Build-up beam connector calculations

Build-up beam

There are a number of important applications of beams where welds, glue, rivets, bolts, or nails are used to join two or more structural components to form a single beam. Several examples of such built-up beams are used in the industry. They are:

• a glued-laminated timber beam
• a welded plate girder
• a wooden box beam constructed of several planks nailed together
• a beam with reinforcing flange plates bolted to the basic beam

In such cases it assumed that the beam acts as a unit (e.g., plane sections remain plane) and that the joining medium (nail, weld, bolts, etc.) is capable of transferring shear across the longitudinal junctions between component parts of the beam.