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WhyIsanIbeamShapedtheWayItIs?Quora

StructuralEngineering:WhyisanIbeamshaped
thewayitis?
HowdidanIbeam'seventualfinaldesigncometofulfillitsprimary
function?
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QuoraUser,CaliforniaArchitect
55upvotesbyAnonymous,QuoraUser,RobWright,(more)

Whenabeambendsthetopofthebeamisincompressionandthebottomisin
tension.

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Theseforcesaregreatestattheverytopandverybottom.Sotomakethe
stiffestbeamwiththeleastamountofmaterialyouwouldwantthematerialto
beonlyatthetopandbottomsides.Howeveryoustillneedtoconnectthem
togetherortheywouldjustbetwoseparateplatesandwouldnotbestiffatall.
Soyouputawebinthemiddletoconnectthemandmakethemworktogether.
Theresultingshapeisthetraditional"Ibeam"orwideflangebeam.
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thanrunstraightacrossfromonetower
toanother.Istheresomestructural
benefitorisitstrictlyaesthetics?
Howisaskyscraperbuilt?

Thisshapeisusedwhentheloadisparallelwiththeflange.Asyoucansee,the
shapeisnotsogoodwithlateralforcesunlessyouturnitsideways.Whenthe
loadwillcomefromtwodirections,asquaretubeisused.
Inallthesecasestheideaistoremovematerialthatisnotcarryingmuchload
andconcentratingthematerialwheretheloadishighest.
Increasingthedepthofthebeamincreasesthebendingstrengthbythedepth
cubed,sowecangainalotofstiffnessthisway.However,westarttoget
limitedbythingssuchasbucklingwhenthesectionsstartgettingtoothin.
Whenfoldedsheetmetalstudsareused,thisisdonebyplacingasmallbend
(lip)attheendtoaddstiffness.

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WhyIsanIbeamShapedtheWayItIs?Quora

Upvote 55

Downvote Comment 1

Youcanexperimentwiththesestructuralshapeswithsomecardboardor
popsiclesticksandgluetogetaphysicalunderstandingofhowtheywork,or
lookinanystructuralengineeringtextbook(Statics)fordetailsonhowto
calculate.
Written22Oct,2012.5,736views.

MoreAnswersBelow.RelatedQuestions
Whydowenormalisequantitieslikeforceorcurvaturewhilesolvingbeam
deflectionproblems?
Whatisthedeflectionofasimplysupportedbeam?
IsthereanybenefitinusingtaperedflangeIbeamforliftingusingtrolley?

QuoraUser
10upvotesbyQuoraUser,DaveCalhoun,MillsBaker,(more)

Intheworldofstructurestherearetwobasicfamiliesofmembersflexural
andaxial.Membersthatresistflexureareknownasbeamsandmembersthat
resistaxialaresplitupintocategoriesdependingonwhetherornottheyare
undercompressionortension(cables,columns,rods,etc).Themostcommonly
occurringaxialloadedmemberinstructuralengineeringisacompression
member,calledacolumn.Tensilerodsandcablesarecommoninbridgesbut
rareelsewhere.Somanymembersinstructuraldesignactaseitherabeam,a
column,orahybridbeamcolumn.
Butbacktobeams...theIshapeisanidealshapeforbeams,thatis,for
resistingflexure.

Here'sanexamplesofsomeofftheshelf,builtupIbeamsmadeofwood.
It'sanextremelyefficientshapeforresistingbendingwhichisanotherwayof
sayingit'salotofstrengthforasmallamountofmaterialandexpense.

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WhyIsanIbeamShapedtheWayItIs?Quora
Asothershavepointedoutwhenabeamflexesthetopsideofthebeamgoes
intocompressionasthebottomfibergoesintotension.Thisfollowsfrom
Newton'slaws:theforcesmustsumtozeroforthebeamtoremainin
equilibrium,andsoaninternalmomentisgeneratedinthebeam,withthetop
halfofthebeamgoingintocompressionandthebottomgoingintotension.At
somepointinthemiddleofthebeamthereisapointoftransitionwherethere
isnoforceatallthisiscommonlyknownastheneutralaxisor"N.A."
Aroundtheneutralaxistheforcesareweakbutgrowmuchlargertowardsthe
outsideofthebeam.Itmakessensetoarrangeallthematerialatthetopand
bottomwheretheywilldothemostusefulworkandmerelyconnectthetwo
flangesviaathinwebthematerialinthecenterisn'tdoingmuch.Inaddition
tothis,movingtheseflangesfartherandfartherapartfromthegeometric
centerofthebeamincreasestheinternalmomentarmofthebeam,
dramaticallyincreasingtheresistancetobending.SoIshapeshaveanoptimal
geometryforflexuralresistance.
Tobejustslightlymorerigorous,amember'sstiffnessisdescribedbytwo
differentproperties.Thefirstpropertyistheinherentstrengthofthematerial
itselfgivenbytheElasticmodulus,E.Thesecondpropertyisrelatedtothe
crosssectionalgeometryofamemberanditiscalledtheMomentofInertia,I.
Combinedtogether,EIdescribesthestiffness,thatistheresistancetoflexureor
sagging,ofamember.WhatIbeamsdowellismaximizethe"I"term,sotwo
membersofidenticalmaterial,thatisthesameE,butdifferingintheir"I"will
havedifferentstiffnesses.
Inthephotoabovearevariousshapesofmembersallostensiblyfromthesame
basicmaterial,wood,andconsequentlytheyallhavethesameE.Butwhat
aboutthemomentofinertia?TheItermcubeswithdistanceawayfromthe
geometriccentroid,sothedeeperIbeamwillhaveamomentofinertiamany
timesgreaterthanthelittlestubbyIbeamsonthesides.Soforoneway
bending,whatiscalled'bendingaboutthemajoraxis',thedeep,skinny
lookingbeamisdefinitelythewaytogo.Howeverabeamsometimeswill
experienceloadingintwoaxes,bothmajorandminor.Thisiscalledbiaxial
moment.
Ibeamsaregreatformajoraxisbending,butnotasgoodforminoraxis
bending.ThisisbecausethemomentofinertiaintheweakaxisforIbeamsis
muchsmallerthantheirmomentofinertiainthestrongaxis.
Ofthebeamsabove,thelittlestoutguyontheleftwillhaveabetterratioof
majortominoraxisperformance,becauseit'swidthgivesitabiggermomentof
inertiaintheminordirection.Insteeldesignatall,thinIshapeiscalledan
"S"beam,the"middleofroad,Goldilocks"beamsthatweseeeverywhereare
called"W"or"WF"for"wideflange",andsomethatlooklike"H"sarecalled,
(youguessedit...)"H"beams.ThisarrayofIshapesallowsastructural
designertheflexibilitytomatchthebeamshapetotheintendedloadingto
arriveatanefficientdesign.
Efficiencyislargelyamatterofcontextwhat'sefficientinoneapplicationisn't
necessarilyinanother.There'sotherissuesaswelllike,torsionandvarious
bucklingfailuremechanisms,thatcanmakeuseofanIbeamproblematic.
Regardless,theyaresuchausefulclassofshapesthattheywillalwaysbe
popular.Ifyouweretoaddacompressionloadintothebeamasitwas
bending,you'dgetbeamcolumnbehavior,whichIbeamsareprettygoodat
handlingaswell,particularlywidermorestableshapes.
Anevenmoreefficientshapeforonewaybendingiswhat'scalledan'open
websteeljoist'ora'joistgirder'.Thesearebasicallyapproximationsofatruss
wheretheweb,insteadofasolidplateofmaterial,isthebarestminimumof
materialrequiredtothekeeptheflangestogetherandinplane.Youcanthink
oftheseasIbeamstakentotheirlogicalextreme.Theseareevenworseshapes
thanIbeamsforbiaxialbending,butareexcellentfortheirintendedpurpose,
whichisefficientlyspanninglongdistances.

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WhyIsanIbeamShapedtheWayItIs?Quora

Here'sanexampleofsomeOWSJs(calledBarJoistintheillustration),
framingintoaWF'girder'(anameforabigbeamthatsupportsabunchof
smallerbeams).Noticethecolumnsarebigroundtubesofsteeltheseare
better,morestable,shapesforcompression.
Nexttimeyou'reinagrocerystore,orabigwarehouseorbigboxstorelookup
andyoumightseeastructuralsystemverysimilartotheoneillustratedabove.
Updated24Oct,2013.1,888views.

Upvote 10

Downvote Comments 2

RajeshSampathkumar,Engineering,qualityandprojectmana...(more)
3upvotesbyNafeesImtiazPial,ManieshKumar,andKarthickPrabhu.

AnIbeamhelpsdistributethematerialinthebeam'scrosssectioninaway
thatenablesthesectiontobetterresistdeformation.Thisresistanceto
deformationisexpressedbytheequation:

Misthebendingmomentwhichiscausingthedeformationinthebeam,Iis
themomentofinertia(secondmomentofarea),
isthestressinducedin
thebeamand
isthedistancefromtheneutralaxisofthebeamsectionto
theoutermostfibreinthebeam.(thefurthestpointinthebeamfromthat
pointinsidethecrosssectionwherethereisnochangealongthebeam'slength,
regardlessofhowmuchdeflectionhasotherwisehappened).EistheYoung's
modulusofthebeamandRistheradiusofcurvatureofthebeam'sneutral
axis.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wiki...

Wecansimplifythebeamequationaboveto:

Thequantity

iscalledZ,orsectionmodulus.Ahighersection

modulusmeansalowerresultantstressinthebeamfromanygivenbending
momentM.

Sincethestressandthestrainaredirectlyproportionaltoeachother,tohave
lowerstrainordeflection,youneedahighsectionmodulusforthebeam.

ThesectionmodulusforanIbeam,whencomparedtoasolidrectangular
beamofthesamecrosssectionalareaismuchhigher.Thisisbecausemore
fibresaredistributedawayfromtheneutralaxis.Asaresultofthis,Ibeams
tendtobemorestiffthansolidrectangularsectionsofequivalentarea.

Similarly,hollowcircularsectionsofagivencrosssectionalareaaremore
efficientasbeamcrosssectionswhencomparedtosolidcrosssectionsofthe
samearea.

Furtherreference:

http://roymech.co.uk/Useful_Tabl...

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WhyIsanIbeamShapedtheWayItIs?Quora
Written18Feb,2013.1,011views.

Upvote

Downvote Comment

NafeesImtiazPial,MScinStructuralEngineering
5upvotesbyAkshaySama,AdamBrittan,RaviBabu,(more)

Twoveryimportantcrosssectionalpropertiesofamemberare:
1.crosssectionalarea(A)
2.sectionmodulus(Z)
Beamsnormallyresistbendingmoment.Nowwhetherabeamcanresista
givenmomentornot,itdependsonthebendingstressitisgettingonitstop
andbottomfiber.Iftheappliedstressislargerthanthematerialstrength,then
thememberwillfail.NowifweincreasetheZvalueofacrosssection,wewill
getlessappliedstressforsamegivenmoment.Ourtargetistokeeptheapplied
stressesoftopandbottomfiberslessthanmaterialstrength.Todothiswehave
toincreasetheZvalue.
Ontheotherhand,ifIincreasetheAvalue,Iwillneedmorematerial.More
materialmeansmoremoney(Iamnotconsideringanyaxialforcehere,ifthere
isanyaxialforce,thenyouhavecheckthenormalstressalso).Somytargetis
toreducetheAvalue.So,increaseZvalueasmuchasyouneed,andonthe
sametimereduceAvalueasmuchasyoucan.
Nowtakedifferentshapeofcrosssections.FindoutZvalueandAvalue.Fora
samemomentfindoutstressesattopandbottomfiber.Comparetheresultsfor
differentcrosssections.Youwillget,Ishapefulfillsthestresslimitanditisalso
moreeconomical.Ifyougetsomeothershape,whichfulfillsstresslimitand
alsoeconomical,youcanusethatshape.
Written26May,2014.880views.

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