xsectionDatabase

Populates the cross-section and material properties such as weight, area, moment of inertia / second moment of area, elastic and plastic section moduli, material strength, centroid location and more. Covers Australian steel, timber, and cold-formed steel; US steel, wood, and cold-formed steel; and Eurocode steel and timber databases. Use it as a standalone reference or link its outputs directly into beam, column, and member design calculations.

## Method & scope | Property | Detail | | -------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | What it checks | Section database lookup, Geometric properties, Derived quantities, Material strength properties, Integration with design calculators | #### Calculation method The Cross-Section Database is a reference calculator that reads geometric and material properties directly from Calcs.com's built-in section tables and derives any quantities not stored explicitly. There are no design checks, the calculator is purely a data retrieval and property computation tool, intended to feed values into downstream beam, column, or member design calculations. ##### Section database lookup When you select a section database (e.g. Australian Steel, USA Steel, Eurocode Timber) and then a specific section within it, the calculator reads a row of tabulated data from the corresponding shared section table. For steel databases, the raw tabulated values come from the relevant source standard: * AU steel: OneSteel/Infrabuild section tables * US steel: AISC Steel Construction Manual (2016) * US wood: AWC/ANSI NDS 2018 and Supplement 2018 * US cold-formed steel: SFIA Technical Guide 2015 (rev. 2017) * Eurocode steel: manufacturer section tables per EN 10210/10219 and hot-rolled series * Eurocode timber: EN 338 strength class data The cold-formed steel databases (AU and US) carry section-specific finite strip method (FSM) signature curves in addition to basic properties, which are consumed by the companion CFS beam and column design calculators. ##### Geometric properties For sections where the geometry is defined by standard shapes (I, H, C, SHS, RHS, CHS, angle, rectangle), the calculator also computes a cross-section diagram using parametric drawing tables. The section outline is drawn from stored profile parameters (depth d, flange width b, flange thickness t\_f, web thickness t\_w, root radius r) and rendered in the calculator as a scaled cross-section view. ##### Derived quantities The following properties are derived rather than read directly from the database: **Second moment of area (I):** Retrieved from the table for principal axes. The polar second moment I\_zz is computed as: I\_zz = I\_xx + I\_yy **Elastic section modulus (Z):** Where not stored directly, Z is the second moment of area divided by the distance from the centroid to the relevant extreme fiber: Z = I / y\_extreme For symmetric sections this gives equal positive and negative values. For asymmetric sections (e.g. angles, T-sections, custom CFS) the calculator stores separate positive and negative extreme fiber distances, yielding distinct Z+ and Z-. **Plastic section modulus (S) and shape factor (k):** S is retrieved from the table for steel sections that carry it (I-sections, channels, SHS, RHS). The shape factor k is defined as: k = S / Z A value of k ≥ 1 indicates that the plastic moment capacity exceeds the elastic moment capacity. For standard I-sections k is typically in the range 1.10, 1.20 for major-axis bending. **Self-weight (w):** Self-weight in force per unit length is derived from the mass per unit length m via: w = m × g where g = 9.81 m/s². For timber sections the mass per unit length is derived from the section area A and the nominal density from the database. **Shear modulus (G):** For steel and cold-formed steel sections, G is computed from elastic modulus E and Poisson's ratio v: G = E / (2(1 + v)) For structural steel, E = 200,000 MPa (AU/EU) or 29,000 ksi (US), v = 0.3, giving G ≈ 76,900 MPa (AU/EU) or 11,200 ksi (US). Timber databases store G directly as a tabulated value per strength class or species combination. ##### Material strength properties For steel sections, yield strength F\_y and ultimate tensile strength F\_u are read from the database for the selected grade (e.g. Gr.300, Gr.350, A992, S275, S355). Australian steel sections allow manual override of F\_y where a specific test value or alternative grade is needed. For timber sections, the following characteristic design strengths are reported depending on the database: * **Australian timber (AS 1720.1):** Characteristic strengths in bending (f'\_b), shear (f'\_s), tension parallel (f'\_t), compression parallel (f'\_c), and bearing perpendicular (f'\_p), along with strength group, joint group, elastic modulus E and shear modulus G. * **US wood (NDS 2018):** Reference design values in bending (F\_b), tension (F\_t), shear (F\_v), compression parallel (F\_c), compression perpendicular (F\_c,⊥), and moduli of elasticity E and E\_min. * **Eurocode timber (EN 338):** Characteristic strengths f\_m,k (bending), f\_v,k (shear), f\_c,90,k (compression perpendicular), f\_t,0,k (tension parallel), mean and 5th-percentile moduli E\_0,mean and E\_0.05, E\_90,mean, G\_mean, characteristic density ρ\_k, and mean density ρ\_mean. ##### Integration with design calculators All output quantities from the Cross-Section Database are accessible as linkable values in the Calcs.com load-linking system. When a beam, column, or member design calculator references a linked Cross-Section Database calculation, it reads A, I\_xx, I\_yy, E, G, and strength values directly. Changing the section selection in the database calculator propagates updated properties through every linked downstream calculation automatically. ## How to use it Open it from **Run calc** in the About this calculator panel above. Work through the input sections from top to bottom. Click any input label to see its reference explanation, clause, conditions and assumptions. See [Checks, References, Conditions and Assumptions](/docs/running-calculations/checking-results/checks-references-conditions-assumptions). Check the utilization of each governing check in the summary, then export a PDF report. See [Views and Export](/docs/running-calculations/exporting-reports/views-and-export). ## Common questions The Cross-Section Database covers eight section libraries: Australian steel (hot-rolled I, H, C, angle, SHS, RHS, CHS, WB, WC), Australian timber (sawn, LVL, and engineered sections), Australian cold-formed steel (C, Z, top-hat, and custom shapes), US steel (W, M, S, HP, C, MC, WT, HSS, pipe shapes from the AISC Steel Manual 2016), US wood (NDS 2018 species and grades), US cold-formed steel (SFIA 2015/2017 framing products), Eurocode steel (I, C, SHS, RHS, CHS), and Eurocode timber (softwood and LVL grades). The only inputs required are the section database (e.g. Australian Steel, USA Wood, Eurocode Timber) and the specific section designation within that database. For Australian steel sections you can also override the yield strength F\_y directly. All other properties are read from the built-in database tables, no manual data entry required. Outputs include mass per unit length (kg/m or lbm/ft), self-weight (kN/m or plf), gross cross-sectional area A, second moments of area I\_xx and I\_yy about both centroidal axes and polar I\_zz, elastic section moduli Z (positive and negative bending for both axes), plastic section moduli S and corresponding shape factors k, centroid location, elastic modulus E, shear modulus G, Poisson's ratio, and for steel sections the yield and ultimate tensile strength (F\_y, F\_u). Timber sections additionally report strength group, joint group, and characteristic design strengths in bending, shear, tension, and bearing. Yes. The Cross-Section Database is designed specifically for load linking. After selecting a section, all reported properties are available to pass directly into beam, column, member, or analysis calculators in the same Calcs.com project. Changing the selected section in the database calculator automatically updates every downstream calculation linked to it, no re-entry of EI or area required. Yes. The calculator switches between MKS (mm, kN, MPa) and FPS (inches, kips, ksi) unit systems. US databases default to imperial units; Australian and European databases default to SI. You can switch unit systems at project level and all outputs recalculate accordingly. ## Next steps Complete list of Calcs.com design calculators available for United States projects (AISC, ACI, NDS, ASCE 7, IBC, and related standards). Look up section and material properties for US wood, steel and cold-formed steel sections, referenced to IBC 2018, 2021 or 2024. Design combined PFC and angle steel sections to AS 4100:1998. Checks bending capacity, deflection, and brick-load stress on the angle leg. Run rapid buckling analysis of any thin-walled cross-section. A CUFSM port returns critical buckling parameters Mol, Mod, and Mo for the Direct Strength Method. Get bending moment, shear force and deflection along single or multi-span beams using linear-elastic FEA. Handles cantilevers, continuous spans and mixed loads.