A Beginner's Guide to the Steel Construction Manual, 14th ed.

Chapter 8 - Bending Members

© 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011 T. Bartlett Quimby
Introduction
Section 8.6.5
Flexure
Transverse Stiffeners for Concentrated
Flexural Limit
State Behavior Loads
Determining
Last Rev ised: 07/30/2011
Applicable Limit
States If a beam has insufficient strength (web local yielding or web
Flexural Yielding crippling) to support concentrated point loads then a pair of
Limit State transverse stiffeners can be added to the web to transfer the
Lateral Torsional concentrated force to the web. The design requirements for these
Buckling Limit stiffeners is found in SCM J10.8. You should read this section and
State it's associated commentary section carefully.
Flange Local
Buckling Limit Transverse Stiffeners for Tensile Concentrated Loads
State
When the load to Figure 8.6.5.1
be transferred is Transverse Stiffeners for Tension
Shear tensile, the limit Click on image for larger v iew

Shear Behavior
state of web local
yielding (SCM
Shear Strength
Limit State
J10.2) applies
when computing
the strength of the
Deflection selected section. If
the selected section
Deflection has insufficient
Behavior capacity, then a
Deflection Limit pair of stiffeners
State are added to carry
the load that the
section cannot.
Misc. Limit States
The stiffeners are
Web Local
designed as any
Yielding
other tension
Web Crippling
member using the
provisions of SCM chapter D.

Beam Design For the situation depicted in Figure 8.6.5.1, a W section supports
two columns at the same location somewhere away from the ends
Selecting Sections of the member. Both columns have a load case where they are in
Cover Plates tension as shown.
Transverse
Stiffeners for Tensile Strength of Stiffeners
 Shear The maximum tension on the stiffeners is the maximum of P1 or P2.
Bearing Plates
Transverse The capacity of the unstiffened W section is determine with SCM
Stiffeners for J10.2.
Concentrated
Loads The required capacity of the stiffeners becomes:
Continuous
Beams Req'd Stiffener Capacity = max[P1, P2] - Capacity of W section

The design goal for the stiffeners is to determine b and t as shown

Chapter Summary in Figure 8.6.5.1 such that the limit states of tensile yielding and
tensile rupture (SCM D2) are satisfied.

Typically a corner of the stiffener plates is cut off in the vicinity of

Example Problems the fillet that connects the W section web to the flange (see the SCM
J10.8 commentary), resulting in a reduced section for the plates at
the flange.
Homework
Problems The area calculations are:
References A g = 2bt

A e = A n = 2(b-x)t
Report Errors or
Make Suggestions These areas are used to compute the SCM Chapter D tensile
strength limit state values for the stiffeners.
Purchase Hard Copy Stiffener Slenderness

Make Donation It is advisable to also meeting the slenderness limits found in SCM
D1. In this case the critical "r" value for a rectangular cross section
is:

r = t / [ 2 sqrt(3) ]

and L is equals the distance between the inside faces of the flanges.

Connection of the Stiffeners

There are three connections to be Figure 8.6.5.2

considered: one each where the Transverse Stiffener
stiffeners attach to the flanges and the Connection
attachment of the stiffeners to the web. Click on image for larger v iew

These are shown in Figure 8.6.5.2.

The attachment to each of the flanges

must be strong enough to transfer the
required forces to the plates. For the
example shown,

Req'd Connection Capacity to top flange

= P1 - Capacity of W section
 Req'd Connection Capacity to bottom
flange = P2 - Capacity of W section

These forces are shared between the two

stiffener plates. The force to a single
stiffener plate is half of the above.

The force to be transferred to the web of

the W section is the difference between
the opposing tensile forces:

Req'd Connection Capacity to web = P1 -

P2

Again this force is shared between the

two plates.

It is recommend in the SCM commentary

on J10.8 that the fillet welds used to
make these connections be terminated away from fillet area as
shown in SCM Figure C-J10.7 (SCM pg 16.1-423).

Other Conditions

The situation given above also works for the condition where there
is a concentrated load coming from one side only. In that case,
either P1 or P2 equals zero and all the same equations apply. Also,
the stiffeners do not need to be full height either. They only need
be long enough to transfer the force via the welds to the web. This
will be a function of the weld strength (i.e. the smaller the weld the
longer the transfer length).

If the concentrated loads are near the end of the W section, the only
difference is in how the capacity of the W section is determined.
See SCM J10.2 for details on this situation.

Transverse Stiffeners for Compressive Concentrated Loads

For the case of compressive concentrated loads, the bearing

stiffeners and beam web are treated as built up columns. SCM
J10.2 invokes the requirements of SCM E6.2 and SCM J4.4.
Compressive bearing stiffeners are to be provided in pairs and be
full depth of the member.

The key concept to get from SCM E6.2 is that the individual plates
must be attached to meet the requirements of the first paragraph of
the section. This limits the spacing of bolt or intermittent welds.

SCM E6.2 refers to governing slenderness ratio of the built-up

member. The dimension and effective length for this member are
defined in SCM J10.2.
Column Compressive Strength of Stiffeners

The maximum compression on the built-up member that is

comprised of the stiffeners and effective area of web is the
maximum of P1 or P2.

The design goal for the Figure 8.6.5.3

stiffeners is to determine b Transverse Stiffeners
and t as shown in Figure for Compression
8.6.5.1 such that the column Click on image for larger v iew

limit states of SCM J4.4

and/or SCM chapter E are
satisfied.

In order to apply the

referenced sections there are
a few needed section
properties. SCM J10.2 gives
the required dimensions to be
used. Figure 8.6.5.3 shows
the applicable basic
dimensions.

The effective column height,

KL, is taken as 0.75h. The
effective web width (bw) is
taken as either 25tw (for
"interior" locations) or 12tw
(for locations near the end of
a beam).

With this information we can compute the section properties. Note

that "r" is computed about an axis in the center of the web.

A g = 2bt + twbw

I = t(2b+tw)3/12 + (bw-t)(tw)3/12

r = sqrt (I/A g)

According to SCM J4.4, if the member slenderness (0.75h/r in this

case) is less than or equal to 25 then the column strength equals
the plastic strength:

Pn = FyA g

If the slenderness exceeds 25 then we need to consider the effects

of slenderness requirements of SCM chapter E. The section to be
used will depend on the slenderness of the cross sectional elements
(i.e. the stiffener plates).
In order to use SCM E3 the plates must not meet the SCM B4
criteria for being slender. The applicable SCM Table B4.1a case is
case 3. A b and t must be selected that keeps the width/thickness
ratio within the limits for non-compact sections.

Bearing Compressive Strength of Stiffeners

Since the force transfer to the stiffeners is compressive, the contact

stress between the flanges and the ends of the bearing plates must
meet the criteria of SCM J7(a). Note that the bearing area, A pb, is
less than Ag since some of the stiffener plate is cut away to avoid
the fillet at the web/flange intersection.

Using the dimensions shown in Figure 8.5.6.1:

A pb = 2(b-x)t

When comparing the capacity to the demand, the demand is

technically less that the whole concentrated force since some of the
force is carried by the web. However, it is conservative to neglect
the contribution of the web and assume that all the concentrated
force is transferred across the bearing contact area.

Connection of the Stiffeners

For fitted plates, it is not necessary to weld the stiffeners to the

flanges, however, it is not uncommon to do so. If the plates are
not accurately fitted, then the welds should be designed to transfer
the applied concentrated force on the adjacent flange.

The connection to the web is to be designed in the same manner as

described above for tension stiffener plates. Where there is no net
force transfer to the web, the connection must meet the
requirements of SCM E6.2.

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