Atlas Connection is an online community providing helpful information and support for professionals involved in the design and specification of hollow structural sections (HSS). Hosted by Atlas Tube, Atlas Connection creates an environment of open discussion where engineers, architects and other industry professionals can gain insight on topics they care about and get their questions answered by experts in the field. You can join Atlas Connection right now by visiting atlasconnection.com.

Today’s architecture is more innovative than ever before, and this shift towards open creativity requires professionals to design better using less material. Cutting-edge designs call for fewer columns, which require engineers to invent a variety of ways to use columns and to choose the most efficient structural elements to support the design.

Recognized industry experts, including Dr. Jeffrey Packer from University of Toronto; Samuel M Rubenzer, PE, SE, for FORSE Consulting, LLC; Brad Fletcher, structural engineer at Atlas Tube; and many other highly regarded industry professionals, are available to answer questions on Atlas Connection. These experts lead online Q&A sessions and respond to individual questions within specific threads. Forum members can also contribute HSS design ideas, best practices and support information, and can stay up to speed with news feeds and social media, sharing videos, images and documents with others.

Atlas Connection’s mission is to educate engineers and fabricators on HSS design, connection and fabrication, directly serving the structural design community. As part of our mission, we recognize:

• HSS provides a combination of benefits — strength, lighter weight, reduced cost, increased sustainability —ideal for support columns, framing, bracing, trusses and other applications.
• While the industry is familiar with how to design and erect steel I-beams, engineers are unsure how to implement steel HSS in structural elements.

It is clear that HSS has one barrier to adoption: there is limited education and technology available that demonstrates how to design and build HSS connections. We hope Atlas Connection will remove that barrier and open the gateways of communication and encourage education among peers.

We invite you to use this discussion platform to ask questions; post videos and articles; and share drawings specs and any other information that can help your peers better understand hollow structural section design and application. You can join Atlas Connection right now by visiting atlasconnection.com.

We look forward to Atlas Connection strengthening customer relationships by helping members gain faster access to relevant information they need.

This forum is open to all members of the construction, industrial and transportation industries, and any design-related tools, files and topics are welcome.