The Steel Joist Institute has released its 44th edition of the catalog, Standard Specifications, Load Tables and Weight Tables for Steel Joists and Joist Girders. The new edition provides design, construction and engineering professionals in the steel joist industry with accurate information on the design of steel joists and joist girders, including specifications and applications.
The 220-page guide provides a more practical approach to better define the actual use of the products in the catalog. The three previous specifications — K-Series, LH-Series and DLH-Series — and joist girders have been combined into one, unified specification. Load tables for each series have not been combined and remain unchanged. All of the changes to the catalog are aimed at making steel joists and joist girders safer, simpler to use and more economical. All updates to the specification are ANSI-certified through consensus approval.
Notable updates include: adjustments made to the K-factors for web and bottom chord slenderness ratios; updated joint eccentricity criteria; increased minimum end anchorage requirements for uplift; and a reorganized, revised and updated Code of Standard Practice, including additional information on uplift and end anchorage. Several design criteria or checks that were already being performed, but had not been shown in the specifications, are now included. These include uncrimped single angles and erection bridging. The updated material also states that when exact locations for concentrated loads are known, the joist shall be designed without the need for field-applied web members. And, for both K-Series and KCS joists, bending stress can no longer be neglected for panels less than 24 inches. The top chord design criteria now match that of LH-Series and DLH-Series.
The catalog is available to download for free at steeljoist.org/free44thcatalog. Hard copies are also available and may be purchased for $50 here.