Lateral Support - Steel Beam
Lateral Support - Steel Beam
(OP)
I am looking at a one story building with roof rafters supported on cmu's (2 ft high) , and just below that, a steel beam. (RR's are perpendicular to cmu's)
Do I have lateral support for the steel? Do the cmu's really provide the lateral support when the real lateral supporting members are not directly connected to the steel
Do I have lateral support for the steel? Do the cmu's really provide the lateral support when the real lateral supporting members are not directly connected to the steel






RE: Lateral Support - Steel Beam
J
RE: Lateral Support - Steel Beam
RE: Lateral Support - Steel Beam
DaveAtkins
RE: Lateral Support - Steel Beam
csd
RE: Lateral Support - Steel Beam
For the record, the nomenclature "roof rafter" is, well, overly descriptive. Rafters are found in the roof structure, but not at floors as the inclusion of the word "roof" might imply. Just a minor point in passing.
Mike McCann
McCann Engineering
RE: Lateral Support - Steel Beam
The roof structure is lumber framing, gable type, with ceiling joists and collar ties. All framing 90 degrees to cmu wall (except of of course the 2 end sides - but no beam there)
So, there is lateral support for the cmu's just above the steel beam. The question again, is does this lateral support work its way down the 2 ft of 8" cmu's (unreinforced)
The conservative answer of course is no, but I am just checking if this is absolutely correct.
RE: Lateral Support - Steel Beam
Sounds like to me that the beam is definitely unbraced. How does the wind load on the beam wall get back to MWFRS? You might have a 60' wind beam. The load path as I understand it would be storefront spans vertically to foundation (or knee wall) and to underside of beam, then where? From your description I would be worried that hinge point exists at the cmu/steel beam interface, unless the storefront spans horizontally to the columns and the columns are full height and are tied to the roof structure.
J
RE: Lateral Support - Steel Beam
Mike McCann
McCann Engineering
RE: Lateral Support - Steel Beam
RE: Lateral Support - Steel Beam
Also, how are the joists connected to the CMU?
I have used the detail many times where we have hung a light gage (girt/purlin type) section from a supporting member to act as a window support. If you can get light gage to work, use a channel.
csd
RE: Lateral Support - Steel Beam
While this would seem to be much stiffer, I wonder if it really solves the steel beam bracing problem.