I provide here an example of my RAG vector DB for AISI-S100-22, and an example design solution from my Youtube videos, so you can try using a RAG vector DB. Or, if you do not want to setup a RAG system yet, you can use the design example prompt and the RAG output for that example, then give this to your LLM of choice and see how it goes with the design problem.
Design example prompt (example 6.2 from the Cold Formed Steel Design textbook by Yu, Laboube and Chen, fifth edition):
Prompt: undertake the steel design problem below. you must use the connected RAG of the North American Specification for the Design of Cold-Formed Steel Structural Members AISI-S100-22, and in your calculations you must state from which section the equations come from, and the specific equation numbers, from the specification. Write in professional engineering report format. The RAG must be followed in order to maintain compliance of your steel design with the relevant specification, and a format that can be easily reviewed and approved by senior engineers.
Design problem: A channel section has flange edge stiffeners and has outside dimensions of 8 inch deep, 3 inch wide and stiffener depth of 0.7 inch. The flange edge stiffeners are perpendicular to the flange and face inwards. All internal corner radii are 3/32 inch, the thickness is 0.075 inch and the yield stress is 33 ksi. An I beam-column is fabricated by connecting two of these channels back-to-back. The I beam-column has a total continuous length of 20 feet, rests on a roller at the mid-length (C), and is pinned at one end (A) and a roller at the other end (E). There is an axial compression force of 20 kips, and two transverse forces each of magnitude P located at the quarter points (B 5 feet from A, and D 5 feet from E). The beam-column is laterally supported at A, B, C, D and E. The intermediate fastener spacing is 12 inch. Use the ASD method to calculate the maximum load P.
RAG DB: You can use the RAG DB of AISI-S100-22 I created to complete this example.
OR: You can use the output of the queries Claude AI sent to my RAG when given this prompt (adjust the prompt above accordingly). Note that this is the example with the largest amount of RAG queries (14 total), which resulted in an unusually large RAG output of about 70,000 tokens. This is due to the fact that Claude AI required content from each of these sections in AISI S100-22 — Sections E1, E2, E3.1, E4, F1, F2, F3, F4, G2.1, H1.2, H2; Appendix 1 §§1.1, 1.3; Appendix 2 §§2.1, 2.3.1.1, 2.3.1.2.1, 2.3.3.1; Table 2.3.3-1 (flange-element coordinate convention); Sections I1.1 and I1.2 for built-up member provisions.
Solution: You can download the report Claude AI wrote for this example here. It compares very closely with the textbook solution (see Cold Formed Steel Design textbook by Yu, Laboube and Chen, fifth edition).