What ConSteelSoft calculates
ConSteelSoft is software for the design of structural steel connections to EN 1993-1-8 and AISC 360, covering the whole connection in a single file: from the sections and the material, through the bolt and weld layout, to the loads. It is intended for structural engineers, connection designers and offices supporting steel fabrication.
What sets it apart is that it describes the connection as it is actually built, not as it is convenient to calculate. It asks how each side is connected separately, it allows a separate layout on the supporting side, and it deals with the situations where most tools stop — the notched beam, and beams framing in from both sides.
Sections and material — National Annex and partial factors
The sections and material module defines the beam and the supporting element, where the supporting element may be a column or a supporting beam. The same screen is where the National Annex and the steel grade are chosen, and with them the partial factors: γM0 and γM1 for the section and member checks, γM2 and γM3 for the connection checks.
Showing the partial factors as visible fields, rather than as defaults buried inside the engine, is a deliberate decision. The designer signs the calculation, and therefore needs to see which National Annex and which factors the check was built on — particularly on a project whose specification sets values of its own.
How each side is connected
A steel connection is not necessarily symmetrical. ConSteelSoft defines separately how each side is connected — the beam side and the side of the supporting element. That separation is what makes it possible to describe a real connection: bolts on one side and a weld on the other, or two different layouts of the same angle cleat. The tool does not force an identical arrangement on both sides just to simplify the calculation.
Connection geometry — double angle cleats to the beam web
The geometry module handles double angle cleats to the beam web, and defines the full bolt layout: the number of bolt rows, the spacing p₁ between rows, the end distance e₁, the bolt line in the beam web, the bolt line on the support, and the gap to the support. A separate layout can also be defined on the supporting side, that is, an arrangement that need not be identical to the one on the beam web.
This is the part where it is actually decided whether the connection can be fabricated or not. End distances and spacings are not a documentation detail — they are what determines whether the bolt carries what is attributed to it, and whether it can be bolted up at all where it has been marked.
Welds, exposure and clearances
The welds are defined by throat thickness a. The exposure and clearances module defines the clearances around the connection and its exposure conditions. These two modules sit between design and execution: they are what separates a connection that looks good on the drawing from a connection that can be welded and erected on site.
Notched beams and beams from both sides
ConSteelSoft handles the notched beam, and the connection of beams from both sides, including the definition of the notch itself. These are the two cases that most often end up outside the software and inside a hand calculation sheet. A notch removes part of the section exactly where the shear is greatest, and two beams meeting at the same support change what can be laid out on each side. The tool treats both as modules, not as exceptions.
Loads and project details
The loads module enters the loads on the connection, and the project details module carries the identification — so that the calculation is not an anonymous document. The output presents the sections and the material, the National Annex and the steel grade, the partial factors γM0/γM1 and γM2/γM3, how each side is connected, the double angle cleat geometry with all its distances, the welds by throat thickness a, the exposure and clearances and the loads — alongside the project details entered.