I-beam specifications calculation
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Posted by: mv8167 ® 04/02/2004, 20:47:25 Author Profile Mail author Edit

I am looking for a calculator to determine the maximum theoretical load of an I-Beam. Presently, the I-beam is 16 feet long and supporting the floor above in a house with an even load. There is a support art at the 8 ft mark. Our goal is to determine if we can remove this support. So we need to now the max theoretical load we can place on we can place on this beam.   The beam dimensions are as follows.   Length: 16ft between polls Width: 4.25” Height: 8” (od) Thickness: 0.25” Standard home steal grade.   Can anyone give us a ruff guess-timate?   Keep rolling Mike

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Re: I-beam specifications calculation
Re: I-beam specifications calculation -- mv8167	Post Reply	Top of thread	Forum

Posted by: rkazanjy ® 04/10/2004, 14:58:08 Author Profile Mail author Edit

Mike- I would recommend proceeding very carefully here.   The removal of a midspan support is a VERY serious step. How serious depends on the loading condition; is there a point load over the support you're thinking about removing? is the beam just uniformly loaded? Just roughly, for a uniform load situation the deflection you have now at the mid-point of the two 8ft sections will be 8x higher for the point at which you remove the support Example, if you have 1/4" deflection at midspan of the 8 ft sections, you will get 2" at midspan of the 16ft section; that's quite a sag! The stress in the beam will double. Like many (most) situations, your beam is deflection limited, even if it is not overstressed. Plus the "upstairs" floor (if one exists) will get a lot more bouncy; the new beam stiffness will be 1/8 of the current situation. What does the beam support? How much floor area upstairs? Rough estimate; total allowable distributed load about 6,000 lbs.  Not considering torsional stability of beam. Sixteen feet is a little far for a "light" 8" beam.  Have a local engineer to take a look at the situation. IMHO just removing the beam is going to create a situation that will generate problems downstream, the support is there for a reason. regards Bob

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