cart on plywood

[AIA13]

I am trying to span a distance of 48 inchs with plywood to run a push cart on to bring some heavy equipment to an area. I am looking to find what forces this plywood can handle. any suggestions on doing this?

 

[efsinc]

Contact American Plywood Association, AWP-EWS, Washington (state). Ask for technical assistance. They will guide you to their literature which will give you the section properties of various plywood sheets. From these you can calc the allowable loads, or design the sheet of plywood you'll need for your application.
Plywood is engineered wood. Consequently, orientation and usage is important.

 

[msquared48]

Check this out:

http://www.apawood.org/pdfs/managed/F405.pdf?CFID=7908834&CFTOKEN=74507542

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
Motto: KISS
Motivation: Don't ask

 

[figurnitout]

Spanning 4' and using ¾" Class 1 Plyform, Fb=1500± psi, the maximum load you'd want to place on the plyform would be around 20 psf which isn't much if you are moving equipment over it.

You would most likely need joists or some other support under the plywood and space it at whatever your load requires.

 

[oldrunner]

You can design the plywood for the bending forces by considering only outer plys. The section properties for the various grades and thicknesses are in one of the APA publications. You will have to determine how the panel is loaded with the four wheels of the cart. Also the cart wheels may not be evenly loaded. Be careful of the wheel crushing the top face of the plywood.
If you find that the panel thickness is not adequate (say a 1.25" thickness), considered field laminating an additional layer using adhesive, nails and screws.

Remember that you can perform an analysis using first principals knowing the thicknesses and number of plys.

 

[MiketheEngineer]

Like oldrunner intimates - steel wheeled carts can tear up plywood (even bad concrete) rather quickly.