The development of the first U.S. design specification for hot rolled, welded and hollow structural stainless steel sections is well underway and will be published in 2021.
Stainless steel has a well-established track record for a wide range of structural applications—large and small, aesthetic and utilitarian—in different sectors of the construction industry. Entrance structures to commercial buildings, barriers, and cladding support systems are typical applications, as well as industrial structures such as platforms and equipment supports.
The publication of the first U.S. design specification for hot rolled, welded and hollow structural stainless steel sections, ANSI/AISC 370 Specification for Structural Stainless Steel Buildings at the end of 2021, along with its companion specification covering trade practices, AISC 313 Code of Standard Practice for Structural Stainless Steel Buildings removes a significant obstacle to the wider use of structural stainless steel.
These specifications fill an important gap, since up til ANSI/AISC 370 was published, there was no U.S. stainless steel design specification for mainstream structural sections such as welded, hot rolled or hollow sections, which are the majority of the market.
More than two years were spent drafting the specifications, with the work carried out by experts from the UK’s Steel Construction Institute, as well as US stainless steel specialists, and funded by an industry consortium including Outokumpu, Industeel, New Castle Stainless, Stainless Structurals, Stalatube, Nickel Institute, International Molybdenum Association, World Stainless and AISC.
In April 2022 an accompanying AISC Design Guide was also published with comprehensive guidance on alloy selection to avoid corrosion and design tables which simplify and speed up design, as well as informing designers of the range of section shapes and sizes.
With the new stainless steel design specification, its related code and the updated stainless design guide at their fingertips, designers will be able to design economic stainless steel structures with long service lives and low maintenance requirements. The benefits of these documents are not limited to buildings and construction: stainless steel design rules for nuclear facilities and bridges are under preparation.
You can download the new AISC specifications at http://www.aisc.org/specifications and Design Guide 27 at www.aisc.org/dg.
