A design tool for steel beam column members and base plates using MS-Excel workbook

• Main Author: Ma, Yanjing
• Other Authors: Lee Chi King
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Civil engineering::Structures and design
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/53832
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The purpose of the project is to design a tool for design of steel beam column members and base plates using MS-Excel. This report is about the process in constructing the design tool and how to use the finalized workbooks. The design procedure was done with reference to Eurocodes 3: design of steel structures, which is used widely in steel design in common practice in Singapore. There are two separate workbooks, one is for beam column members, and the other is for base plates. To make it more user-friendly, instructions and pictures were used and Macro functions were developed to supplement the formulas. Appearance features were developed and improved at last, such as selection tools, command buttons and hyperlinks. The report consists 5 chapters. After telling the backgrounds and theoretical base, details of constructing the workbooks were provided. The process includes determination of restraints, set up of calculation worksheets and making improvements to cater to users’ needs. Then a working example was provided to better illustrate how to use the tool. At last, the workbook was reviewed in general and limits were found out to make recommendations for future work.