CE 495

DESIGN OF WOOD STRUCTURES

Course Outcomes

Course Outcomes
Be able to design wood beams
Lesson Outcomes
Be able to design beams for bending loads
Be able to incorporate lateral stability in beam
design
Beam Design

Design considerations
Flexure stress/capacity
Shear stress/capacity
Deflections
Bearing stress/capacity
Beam Design - Flexure

Beams, rafters, joists or other bending

members
Beam Design - Flexure

Beams, rafters, joists or other bending

members
Beam Design - Flexure

Design specifications
NDS 3.2 Bending Members – General
NDS 3.3 Bending Members – Flexure
NDS 4.4 Special Design Considerations
Other design materials
NDS Supplement Reference Values Tables
4A – 6B
 Beam Design - Flexure

Bending stresses parallel to the longitudinal axis of the beam are also parallel to
the grain and beam take advantage of the beam’s natural strength
Beam Design - Flexure

Bending perpendicular to the grain should be avoided

Span Length

Taking span length from center-to-

center of supports is common practice
and a conservative approach.
Flexural Strength
Flexural Strength

ASD
Actual stress must be less than or equal to the
adjusted ASD bending design value

′
LRFD
Factored moment load should be less than or
equal to the beam moment capacity computed
based on the adjusted LRFD bending design
value
′ ′
 Flexural Strength

Curvature factor and stress interaction factor applies to glulams

Size factor applies to sawn lumber, volume factor applies to glulams

Flexural Strength

Fb is the reference bending design value found in the NDS Supplement

Fbn = Fb*Kf
Flexural Strength

CL is the beam stability factor (resistance to lateral torsional buckling)

Notching
Notching

Sawn lumber
Prohibited in middle third of span
limited to 1/6 depth (notches in tension edges
prohibited if thickness ≥ 4 in)
notches at supports limited to ¼ depth
Glulam
Notches prohibited in tension face except at
supports
Beam Stability

Link to video (go to 1:15 min, mute the sound)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBP2VFHvun4
Beam Stability
Beam Stability

b
Beam Stability
Beam Stability
Beam Stability
Beam Stability
Lateral Support
Beam Stability
Beam Stability
Example
Adjustment Factors