The American Iron and Steel Institute has published AISI S240-15, North American Standard for Cold-Formed Steel Structural Framing, 2015 Edition, to address requirements for building construction with cold-formed steel structural framing that are common to prescriptive and engineered design.

It applies to the design and installation of structural members and connections utilized in cold-formed steel light-frame construction applications, including floor and roof systems, structural walls, shear walls, strap braced walls and diaphragms to resist in-plane lateral loads, and trusses for load-carrying purposes.

The standard is to be used in conjunction with AISI S100-12, North American Specification for the Design of Cold-Formed Steel Structural Members, 2012 Edition and is intended for adoption and use in the United States, Canada and Mexico. It is available for free download at http://www.aisistandards.org.

AISI S240-15 integrates the following AISI standards into one document for easy reference, and thus supersedes all previous editions of these standards:

  • AISI S200-12, North American Standard for Cold-Formed Steel Framing―General Provisions
  • AISI S210-07 (2012), North American Standard for Cold-Formed Steel Framing―Floor and Roof System Design (Reaffirmed 2012)
  • AISI S211-07 (2012), North American Standard for Cold-Formed Steel Framing―Wall Stud Design (Reaffirmed 2012)
  • AISI S212-07 (2012), North American Standard for Cold-Formed Steel Framing―Header Design (Reaffirmed 2012)
  • AISI S213-07 w/ S1-09 (2012), North American Standard for Cold-Formed Steel Framing―Lateral Design With Supplement 1 (Reaffirmed 2012)
  • AISI S214-12, North American Standard for Cold-Formed Steel Framing―Truss Design                     


Additionally, AISI S240-15 includes:

  • Modifications to its provisions that align it with a new standard to be published soon―AISI S400, North American Standard for Seismic Design of Cold-Formed Steel Structural Systems.
  • A new Chapter F on testing that allows reference to applicable AISI S900-Series Test Standards.
  • A new location for truss test methods, which were moved from Section E7 to Appendix 2.


This first edition of AISI S240 is dedicated to John P. Matsen, P.E., who passed away in June 2015. Matsen was a widely respected structural engineer for more than 30 years and the founder and principal of Matsen Ford Design Associates Inc. in Waukesha, Wis.

He was an active member of AISI’s Committee on Framing Standards and served on numerous subcommittees and task groups. He is credited with helping to pioneer and expand the use of cold-formed steel framing in structural and nonstructural applications.