The ClearCalcs Wood Beam - Generic Beam, Joist, and Girder Calculators allow you to quickly design wood horizontal members. In this article, each section of the calculator will be explained followed by a worked example.
The Wood Beam Calculator has 4 main sections
1. Key Properties 2. Loads 3. Design Conditions 4. Summary and Graphs
In ClearCalcs, you can select the size of the member you want from a list of industry-standard sized members by using the “Select” button. Using the corresponding filters, you can view available options based on the chosen type, species, grade, manufacturer, and nominal size.
The number of wood plies or boards in the beam. You need to have at least one board in your beam.
The Beam Plan Length is equal to the length of the beam.
You need to specify whether your beam has no continuous bracing, bracing continuous at the top edge only, bracing continuous at the bottom edge, or both. For sawn lumber, when you specify continuous bracing, ClearCalcs will provide you with a short description of the CSA O86 requirements for bracing based on the width to depth ratio.
This section is where you can select the support type or bracing type from a drop-down menu and then specify the location of each support/brace in millimetres (mm) or feet (ft) as measured from the leftmost position of the beam. Additionally, for each support, you must specify a bearing length in millimetres (mm) or inches (in) for a simple bearing check. To ignore bearing checks, simply enter a bearing length of 0.
The load diagram provides a live illustration of the beam and the assigned loading.
Loads can be input as distributed, line, point, or moment loads in this section using the corresponding tables. You need to specify the location of the load in millimetres (mm) or inches (in) from the leftmost position and the respective load magnitude. To input load magnitude, select the load magnitude box or click the "Edit" text. For each corresponding load, a load magnitude table will appear where you will specify the type of load (Dead, Live, etc.) and the respective magnitude in metric or imperial units.
Load Magnitude table for Distributed Loads in kiloPascals (kPa) or pounds per square foot (psf).
Load Magnitude table for Line Loads in kiloNewtons per metre (kN/m) or pounds per linear foot (plf).
Load Magnitude table for Point/Moment Loads in kiloNewtons (kN) or pounds (lb), and kiloNewton-metre (kN-m) or pound-feet (lb-ft)).
ClearCalcs requires you to specify if the beam is being loaded on the strong or weak axis. ClearCalcs sets the default to the strong axis / joist (X-X). The strong axis corresponds to joist orientation and the weak axis to plank orientation.
ClearCallcs allows you to choose to include or exclude the self-weight of the beam in your calculations. The calculator is set to include the self-weight by default unless you specify otherwise. This can play a difference if you're comparing against a published span table, where the self-weight of joists is often included in the superimposed dead load.
In the summary section, the key parameters of your calculation will be outlined. In the graphs section, you can select the load combination you would like the see in the graphs.
Additionally, in the associated tabs, below design conditions, you can see the respective parameters used to derive the summary figures and calculations. These include the following.
These parameters were calculated based on the input loads and key properties.
Design a wood beam with the following characteristics:
Based on the summary and graphs, you can see that a 7x13.5 [175x342] 24f-E Douglas Fir glulam beam is suitable for this design scenario based on the governing 1.25D + 1.5(L+Lr) load combination. Looking at the load capacity percentages, a different beam may be suggested as the factored bearing and shear capacities are relatively high.
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