ABSTRACT
The ColdForm computer program was created in the late 1980s at the University of Naples, Italy, as a research tool for comparing the provisions about thin-walled steel cross-sections given by Italian code, European code and American code. ColdForm 2001 is equipped with a standard Setup program that checks the system and asks questions about how the user wants to install the product. A setup menu usually contains commands which govern the options and characteristics of the program and which, in most cases, are used just once, after installation, to modify the program defaults. The computer program does not allow intermediate and web stiffeners placed together in the same element. In the case of deflection checks, the program evaluates the displacement of the member in each section. In order to do this, it determines the effective cross-section along the member, depending on internal action diagrams, and analyses the member as subdivided into a set of short elements having constant cross-section.
