AISI announces public review and comment period for CFS standards

Washington, D.C. — The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) announced the availability of five of its cold-formed steel (CFS) design standards and three of its cold-formed steel test standards for public review and comment. These include new standards AISI S240, S400, S915 and S916; and revised edition standards AISI S220, S230, S310 and S914.

These AISI standards are available for public review with a comment deadline of July 6, 2015:

• AISI S230, Standard for Cold-Formed Steel Framing – Prescriptive Method for One and Two Family Dwellings
• AISI S240, North American Standard for Cold-Formed Steel Structural Framing
• AISI S310, North American Standard for the Design of Profiled Steel Diaphragm Panels
• AISI S400, North American Standard for Seismic Design of Cold-Formed Steel Structural Systems
• AISI S914, Test Standard for Joist Connectors Attached to Cold-Formed Steel Structural Framing
• AISI S915, Test Standard for Through-the-Web Punchout Cold-Formed Steel Wall Stud Bridging Connectors
• AISI S916, Test Standard for Cold-Formed Steel FramingNonstructural Interior Partitions With Gypsum Board

This AISI standard is available for public review with a comment deadline of July 13, 2015:

• AISI S220, North American Standard for Cold-Formed Steel Framing – Nonstructural Members

About the New Standards. There are four new AISI standards for public review and comment:

• AISI S240 will be a revision, re-designation and consolidation of the following North American Standards for Cold-Formed Steel Framing: AISI S200 (General Provisions), AISI S210 (Floor and Roof System Design), AISI S211 (Wall Stud Design), AISI S212 (Header Design), AISI S213 (Lateral System Design), and AISI S214 (Truss Design).

• AISI S400 will be a revision, re-designation and consolidation of the seismic provisions of AISI S213, North American Standard for Cold-Formed Steel Framing – Lateral Design and AISI S110, Standard for Seismic Design of Cold-Formed Steel Structural Systems – Special Bolted Moment Frames.

• AISI S915 will provide the methodology to determine the strength and deformation behavior of through-the-web punchout bridging connectors for cold-formed steel wall stud bracing for nonstructural and structural wall studs in light-frame construction. This standard will apply to bridging connectors attached to a cold-formed steel wall stud and the bridging member by mechanical fastening.

• AISI S916 will establish a rational method of determining the strength and stiffness of nonstructural interior partition wall assemblies framed with cold-formed steel. In addition to the cold-formed steel framing, gypsum board panels will be considered part of the wall assembly. This standard will provide an alternative to the calculation of capacity based on AISI S100, North American Specification for the Design of Cold-Formed Steel Structural Members. This standard will also permit manufacturers to determine limiting height values for the assemblies.

AISI S240 and AISI S400 will supersede all previous editions of the above-mentioned individual AISI standards and, along with AISI S220 (below), provide a comprehensive foundation for developing full systems-based standards for cold-formed steel framing.

About the Revised Standards. There are three revised AISI standards for public review:

• The revised edition of AISI S220 will add performance and testing requirements for screw penetration, update referenced documents, and reference the new AISI S915 and AISI S916 test standards (above). 

• The revised edition of AISI S230 will bring this standard into full compliance with the 2015 edition of the International Residential Code, ASCE 7-10 including applicable supplements, and the latest referenced documents. Provisions were added for larger openings in floors, ceilings and roofs. Additionally, the tables were streamlined to reduce complexity and volume of the provisions.

• The revised edition of AISI S310 will incorporate changes being made in the next edition of AISI S100, North American Specification for the Design of Cold-Formed Steel Structural Members and revise safety and resistance factors for consistency with the theory and calibration method presented in the standard.

• The revised edition of AISI S914 will allow the 1/8 inch deflection limit to exclude the initial deflection up to 10 percent of the ultimate load for gravity load.

AISI supports an open, balanced, consensus-driven process for codes and standards development and is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as a developer of American National Standards. Copies of the public comment drafts of the standards are available from AISI’s Manager, Construction Standards Development (contact: hchen@steel.org). Any comments should also be directed to hchen@steel.org with a copy to the Board of Standards Review, American National Standards Institute (psa@ansi.org).