Codes and Standards

The mostly widely adopted model building code in North America is the International Building Code (IBC), available from the International Code Council Store.  The primary requirements in the IBC that guide cold-formed steel design and construction have migrated from ASTM reference standards to standards developed and maintained by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI).  As of the 2018 IBC, the AISI standards are now the primary standards of record for cold-formed steel.

AISI Standards

AISI is an ANSI consensus standards-writing organization that produces a series of standards that govern cold-formed steel, most notably the following (scroll to bottom for free downloads link):

AISI S100-16 (S2-20) 2020 edition: North American Specification for the Design of Cold-Formed Steel Structural Members, 2016 Edition with Supplement 1.  This standard governs the engineering design of cold-formed steel structures.

AISI S220-20 2020 edition: North American Standard for Cold-Formed Steel Framing - Nonstructural Members, This standard and the secondary items referenced within it form the basis for the requirements in the SFIA Code Compliance Certification Program for Nonstructural Framing Members

AISI S240-20 2020 edition: North American Standard for Cold-Formed Steel Structural Framing, This standard and the secondary items referenced within it form the basis for the requirements in the SFIA Code Compliance Certification Program for Structural Framing Members

Download these and other cold-formed standards for free at www.buildusingsteel.org. They are available individually or as a bundle that includes all relevant standards for a given time frame.  Prior versions are available for jurisdictions that have not yet updated to the 2018 International Building Code.