Virginia Tech

Myers-Lawson School of Construction

Temporary Structures
BC/CEM 3134
Fall 2021

Homework Assignment 4
Elevated Platform/Deck Design

Problem Statement
Your boss, the VP of Operations, requested that you design a free‐standing elevated platform for
heavy storage inside of the company’s warehouse. The platform deck must be 16’ x 24’ (width x
length) with a 20’ minimum vertical clearance (column height). The lumber most readily available
and cost effective is Southern Pine with a Machine Stress Rating (MSR) of 1350f – 1.4E. You
decide to use nominal 6” lumber for planks and joists, the latter being placed on 24” centers. You
determine that deflection should be limited to L/240. The company has significant (more than you
need) quantities of 3” to 8” schedule 40, A36 steel pipe. The company also has various A992 steel
wide‐flange beam sections including W6x25, W8x18, W8x28, W8x48, W8x67, W10x33,
W10x45, W12x22, and W12x35, W14x22 and several larger sections as well. Platform design
shall address:

1. Size of 6” joists and configuration

(single, double) proposed
2. Is a nominal 6” lumber plank acceptable?
If not, what do you suggest?
3. Which W-shape from the company’s
inventory do you propose to use for the
beams to support the joists? Why?
4. Which pipe do you propose to use for the
columns? Why?

Hint: 1) assume framing dead load = 10 psf; 2) use

the Appendix A and B in this document to figure out
the live load and lumber properties, respectively; 3)
use the textbook Appendix 4 for column design; 4)
assume the allowable bending stress of steel
materials Fb = 0.6 Fy, Fv = 0.4Fy (if you would like to
check it).
Appendix A

Note: “m” indicates that reductions to the listed live loads is not permissible.
Appendix B