningful member description.
Define the beam geometry, including spans, cantilevers, and support conditions.
Select the desired steel section and enter F_y in psi.
Choose whether beam self-weight will be included.
Use Loads and Combinations to enter distributed, trapezoidal, point, and applied-moment loads and review the load combinations.
Use Bracing to define the actual lateral-brace locations. See Lateral Bracing Locations below.
Enter the total-load and live-load deflection limits.
Click Run Model.
Review the input, governing results, diagrams, element results, and printed report.

Lateral Bracing Locations

The Lateral Bracing Locations form is the authoritative source for the member’s brace locations. Open it with the Bracing button after the beam geometry has a nonzero length. The beam diagram at the top of the form shows supports as blue triangles, brace locations as red X marks, support numbers, and the names of spans and cantilevers. Changes to active grid locations are reflected in the diagram immediately.

Brace patterns

Unbraced: starts with the beam supports braced. Cantilever free ends are not assumed braced.
1/2 Point, 1/3 Points, and 1/4 Points: generate brace points by halves, thirds, or quarters. For a multi-span member, choose Entire Length, From End Supports, or Per Span. For a single span, the end supports and selected fractional points are generated automatically.
Fully Braced: braces all supports and cantilever ends and adds intermediate brace points at 2.5 ft (30 in.) spacing.
Other: starts with support braces and allows the grid to be edited manually.

Placement options

Entire Length: distributes the selected fractional pattern over the complete beam length.
From End Supports: distributes the pattern between the first and last supports. This option is available only when the beam has a cantilever.
Per Span: applies the selected fractional pattern separately within each span and assumes the supports are braced.
Supports Braced: adds brace locations at the beam supports when the selected pattern permits this option to be changed.
Cantilever Ends Braced: adds a brace at each cantilever free end. This option is available only when a cantilever exists.

Brace-location grid

The grid stores the brace locations in feet. The Use checkbox determines whether a row is active. Use Add Location to enter a manual brace and Remove Selected to remove the selected row. Locations are saved with the member and are used by the design calculations, diagrams, and printed report.

Brace locations must be numeric, must fall between zero and the total beam length, and cannot be duplicated. Active braces must be at least 6 in. apart. At least two grid entries are required before the form can close. Choose OK to validate and save the layout; choose Cancel to leave the member unchanged.

Changing the bracing layout marks the project as modified and requires the model to be run again before current design results or printouts are produced.

Load Combinations

The Steel Beam Module uses the LRFD combinations per IBC 2024 for flexural and shear design.

The following ASD combinations are used for deflections:

S and W are compared with LL Deflection limit.

Flexural Design

The Steel Beam Design Module calculates flexural capacity in accordance with Chapter F of AISC 360-22. Lateral unbraced segments and applicable C_b evaluation ranges are calculated from the active brace locations saved for the member. The user must verify that the selected provisions, assumptions, brace locations, section classification, and calculated capacity apply to the project.

Shear Design

The Steel Beam Design Module calculates shear capacity in accordance with Chapter G of AISC 360-22. The user must verify all design assumptions and project-specific requirements.

Deflection Checks

Total-load deflection is evaluated as:

DL deflection + LL deflection

Live-load deflection is evaluated as:

LL deflection, Lr deflection, S Deflection and W Deflection

Results Tabs

Results are displayed for the load combination selected in the diagram load-combination list.

Loading Diagram: Graphical representation of the applied loads.
V Diagram: Shear diagram.
M Diagram: Moment diagram.
Δ Diagram: Deflection diagram.
Reactions: Beam support reactions of all combinations.
Design Summary: Detailed calculations of all results.
Element Results: Detailed results for each finite element.
- Elem.: Element number
- Span: Starting and ending locations of the element
- Distributed L: Share of distributed-load force carried to the left end of element
- Distributed R: Share of distributed-load force carried to the right end element
- Point L: Share of point-load force carried to the left end of element
- Point R: Share of point-load force carried to the right end of element
- Deflection L: Deflection of the left end of the element
- Deflection R: Deflection at the right end of the element
- Shear L: Shear force at the left node
- Shear R: Shear force at the right node
- Moment L: Moment at the left node
- Moment R: Moment at the right node
- Reaction L: Reaction at the left node
- Reaction R: Reaction at the right node
Element Forces: Forces acting at the ends of a typical beam element.

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