Where you can use this: Atlas Tube HSS Connections Hub onlyStatus: Beta · Region: US · Design codes: AISC 360-22, AISC Steel Construction Manual (16th ed.)What this calculator does
Designs a bolted end plate (face plate) connection between an HSS beam and an HSS column under three loading cases: shear alone, torsion about the beam axis, and combined torsion and shear. Torsion turns up in shear connections whenever the beam reaction is eccentric to the support: girts, spandrels, edge members, and any connection loading one face of a column. Without a calculator, engineers either ignore the torque, bury it in a conservative guess, or resolve the couple by hand and interpolate eccentric weld group coefficients from the Manual for every load combination. The governing combination is rarely the one with the largest single load, which is what makes the hand method both slow and easy to get wrong.Inputting key properties
- Select the beam and column HSS sections and grade. ASTM A500 Grade C or A1085.
- Enter the end plate size and grade.
- Enter bolt properties: size, grade, count, spacing, thread condition.
- Check the gage distance. The sheet enforces clearance to the column using the tightening clearance from Manual Table 7-15, so a geometrically impossible detail is caught at input rather than at fabrication.
Applying loads
Enter shear and torsion either as individual load types swept through the LRFD or ASD combinations, or as pre-factored pairs. Concurrent shear and torque are tracked together per combination throughout, which is the point: the two demands do not peak in the same combination.Torsion screening
The member is screened against its torsional strength per AISC 360-22 Section H3.1. When torsion exceeds 20% of torsional capacity, the Section H3.2 shear-torsion interaction (Eq. H3-6) is checked using the beam’s Chapter G4 shear strength. A screening note tells you when torsion can be neglected in the remaining checks.Reviewing the calculations
Torsion is resolved as a statically equivalent couple across the bolt lines, the plate shear planes and the column walls. Each element is then checked for the combined demand.Weld checks
Welds are checked three ways to match the loading, because no single method covers the range:Reading the results
Results roll up into shear capacity, torsion capacity and weld capacity summaries with governing demand-to-capacity ratios.Assumptions and exclusions
- Torsion is taken about the beam axis.
- Inputs mirror the HSS to HSS shear connection calculator, so a connection already modelled there can be moved across without re-entering geometry.