W Shapes - American wide flange beams - W40x297

Wide-flange (W) shapes are the most widely used structural steel section in North American construction — an I-shaped profile with flanges that are parallel-faced and constant in thickness, connected by a web running the full depth of the section. That shape puts the bulk of the material as far from the neutral axis as possible, giving W shapes an excellent strength-to-weight ratio for resisting bending. They're specified as beams, columns, and everything in between, across virtually every building type — from single-storey warehouses to high-rise frames — and in bridges, platforms, and heavy equipment supports. The wide range of depths and weights available in the AISC series means there's a W shape suited to almost any span or load, from light floor framing through to the heaviest deep columns carrying a high-rise's gravity loads.