There are a wide variety of steel shapes available.

The most common shapes are listed below; however, many manufacturers have special shapes. The nomenclature for steel shapes follows two standards: 1. For wide flange, bearing pile, S-shapes, channels, and tees: the letter indicates the shape, the first number indicates the nominal height, and the second number indicates the weight per 1 foot of length. For instance, the W12x36 listed in the table below is a wide flange shape that has a nominal height of 12" and weighs 36 pounds per foot of length. 2. For steel tubes, pipes, plates, and angles: the 3 numbers indicate the height, width, and thickness of the steel.

Image

Description

Nomenclature

Notes

Wide Flange

W12x36

Flange surfaces are parallel; flange thickness is not necessarily equal to the web thickness.

Bearing Pile

HP14x73

Flange surfaces are parallel; flange and web have equal thicknesses.

American Standard Beam

S15x50

The inner flange surface is sloped.

Channel

C12x30

Standard AISC flanges have sloped inner flange surfaces.

WT12x38 Tee ST12x38 MT12x38

WT shapes are cut from a wide flange. ST shapes are cut from American Standard Beams. MT shapes are cut from non-standard I-shapes.

Hollow Steel Section Steel Tube

HSS12x6x0.5 TS12x6x0.5

Either nomenclature is acceptable; however, HSS is more common.

L2x2x0.5 Angle L6x3x0.5

Angles come in equal leg or unequal leg sizes. The diagram at left shows an unequal leg.

Pipe

Pipe 4 STD

Plate

PL 0.5x12"x30"

Very small plates can also be called bars.