HEB Beams: The Complete Guide (EN 10365)

The HEB is Europe's standard wide flange H-section: a doubly symmetric hot-rolled profile whose flanges are roughly as wide as the section is deep. It is the middle member of the HE triplet catalogued in EN 10365: HEA is the lightened variant, HEB is the normal one, and HEM is the reinforced one. The letters go back to the German designation HE (Breitflanschträger) with series B for the base profile.

Compared with an IPE, whose flange is only about half the depth, the HEB spreads its material sideways. That changes the character of the section completely: the weak axis becomes strong enough to matter, which is why the HEB is the default European column section, while the IPE is the default beam.

One naming convention is worth memorising: for HEB the nominal size equals the actual depth, so HEB 200 is exactly 200 mm deep. The lighter HEA of the same nominal size is slightly shallower and the heavier HEM is deeper. Browse the whole series at the HEB family page.

The series runs from HEB 100 to HEB 1000 in 24 sizes, and it is governed by one striking rule.

• Square up to 300: from HEB 100 to HEB 300 the flange width equals the depth (h = b). A square envelope means the two bending axes are as balanced as an open section can make them, which is exactly what a column wants.
• Capped flange above 300: from HEB 320 upwards the flange stays at 300 mm while the depth keeps growing to 1000 mm. The tall sizes therefore behave more and more like deep beams: strong axis stiffness grows rapidly, weak axis stiffness barely moves.

You can read this rule directly in the data: the weak axis radius of gyration i_z climbs to 75.8 mm at HEB 300 and then stops growing, while a HEB 700, more than twice as heavy, still has only i_z = 68.7 mm. The complete verified table of all sizes follows; every row links to the full profile page.

The three HE series share the same flange width at each nominal size and differ in web and flange thickness. The practical consequences at nominal size 100 show the spread: HEA 100 weighs 16.7 kg/m, HEB 100 weighs 20.4 kg/m and HEM 100 weighs 41.8 kg/m, roughly double the HEB.

The rules of thumb follow from that. HEA saves weight and is often the economic choice when stiffness, not strength, governs, or when every kilogram counts. HEM buys extra capacity without extra depth, useful where the construction height is fixed, in heavily loaded columns and where thick flanges simplify connection design. HEB sits in the middle and is the compromise that stockholders actually carry, which is why availability alone often decides in its favour.

Watch the depths when swapping between series: at nominal size 100 the HEA is 96 mm deep and the HEM 120 mm, so a one to one replacement changes the construction height. The comparison below shows the classic trio at nominal size 200 together with the IPE of the same depth.

A column fails by buckling about its weaker axis, so what matters is not the impressive I_y but the modest I_z. The square envelope of the small and mid HEB sizes keeps the two radii of gyration close together, so the section wastes little capacity: whichever way the column deflects, it resists with nearly the same stiffness. A slender open section like the IPE has an i_z several times smaller than its i_y and squanders its strong axis in compression.

There are second order bonuses too. The stocky flanges of an HEB put it in a favourable cross-section class even in pure compression, the thick material is forgiving in welded and bolted connections, and the wide flange gives bolts room. For the mechanics of slenderness and buckling curves see the guide on radius of gyration and buckling, and for what section class means see cross-section classification.

For beam use the picture flips. When the available depth is limited, an HEB packs a lot of bending capacity into few millimetres of height. When depth is free, a taller and much lighter IPE reaches the same stiffness for less steel, so paying for HEB flanges in a simply supported floor beam is usually paying for material the beam does not need. One more HEB advantage as a beam: the wide compression flange makes it far less sensitive to lateral-torsional buckling.

The most searched HEB facts are weights, so here they are straight from the verified database. A HEB 120 weighs 26.7 kg/m, the everyday HEB 200 weighs 61.3 kg/m, a HEB 300 weighs 117 kg/m and the top of the range HEB 1000 weighs 314 kg/m. Multiply by the length in metres and you have the order weight; steel density 7850 kg/m³ is already included.

Every profile name links to a page with the full set of section properties, an accurate scale drawing, a 3D view and CSV or JSON export. If you need the reverse direction, start from a required modulus or moment and let the lightest section finder propose candidates across all families.

The dimensions come from EN 10365 and the rolling tolerances from EN 10034; the material is specified separately per EN 10025, in practice S235JR for lightly loaded work and S355J2 as the modern default for anything structural. Grade changes strength only: an S355 HEB 200 is exactly as stiff as an S235 one, because the modulus of elasticity does not change with grade.

Availability is a genuine engineering input. HEB is the best stocked of the three HE series across European stockholders, in lengths typically up to 12 m and larger sizes to order from the mill. Mid sizes, roughly HEB 140 to HEB 400, are near universal stock; the tall sizes above HEB 600 are mill order territory with longer lead times, worth checking before the design freezes.

If you are matching old drawings, note that many historic wide flange designations (DIN differences, national series) map onto the current HE families; the guide to old steel designations covers the common cases.