Draw a steel portal, mezzanine, truss or multi-storey frame on the grid, load it from area loads or by hand, and the studio analyses every AS/NZS 1170.0 combination as you draw. Each member is designed to AS 4100 — section and member capacity, lateral–torsional buckling, column buckling, shear and combined actions, deflection and sway — and can be auto-sized to the lightest passing section. The Details wing then designs the bolted moment end plates (with haunches and column stiffeners), base plates and anchor bolts, fin plates, cold-formed purlins and girts, rod bracing and eaves struts, overhead crane runway beams with fatigue, fire protection and corrosion protection — and shows the whole building in 3D. Estimate everything (steel, coatings, connections, purlins, cladding, crane runway, fire protection and pad footings), print A3 drawings and export a PDF calculation report, Excel, DXF and JSON.
Scope & limitations
Preliminary design: first-order elastic analysis; connections, second-order effects and bracing are for the engineer to complete. Rates are indicative.
Pick a template — portal frame shed, mezzanine, Pratt truss, two-storey frame, canopy, floor beam or carport — or start from a blank sheet and draw members on the grid. Supports, hinges, point loads and line loads are added with one click, and the area-load generator turns roof and floor loads (kPa) and wind pressures into member loads for a frame spacing you choose.
Every AS/NZS 1170.0 combination is solved with a direct-stiffness 2-D frame analysis as you draw. Each member is checked to AS 4100: section capacity with the effective section modulus Ze, lateral–torsional buckling with αm from the moment shape, column buckling about both axes, shear with moment interaction, combined actions (Cl 8.3, 8.4), deflection and sway.
UB, UC, PFC, SHS, RHS and CHS sections with properties computed from catalogue dimensions
Auto-size picks the lightest passing section for each member group
Whole-building estimate: steel tonnage, galvanising or paint, connections, purlins, cladding, pad footings and crane
A3 general arrangement, member schedule and connection details; PDF calculation report, Excel with live formulas, DXF
Details wing: bolted moment end plates with auto haunch and column stiffeners, base plates with anchor cone checks, fin plates, Z/C purlins and girts, rod bracing, crane runway beams with fatigue, fire protection (ISO 834 heating) and corrosion systems
3D building model with purlins, girts, bracing, base plates and crane runway