Steel Column Cap Plate Design
Steel Column Cap Plate Design
(OP)
I have a W section column which has a W section beam pass over top and rest on the top of the column. Is the cap plate design to be treated as a base plate design if I don't have stiffeners and if I have stiffeners is it more for constructability?
Thanks!
Thanks!
RC
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
Edmund Burke






RE: Steel Column Cap Plate Design
RE: Steel Column Cap Plate Design
I agree about the stiffeners, but the main question I'm asking is about the cap plate. Is the cap plate just a matter of ease of construction for the contractor to have something to bolt the beam to during erection?
Thanks again.
RC
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
Edmund Burke
RE: Steel Column Cap Plate Design
RE: Steel Column Cap Plate Design
Again, thanks for the response, but maybe I'm just not being clear enough. My stiffeners line up with my column flanges, so they potentially (within tolerances) are going to bear on the flanges. Like you state the cap plate is there to attach the beam to the column. With the described condition the size of the cap plate is a matter of preference over design correct?
Thanks again.
RC
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
Edmund Burke
RE: Steel Column Cap Plate Design
RE: Steel Column Cap Plate Design
DaveAtkins
RE: Steel Column Cap Plate Design
I don't think you would get bending in a cap plate from the beam web. Certainly not with the beam web and the column web colinear, but even in the opposite direction, the beam would be so much stiffer than the cap plate that the cap plate wouldn't see much load.
For uplift forces, the cap plate would bend because the force would transfer through the bolts.