Steel section tables: what the designation does not tell you
A section designation is a catalogue reference, not a description. HE 200 A is 190 mm tall, HE 200 M is 220 mm, and only the B variant is the height its number claims. UPE 400 is heavier than UPN 400, the flange slope of a UPN changes partway up the range, and the tolerances for an IPN come from a different standard than the tolerances for an IPE. Below is what the tables hold, which document governs which number, and where the shorthand breaks.
The number is the series, not the height
For IPE and for the B variant of the HE family, the number happens to equal the nominal height in millimetres. For everything else in the HE family it does not, and the gap is large enough to matter on a drawing.
| Designation | h | b | tw | tf | Mass |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HE 200 AA | 186 mm | 200 mm | 5,5 | 8,0 | 34,6 kg/m |
| HE 200 A | 190 mm | 200 mm | 6,5 | 10,0 | 42,3 kg/m |
| HE 200 B | 200 mm | 200 mm | 9,0 | 15,0 | 61,3 kg/m |
| HE 200 C | 210 mm | 203 mm | 12,0 | 20,0 | 81,9 kg/m |
| HE 200 M | 220 mm | 206 mm | 15,0 | 25,0 | 103 kg/m |
Dimensions in millimetres, from the published tables of two mills that agree value for value. The pattern holds right across the family: checked over all twenty-four HE numbers, the B variant equals its number every time, and the A and M variants never do.
The width behaves the same way and then stops. In the HE family the flange width equals the number up to 300, and from HE 320 upwards it stays at 300 mm no matter how tall the section gets. An HE 1000 B is a metre deep and still 300 mm wide.
The IPE letter variants behave the same way. IPE A 200 is 197 mm, IPE AA 200 is 196,4 mm, IPE O 200 is 202 mm, and IPE O 600 is 610 mm tall. If a clearance is tight, the number in the designation is not the dimension to work from.
HEB or HE 200 B
Worth knowing before you write a purchase line. The contracted forms HEB, HEA and HEM are trade usage; the mills do not print them. In a 180 page mill catalogue the string HEB does not appear once, and the same is true of the second mill’s programme. Both write HE 200 B, and the standard names the family HE.
Nothing goes wrong if you write HEB 200, because everyone understands it. It does mean that searching a supplier’s data for HEB can return nothing while the product sits there under another spelling.
Which standard carries which number
The dimensions and the tolerances live in different documents, and the tolerance document is not the same for every family. This is the table to keep.
| Family | Dimensions and masses | Tolerances |
|---|---|---|
| IPE, HE (A, B, M and variants) | EN 10365 | EN 10034 |
| IPN | EN 10365 | EN 10024 |
| UPN and UPE | EN 10365 | EN 10279 |
| Equal and unequal angles | EN 10056-1 | EN 10056-2 |
| Tees | EN 10055 | EN 10055, same document |
The row that catches people is the second one. EN 10034 excludes taper flange sections from its scope in as many words, which makes IPN the one I-beam it does not cover. Its tolerances come from EN 10024, a standard that rarely gets quoted at all.
The difference is not academic. On height, EN 10024 works to a symmetrical band for the smaller sizes, while EN 10034 is asymmetrical, allowing more over nominal than under. Applying one table to both families gives the wrong answer in both directions.
Mass tolerance, where both titles mislead
EN 10034 is titled tolerances on shape and dimensions. Mass is not in the title. It is nonetheless in the scope and in a clause of its own, at ±4,0 % of nominal, flat across the whole range, with no thickness or height bands. EN 10024 sets the same figure for taper flange I sections.
EN 10279 puts mass in its title and then does not use a flat figure. Catalogue tables show ±6 % below 125 mm section height and ±4 % above it, a split we have from mill data rather than from the text of the standard, so treat the two numbers as indicative and the split itself as the point. Anyone who carries the flat ±4 across from beams to channels is wrong for every UPN and UPE up to 125.
The practical reading for a goods-in check: on beams you have a mass tolerance to argue against, and it is tighter than most buyers assume. The wider picture of why delivered and calculated weights differ is in Metal weight guide: how to calculate the weight of steel and aluminium.
Why you cannot work the mass out yourself
You can, roughly, and that is the problem: the answer looks plausible and is consistently light. A rolled section is not a rectangle plus two flanges. It has a root fillet where the web meets the flange, and that fillet carries real steel.
Checked across 192 IPE and HE profiles, the tabulated masses reproduce from the density of 7 850 kg/m³ and the tabulated area to within 0,16 % on average, so the tables are internally consistent. Rebuild the area from the outline dimensions and the radii and you land within 0,06 %. Leave the radii out, which is what a quick hand calculation does, and you underestimate the mass by 3,4 % on average and by as much as 7,6 %. For IPE 200 the error is 4,5 %, for HE 200 A it is 5,3 %.
On a lorry load that is a real tonnage. Take the mass per metre from the table for the designated section and multiply by length.
Same weight, different beam
One comparison explains why sections are chosen by designation rather than by weight. IPE 300 and HE 200 A have the same cross-sectional area, 53,8 cm², and practically the same mass, 42,2 against 42,3 kg/m. They cost about the same to buy and to lift.
Their second moment of area about the strong axis differs by a factor of 2,26, at 8 356 against 3 692 cm⁴. For a beam in bending the IPE is worth more than twice as much, for the same steel. That is the whole argument for depth over width in a beam, and for the reverse in a column, in two numbers.
A UPN is not one geometry
Taper flange channels change their own rules partway up the range, which the single word UPN hides.
| Section height | Flange slope | Where flange thickness is measured |
|---|---|---|
| up to 300 mm | 8 % | at half the flange width |
| above 300 mm | 5 % | at half the flange width less the web |
So the quoted flange thickness of a UPN is a thickness at one defined point on a wedge, not a thickness of the flange. Bolting through it puts the nut on a slope, which is why taper washers exist as a separate standardised item for both I sections and channels.
The IPN behaves the same way with a 14 % slope and its flange thickness measured at a quarter of the width. One neat check on the tables: across all twenty-one IPN sizes the root radius equals the web thickness exactly, every time.
UPE is not always the lighter channel
The rule of thumb says parallel flange channels are lighter than taper flange channels of the same number. It holds for ten of the eleven numbers the two families share, and then fails at the top.
| Section | h | b | Mass |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPN 200 | 200 mm | 75 mm | 25,3 kg/m |
| UPE 200 | 200 mm | 80 mm | 22,8 kg/m |
| UPN 400 | 400 mm | 110 mm | 71,8 kg/m |
| UPE 400 | 400 mm | 115 mm | 72,2 kg/m |
The bigger catch is that the two grids do not line up at all. Seven of the eighteen channel numbers exist in only one of the two families: there is no UPE 260, 280, 320, 350 or 380, and no UPN 270, 330 or 360. For those sizes the phrase “the same number in the other family” has no referent, and a substitution changes the section rather than the flange shape.
Check which edition your table came from
This one is fresh enough that most references have not caught up. The 2017 edition of the dimensions standard was withdrawn on 15 July 2026 and replaced by a 2026 edition. Both mill catalogues quoted here still cite the 2017 document on their table headers.
What changed between the two editions is not published outside the paid document, so the honest position is that we do not know whether any tabulated value moved. The family list did not change. If a value is load-bearing for your design, that is a reason to work from a current copy rather than from a table of unknown vintage, including the tables on this page.
Worth knowing for context: before this standard existed there was no European dimensional standard for I and H beams at all, and the tolerance standard said so, pointing users to Euronorms or to national standards in the meantime. The sections themselves are far older than the European document that tabulates them, which is why national designations still circulate.
Reference tables
Selected sizes below, as published by two mills whose figures agree. These are catalogue data, not a reproduction of the standard, and the mills state that their dimensions follow the 2017 edition.
| Section | h | b | tw | tf | Mass | Area |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPE 80 | 80 | 46 | 3,8 | 5,2 | 6,0 kg/m | 7,6 cm² |
| IPE 100 | 100 | 55 | 4,1 | 5,7 | 8,1 kg/m | 10,3 cm² |
| IPE 200 | 200 | 100 | 5,6 | 8,5 | 22,4 kg/m | 28,5 cm² |
| IPE 300 | 300 | 150 | 7,1 | 10,7 | 42,2 kg/m | 53,8 cm² |
| IPE 360 | 360 | 170 | 8,0 | 12,7 | 57,1 kg/m | 72,7 cm² |
| HE 200 A | 190 | 200 | 6,5 | 10,0 | 42,3 kg/m | 53,8 cm² |
| HE 200 B | 200 | 200 | 9,0 | 15,0 | 61,3 kg/m | 78,1 cm² |
| HE 200 M | 220 | 206 | 15,0 | 25,0 | 103 kg/m | 131,3 cm² |
| HE 1000 B | 1000 | 300 | 19,0 | 36,0 | 314 kg/m | 400 cm² |
| UPN 200 | 200 | 75 | 8,5 | 11,5 | 25,3 kg/m | 32,2 cm² |
| UPN 400 | 400 | 110 | 14,0 | 18,0 | 71,8 kg/m | 91,5 cm² |
| UPE 200 | 200 | 80 | 6,0 | 11,0 | 22,8 kg/m | 29,0 cm² |
| UPE 400 | 400 | 115 | 13,5 | 18,0 | 72,2 kg/m | 91,9 cm² |
Dimensions in millimetres. The masses follow from the tabulated area at a density of 7 850 kg/m³.
What ULAMEX supplies
Beams, columns and channels sit in the Black Steel category, in the usual structural grades. How the families differ in use, and which one suits which job, is covered in Structural steel sections explained: beams, channels and how to choose, and the grade decision in Structural steel S235JR, S275JR and S355J2: which grade for which application.
A complete order names two standards, one for the steel and one for the shape, which is set out in EN 10025: what the standard delivers and what your order has to add.
ULAMEX is a metals wholesaler, in the business since 1988, that is 38 years. Dispatch across continental Europe typically takes 2-7 working days. A 3.1 inspection certificate is issued by the manufacturer of the material and we pass it on when the order asks for it; our own structural fabrication is certified to EN 1090-1 EXC2 and EN ISO 3834-2, documented on Certificates.
If you have a designation from a drawing and want the current dimensions, masses and tolerance basis confirmed before you order, send it through the contact form.
Frequently asked questions
Is HE 200 A really 200 mm tall?
No, it is 190 mm. Only the B variant matches its number: checked across all twenty-four HE numbers, HE … B equals the number every time and the A and M variants never do. HE 200 AA is 186 mm and HE 200 M is 220 mm. The number identifies the series, and the flange width equals it only up to 300, above which the width stays at 300 mm.
Which standard gives the tolerances for an IPN?
EN 10024, not EN 10034. The scope of EN 10034 excludes taper flange sections in as many words, which makes IPN the one I-beam it does not cover. Both families take their dimensions and masses from the same dimensional standard, so it is only the tolerance document that differs, and the permitted deviations on height are not the same in the two.
Is there a mass tolerance for steel beams?
Yes, ±4,0 % of nominal, flat across the whole range, and it sits in EN 10034 even though the word mass is absent from that standard’s title. EN 10024 sets the same figure for taper flange I sections. For channels the basis is different: mill tables show ±6 % below 125 mm section height and ±4 % above, so carrying the flat figure across from beams to channels is wrong for the smaller sizes.
Why is my calculated section weight lower than the table?
Because a hand calculation from the outline dimensions ignores the root fillet where the web meets the flange, and that fillet carries real steel. Across 192 IPE and HE profiles the omission underestimates mass by 3,4 % on average and by up to 7,6 %; for IPE 200 it is 4,5 % and for HE 200 A 5,3 %. Include the radii and the calculation lands within a fraction of a per cent.
Should I write HEB 200 or HE 200 B?
Both are understood, but HE 200 B is the form the mills and the standard use. The contracted spellings HEB, HEA and HEM are trade usage and do not appear in mill catalogues at all, so a search of supplier data for HEB can come back empty while the product is listed under HE. The standard names the family HE.
Is a UPE always lighter than a UPN of the same number?
Almost always, and not at the top of the range: UPN 400 is 71,8 kg/m and UPE 400 is 72,2 kg/m. More importantly the two grids do not match, and seven of the eighteen channel numbers exist in only one family. There is no UPE 260, 280, 320, 350 or 380, and no UPN 270, 330 or 360, so for those sizes a swap changes the section rather than the flange shape.
What does the flange thickness of a UPN refer to?
To a thickness at one defined point on a sloping flange, not to the flange as a whole. The slope is 8 % up to 300 mm section height and 5 % above it, and the measuring point moves as well, from half the flange width to half the width less the web. An IPN works the same way with a 14 % slope measured at a quarter of the width, which is why taper washers are a standardised item in their own right.
Which edition of the dimensions standard is current?
The 2026 edition. The 2017 edition was withdrawn on 15 July 2026, and mill catalogues printed before then still cite it on their table headers. What changed between the editions is not published outside the paid document, so whether any tabulated value moved is not something we can confirm. The list of section families did not change.