Aluminum - Databases

Shapes are organized in the database by country. The shapes available are from the ADM 2005 Section Properties section. You may type in the names directly, select shapes from these databases or add your own shapes.

RISA currently supports the following common Cold Formed steel databases: Aluminum US, and Aluminum CAN.

To Select a Cold Formed Database Shape

1. From the Aluminum tab on the Section Sets Spreadsheet, or the Primary tab of the Members Spreadsheet move the cursor to the Shape field and click .
2. Specify the Database and Shape Type you wish to use and then select from the list of available shapes by clicking on .

Database Files

The aluminum shape databases are stored in the files ADMdbUS32.fil and ADMdbCAN32.fil.

To Add a Database Shape

1. On the RISA Toolbar click the Edit Shape Database     button.
2. Select the Aluminum tab, then select the shape type you wish to add and click the Add button.
3. Specify a name for the shape and fill in the Basic Properties.
4. Click Calc Props to determine the shape properties.

Note

• Alterations to the shape database are not permanent unless you agree to save them.  Changes that are not saved only remain valid for the current session and will not be present the next time you start RISA.
• New shapes are added to the bottom of the database. 
• To delete a shape, specify the database and shape type you wish to delete and then click the Delete button.
• To edit a shape, click the Edit button and edit the shape properties. Values can only be manually edited here, nothing will be recalculated.  If you wish to have all the values for a shape recalculated, you will need to delete the shape and then add it again with the new properties. 

Aluminum Shape Types

There are ten types of aluminum shapes. Names for each shape type follow the convention of the manufacturer for each shape. If you know the shape name, you can type the name directly into the Shape field on the spreadsheets. Alternatively, you may click the  button to look up a shape and select it.

WF sections

The wide flange shapes are called out by the designation given them in the aluminum manual.  For example, if you wanted to use a WF10x11.4 you would enter WF10X11.4 as the shape name in the database shape field.  Aluminum Association Standard I-Beams(AA), American Standard(S), Army-Navy(A-N), Canadian(CAN) I-Beams and Wide Flange shapes are available.

Zee sections (Z)

The Z shapes are called out by the designation given them in the ADM manual. 

Tee sections (T)

The T shapes are called out by the designation given them in the ADM manual. Army-Navy (A-N) shapes are also available.

Solid Rectangular

The Solid Rectangular sections or bar sections are defined by the user, there are no default shapes.

Angles sections (L)

Angles are entered with an "L" prefix.  The syntax is "longXshortXthick", where "long" is the long leg length, "short" is the short leg length, and "thick" is the thickness, in number of decimals.  For example, L5X3X0.375 is a 5" by 3" angle 0.375" thick.  Square End Angles (LS) shapes are also available.

Channel sections (CS)

The CS shapes are called out by the designation given them in the ADM manual. The Aluminum Association (AA), American Standard Channels (C) and Car and Ship Building Channels (CS), Canadian Channels (CAN) are available.

Double Sections

The CS shapes are also available Back-to-Back or Front-to-Front orientation.

Note

• The program currently only performs an analysis of double sections and does not perform a code check of any kind. This may be added into a future version of the program.

Round Tube or Pipe (OD or NPS)

The Round Tube shapes are called out by the designation given them in the ADM manual. The Outer diameter call out is used as well as the Nominal Pipe Size.

Rectangular Tube sections (RT)

The RT shapes are called out by the designation given them in the ADM manual.