FB 32×300 - Section Properties

FB 32×300 has a mass of 75.36 kg/m, tabulated to EN 10058. A 12 m length therefore weighs about 904 kg, which is the figure to use for a steel take-off or when checking a lift.

FB 32×300 has a depth of 300 mm, a width of 32 mm, a wall thickness of 32 mm, with a cross-sectional area of 96 cm². These are the nominal dimensions from EN 10058; rolling tolerances apply to the delivered section.

The plastic section modulus about the major axis, Wpl,y, is 720 cm³, and the elastic modulus Wel,y is 480 cm³. Wpl,y is what sets the moment capacity of a Class 1 or 2 section: M_pl,Rd = Wpl,y x f_y / gamma_M0, so at S355 with gamma_M0 = 1.0 this section reaches about 256 kNm before any stability check.

The second moment of area about the major axis, Iy, is 7,200 cm⁴, and about the minor axis Iz is 81.92 cm⁴. Iy is the value deflection depends on - for a simply supported beam under a uniform load, the midspan deflection is 5wL⁴/384EIy - so on spans where a deflection limit governs rather than strength, this is the number that decides the section.

iy is 8.66 cm about the major axis and iz is 0.924 cm about the minor axis. Column buckling is governed by the SMALLER value: the slenderness is lambda = L_cr / i, so with iz = 0.924 cm a 0.1 m effective length already gives lambda = 100. Minor-axis buckling almost always controls unless the weak axis is restrained.