To make a base plate in Advance Steel, open the Connection Vault, click Base plate at the top of the Plates at beam group, select the column and answer whether to create a concrete object too. Advance Steel builds the plate, anchors and welds and opens a dialog where you set every detail.
The base plate is the most common connection in steel structures. In most cases it’s a square or rectangular plate welded to the bottom of a column and anchored to the foundation with anchor rods. Advance Steel’s Base Plate tool builds the plate, anchors, welds and stiffeners in one go, and the dialog box has a setting for just about everything. Here’s a walk through all of it.
You need a column before you can add a base plate. If you don’t have one yet, see my tutorial on creating columns in Advance Steel.
Where is the Base Plate tool?
Open the Connection Vault: Home tab > Extended Modeling > Connection Vault.
Base plate is at the top of the Plates at beam group:
How do I make a base plate in Advance Steel?
- Click Base plate.
- Select the column.
- Advance Steel asks whether to create a concrete object as well. Type Y for yes or N for no.
The base plate is created and the dialog box opens:
What do the base plate settings do?
Layout
Go to Base plate > Base plate layout. This is where you set the basics: plate thickness, layout, column shortening, direction and rotation.
Dimensions
The next item sets the plate size.
Corners
Set how the plate corners are finished.
Anchors and holes
Set up the anchors and the holes for them.
Washer plates
Add washer plates on the anchors.
Anchors parallel to web and parallel to flange
Set the number of anchors, their spacing, and offset from center, first in the direction parallel to the web:
Then parallel to the flange:
Welds
All the weld options are here.
How do I add a leveling plate and stiffeners?
Add a leveling plate by checking the box and filling in the dimensions:
A web stiffener on one side or both:
A flange stiffener:
An outside stiffener:
The stiffener and weld preparation settings:
And a middle stiffener:
How do I add grout holes, galvanizing holes and punch marks?
The last menu item covers galvanizing holes, grout holes and punch marks.
Grout holes:
Punch marks:
Plate thickness, anchor rod size and layout, and welds come from the engineer’s design. Verify with the engineer of record and local code before you detail them.
Once one base plate is set up, you can copy it to the other columns. See how to copy a connection in Advance Steel.
What should I check before sending base plate drawings?
- Anchor rod layout matches the foundation drawings. The concrete contractor sets the rods from those, so a mismatch shows up in the field.
- Oversized holes and washers match the design and the AISC hole sizes your engineer uses.
- Column shortening is right, so the top of steel ends up at the right elevation.
- Grout space under the plate is shown if the design has it.
