Design for Beams

Prepared by: Engr. Jo Ann C. Celedio

What are beams?
 Beams are members acted upon primarily
by transverse loading. They are primarily
subjected to flexure or bending.
Types of Beams
 Girder – usually the most important
beams which are frequently at wide
spacing), is a major (deep) beam that
often provide support for other beams.
 Joist – light beam that supports a floor.
 Purlin – a roof beam spanning between
trusses or rigid frames.
 Stringer – is a main longitudinal beam,
usually supporting bridge decks.
Types of Beams

 Floor Beam is a transverse beam in bridge

decks.
 Spandrel – is a beam on the outside
perimeter of the building.
 Girt – a light beam that supports only the
lightweight exterior sides of the building.
Commonly Used Sections
 Hot Rolled including W, S, M, C,T, and L
shapes.
 Doubly symmetrical shapes such as W, S,
and M sections are the most efficient.
 Channels have good flexural strength but
poor in lateral strength, and they require
horizontal bracing or lateral support. Tees
and angles are suitable only for light
loads.
 Flexural strength of a rolled section can
be improved by adding flange plates. But
if loadings are too heavy or the spans are
too long for a standard rolled section, a
plate girder maybe necessary.
 Plate girders are built up from plates in I,
H, or box shapes of any depth.
 Shapes that are built up from plate
elements are usually considered plate
girders.
Beams Bending Planes
 Beams may be loaded in the plane of the
web or perpendicular to the plane of the
web. If the load is in the plane of the web,
it is referred to as bending about major
axis (strong axis), and the value of Ix
should be used. If the load is
perpendicular to the plane of the web, it is
referred to as bending about minor (or
weak) axis and the value of Iy should be
used.
Classification of steel Sections

 Compact- is a section in which individual plate

elements can develop and sustain yield stress for
large value of strain before local buckling occurs.
 Non-compact -
 Slender sections – are those that contain slender
subject to compression due to moment or axial load.
Compact, Non-compact, Slender
 For a section to qualify as compact, its
flanges must be continuously connected to
the web or webs and the width-thickness
ratios must not exceed the applicable limits.
Steel section that do not qualify as compact
are classified as non-compact if the width-
thickness ratios of the compression elements
do not exceed the values shown for non-
compact. If the width-thickness ratios of any
compression element exceed the non-
compact limit, the section is classified as
slender element.
Unstiffened Elements
 Supported along one edge, parallel to the
direction of the compression force, the width
b shall be taken as follows :
1. Flanges of I-shape and tees, b is the one-
half the full nominal width.
2. Legs of angles and flanges of channels and
tees, b is the full nominal width.
3. Plates, b is the distance from the free edge
to the first row of fasteners or line of welds.
4. For stems of tees, d is taken as the full
nominal depth.
Stiffened Elements
 Supported along two edges parallel to the
direction of the compression force, the width b
shall be taken as follows :
1. Webs of rolled, built-up, or formed section, h is
the clear distance between flanges.
2. For webs of rolled, built-up, or formed section,
d is the nominal depth.
3. For flange or diagram plates in built-up
sections, the width b is the distance between
adjacent lines of fasteners or lines of weld.
4. For flanges of rectangular hollow structural
sections, b is the clear distance between webs
less the inside corner radius on each side.
Compact Section
 To be compact, the flanges of the beam
must be continuously connected to the
web. Therefore, built-up section or plate
girder constructed with intermittent welds
does not qualify. In addition, the
equations 1 and 2 must be satisfied by
standard rolled shapes without flange
stiffeners. Equation 2 applies only to webs
in flexural compression.
Equation 1

Equation 2
 To prevent lateral buckling, a beam’s
compression flange must be supported at
frequent intervals. Complete lateral support
is achieved when a beam is fully encased in
concrete of has its flange welded or bolted
along its full length. In many designed,
however, lateral support is provided only at
regularly spaced intervals. The actual spacing
between points of lateral bracing is
designated as Lb.

Lateral Support
Allowable Bending Stress

Refer to the chart for computing the

allowable bending stress
The moment gradient multiplier is given as;

Where M1 is the smaller and M2 is the larger bending

moment at the ends of the unbraced length, and where the
ratio of moments M1/M2 is positive when M1 and M2 have
same sign (reverse curvature bending) and negative when
M1 and M2 have opposite sign (single curvature bending).
When the bending moment at any point of the unbraced
length is larger than at both ends of this length, Cb = 1.0.
For cantilever beam, Cb=1.0, for no moments at each end
support, Cb=1.0

Moment Gradient Multiplier, Cb

 Reverse curvature, M1/M2 is positive

Single curvature, M1/M2 is negative

Cb
Radius of Gyration
Radius of gyration or rT is defined as the
radius of gyration of a section comprised
of the compression flange plus one third
of the compression web area, taken about
an axis in the plane of the web.
For a wide flange, you take the full compression flange and
include with it 1/3 of the portion of the web that is above the
neutral axis of the member.
This gives you a "T" section. The full flange is the top of the
"T" and the small portion of web is the vertical stem of the
"T".
Turn the section 90 degrees and draw a neutral axis line
through the shape (for a WF then it would be at the
centerline of the now-horizontal web portion.)

==| -----neutral axis

Calculate the I of the sideways "T" about that neutral axis.

Radius of Gyration, rt
Example :
 A W24x103 is used as a beam that is
simply supported at its ends. The
properties of the section is as follows.
H =623.10mm Ix = 1.248x1012 mm4
tw= 14.0 mm Sx = 4.008x106 mm3
bf = 228.60mm rx = 252.74 mm
Tf = 24.90 mm
A = 19,548.00mm2 Iy =4.95x1010 mm4
W = 153.76 kg/m Sy =4.33x105 mm3
rt = 59.18 mm ry = 50.34 mm
 The beam is laterally at supports only.
Determine the allowable bending stress
for a length of a) 2 m, b) 4 m and d.)
16m. Use Fy = 248 MPa
 A cantilever beam having a 4 m span carries
a uniformly distributed load throughout its
length. The beam is A36 steel with yield
strength, Fy= 248 MPa. The beam is not
restrained against lateral buckling. The beam
is a W21x62 steel shape, whose relevant
properties for this problem are :
rt =0.053 m tf = 0.016 m
D = 0.533 m S = 0.002077 m
bf=0.210 m

Seatwork
(a) Determine the allowable flexural stress
in the compression flange
(b) Determine the maximum value of the
moment at the fixed support