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Steelwise - Tolerances Ilustrated PDF
Steelwise - Tolerances Ilustrated PDF
October 2006
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Tolerances Illustrated
By understanding and accommodating structural steel production, fabrication,
and erection tolerances, you can avoid expensive and time-consuming field fixes.
A
AS A YOUNG DESIGNER, IT WAS installation problems can all be the end taint the owner’s, architect’s, developer’s, or
SURPRISING TO ME HOW A HALF result of misunderstanding or neglect of general contractor’s view of the project’s
INCH HERE OR THERE COULD HAVE structural steel tolerances. Engineers most success—even if the steel frame performs
A BIG EFFECT ON THE SUCCESS OF often encounter steel tolerances when exactly as designed.
THE CONSTRUCTION OF A LARGE addressing the interface of the steel frame Providing adjustable details at system
BUILDING. Poor curtain wall fit-up, par- with another material or system. Problems interfaces is the most straightforward solu-
tition wall problems, finished floor eleva- in these areas are not only time-consum- tion to accommodate system tolerances.
tion unevenness, and door and opening ing and expensive to fix, but also they can Understanding where adjustable details are
needed and providing details with the proper
Table 1. Mill Cross-Section Tolerances for W Shapes per ASTM A6-05a amount of adjustment allows an engineer to
provide a structural frame that easily inte-
Parameter Over Under
grates the non-structural elements.
depth at web 1 1 An engineer designing with structural
A /8” /8”
centerline
steel must account for three types of toler-
B flange width ¼” 3
/16” ance in their design: Mill Tolerance, Fabri-
flanges out of cation Tolerance, and Erection Tolerance.
T + T’
T ¼”* 0”
square Mills producing hot-rolled structural
web off steel must conform to the ASTM A6 speci-
3 3
E /16” /16” fication as stated in AISC’s Manual of Steel
center
Construction, 13th Edition. ASTM A6 sets
C max depth ¼” 0”
the acceptable variance for member length,
Additional References: Table 1-22, Manual; Figure C-5.1, COSP; see also Manual Tables 1-23 straightness, camber, sweep, and cross-sec-
through 1-29 for other shape types (S, M, WT, MT, ST,Channels, Angles, Rect. HSS, Rnd. HSS,
Pipe and Plates). tion properties. Cross-section properties
* increase to 5/16” for nominal depths greater than 12”. addressed are overall depth and width,
flange and web thickness, and flange out-
of-alignment (see Table 1).
Table 2. Mill straightness tolerances for W Shapes in ASTM A6-05a ASTM A6 tolerances for member cam-
Sizes Length, L Camber Sweep ber and sweep of typical wide flange shapes
bf ≥ 6 in. All /8” × (L/10)
1
L
L/10) /8” × (L/10)
1
L
L/10)
are shown in Table 2. It should be noted
that these tolerances are for incidental mill
bf < 6 in. All /8” × (L/10)
1
L
L/10) 1
/8” × (L/5)
L
L/5) camber; a different set of tolerances apply
for fabricator “induced” camber. Small
amounts of incidental mill camber are
common and don’t typically cause prob-
L ≤ 45’ /8” × (L/10)
1
LL/10) ≤ 3/8” lems in construction. However, if a piece
bf ≈ d
“columns” is to be used as a column or a beam in an
application that requires it to be flat, one
can specify “no camber” on the order.
3
Fabrication and erection tolerances are
L > 45’ /8” + [1/8”× (LL – 45)/10] Camber Sweep
specified in the 2005AISC Code of Standard
Additional References: Table 1-22, Manual; Figure 1-1, Manual; See also Manual Tables 1-23 Practice (COSP), included in Part 16 of the
through 1-29 for other shape types (S, M, WT, MT, ST,Channels, Angles, Rect. HSS, Rnd. HSS,
Pipe and Plates).
Manual. Examining the COSP and its com-
Additional Information
➜ Architecturally Exposed Structural
Steel (AESS) has its own set of toler- ➜ HSS mill tolerances must conform to ➜ Modern Steel Construction SteelWise
ances. These are outlined in section 10 ASTM A500. article, June 2005, “Tolerating Toler-
of the COSP. ➜ Pipe mill tolerances must conform to ances,” by Kurt Gustafson.
➜ Chapter M of the Specification addresses ASTM A53. Proper knowledge and application of
Quality Control issues for Fabrication ➜ Engineering Frequently Asked Ques- structural steel tolerances will enable you
and Erection. tions, free on AISC’s web site at www. to smoothly navigate the construction
AISC.org/FAQ. process. Time and money will be saved
Interior L
L/500*
Perpendicular to
building line:
1” toward and 2”
away from building
line for first 20 sto-
ries; increase 1/16”
for each additional
story up to max.
limit of 2” toward
and 3” away from
Columns
building line.**
(COSP 7.13)
Exterior
Paralell to building
line (not illustrated)
2” or less from the
established column
line for first 20 sto-
ries; increase 1/16”
for each additional
story up to max.
limit of 3”.
Members specified
other than dimension
columns +3/16”, –5/16”
(COSP 7.13)
“variation accept-
able as long as it
is caused solely by
All other
variations in eleva-
tions of supporting
members”