AISC Steel Shape Reference
1234 shapes, grouped by series. Each page carries the full property set for one size, and a cross-section drawn to that size's own proportions: dimensions, weight per foot, area, and the moments of inertia and section moduli about every axis the shape has.
W-Shape (Wide Flange): 289 sizes
Wide-flange beams and columns, the workhorse rolled section for framing, columns and girders. Normally supplied to ASTM A992.
HP-Shape (Bearing Pile): 22 sizes
Bearing piles, rolled to roughly square proportions with the flange and the web the same thickness. That is the difference from a W of the same depth: nothing in the section is thinner than anything else, so it takes driving stress without a weak element. Commonly supplied to ASTM A572 Grade 50.
C-Shape (American Standard Channel): 32 sizes
American Standard channels: one web, two flanges on the same side of it, and a flat back that sits against another member without a filler. The inner flange faces are sloped, which is what separates a C from an MC and why the flange thickness in the table is the average one. Used for purlins, girts, stair stringers and the collector members of a braced bay. Commonly supplied to ASTM A36.
MC-Shape (Miscellaneous Channel): 40 sizes
Miscellaneous channels, the sizes that fall outside the American Standard series. For a given depth an MC usually carries a wider flange than the C next to it, which is why it turns up as a ship channel, a crane runway cap and the edge member of a composite deck. Commonly supplied to ASTM A36.
Angle (Equal and Unequal Leg): 137 sizes
Equal and unequal leg angles, the section most bracing, lintels, connection material and built-up members are cut from. An angle is the only rolled shape here with no axis of symmetry, so its least radius of gyration is about neither the x nor the y axis but the diagonal z axis, which is the one a compression check has to use. Commonly supplied to ASTM A36.
Rectangular and Square HSS: 525 sizes
Square and rectangular hollow structural sections. A closed section carries torsion an open one cannot and has no weak axis worth the name, which is what makes it the default for columns, truss chords and exposed steel. The tabulated wall thickness is the design wall, 0.93 of the nominal, and it is the one the section properties are computed on. Normally supplied to ASTM A500 Grade C.
Round HSS: 189 sizes
Round hollow structural sections, listed by outside diameter and wall thickness. A round HSS has the same section modulus in every direction, so it has no orientation to get wrong and no weak axis at all, which is why it is the usual choice for a truss web, a pipe rack column and anything that has to look the same from all sides. It is not pipe: the wall is a design wall and the sizes are AISC's, not a nominal pipe schedule. Normally supplied to ASTM A500 Grade C.
Related tools
- Steel Shape Properties Table
search and compare W, HP, S, M, C, MC, L, WT, HSS and pipe sections
- Steel Weight Calculator
total the tonnage from shape, length and quantity
- Beam Shear, Moment and Deflection Diagram Calculator
reactions, shear, moment and deflection for a single span
- Pipe Section Properties Calculator
area, weight per foot and section properties from OD and wall
- Steel Grade Reference
ASTM specifications with yield and tensile strength