Design of compound beams

Worked Example:
A compound beam is to carry a uniformly distributed dead load of
400kN and an imposed load of 600kN. The beam is simply
supported and has a span of 11 m. Allow 30kN for the weight of the
beam. The overall depth must not exceed 700 mm. Full lateral
support is provided for the compression flange. Use Grade S275
steel to design the beam section and check deflection, assuming a
uniform section throughout.
Solution

• Load analysis:

The total factored load carried by the beam = 1.4(400+30)+(1.6×600)

= 1562 kN (i.e. 142 kN/m).

Maximum moment = Mx = 1562 × 11/8 = 2147.8 kNm.

Maximum shear force = Fv = 1562/2 = 781 kN.

• Initial section selection

Assume that the flanges of the universal beam are thicker than 16
mm:
py = 265N/mm2 (from Table 9, BS 5950)

Plastic modulus required,

Sx = 2147.8 × 103/265 = 8104.9 cm3.

Try 610 × 229 UB 140, where Sx = 4140 cm3 (available size)

The additional plastic modulus required:

= 8104.9 − 4140 = 3965 cm3
= 2 × 300 × Tf (617 + Tf )/(2 × 103),
where the flange plate thickness Tf is to be determined for a width
of 300 mm.

This reduces to:

𝑻𝟐𝒇 + 𝟔𝟏𝟕𝑻𝒇 − 𝟏𝟑𝟖𝟎𝟑 = 𝟎

Solving gives Tf = 21.61mm.

Provide plates 300mm × 25mm.

The total depth is 617 + (2 × 25) = 667mm (satisfactory).

• Section classification

ε = (275/265)0.5 = 1.02.

Universal beam:
Flange:
b/T = 115.1/22.1 = 5.21 < 9.0 × 1.02 = 9.18,

Web:
d/t = 547.2/13.1 = 41.7 < 80 × 1.02 = 81.6.

Compound beam:
Flange:
b1/T = 150/22.1 = 6.79 < 8 × 1.02 = 8.16
b2/Tf = 34.95/25 = 1.40 < 8.16
b3/Tf = 230.1/25 = 9.2 < 28 × 1.02 = 28.56

The section meets the requirements for a plastic section.

• Deflection control

The moment of inertia about the x–x axis for the compound section is
calculated.
Note for the universal beam:
Ix = 111844 cm3 (from section tables)

Ixcomp = 111844 + 2 × 30 × 2.5 × 32.12 + 2 × 30 × 2.53/12

= 266,444.5 cm4.
The deflection due to the unfactored imposed load is

600𝑥103 4
5 𝑥11,000
11𝑥103
𝛿= 3 4
= 19.04𝑚𝑚
384 205𝑥10 𝑥266,444.5𝑥10

𝑠𝑝𝑎𝑛
𝛿𝑎𝑙𝑙 = = 30.6𝑚𝑚 ……….. O.K
360