# Steel I beam capacity



## IHdonnie

Trying to find a site that can tell me the load capacity of a steel I beam . Does anyone know of a site that does this? So far I havent been able to find one. Thanks in advance..


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## ch0mpie

don't know of a site, but what is your load and span? Or beam and span? I can scan the page from the LRFD manual.


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## Dustball

Get your beam properties here-

http://efunda.com/math/areas/IbeamIndex.cfm

Then calc here-
http://efunda.com/formulae/solid_mechanics/beams/casestudy_bc_simple.cfm


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## tgeb

Great site Dustball.:thumbsup:


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## K2

> Great site Dustball.


Yes, no more bs.


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## IHdonnie

ch0mpie said:


> don't know of a site, but what is your load and span? Or beam and span? I can scan the page from the LRFD manual.


That would be great, thanks.


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## IHdonnie

Dustball said:


> Get your beam properties here-
> 
> http://efunda.com/math/areas/IbeamIndex.cfm
> 
> Then calc here-
> http://efunda.com/formulae/solid_mechanics/beams/casestudy_bc_simple.cfm



That's a handy site, thanks for the link.


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## ch0mpie

IHdonnie said:


> That would be great, thanks.




donnie,
The manual of steel construction has tons of pages of charts, I'm not going to take the time to scan all of them It there is a specific one you need I would be happy to though.

I would use that website carefully, maybe I missed something, but it does not tell you the max ALLOWABLE stress on the beam, it only tells you the actual stresses on the beam. From what I can tell, you can type in a beam with a span and loading that will fail and it will just give you output. Unless you know how to calculate the allowable stress, and compare these to the output, this website seems useless and even dangerous. Also, I don't think it checks for localized failures.


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## IHdonnie

ch0mpie said:


> donnie,
> I would use that website carefully, maybe I missed something, but it does not tell you the max ALLOWABLE stress on the beam, it only tells you the actual stresses on the beam. From what I can tell, you can type in a beam with a span and loading that will fail and it will just give you output. Unless you know how to calculate the allowable stress, and compare these to the output, this website seems useless and even dangerous. Also, I don't think it checks for localized failures.


Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Got a "homemade" bridge going to a house. 8" tall I beam on either side, spanning about 20'. Has wood decking on it. If you can find a page that has something close to this listed and could scan it, I would appreciate it.


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## ch0mpie

Beam sizes that small are not represented on the referance tables. They have to be anylized by hand. I suggest that you consult an engineer.


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## dieterschmied

*what kind of title are you looking for*

I don't understand why the faces ect. I just wanted to offer an answer not play around.

Here is a link in reposnse to the question but I don't know if this system will accept it. Too much monkey business!

http://www.toolbase.org/Design-Construction-Guides/Exterior-Walls/steel-beam-column-load


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## ch0mpie

I'm not sure what your talking about; however, that manual of steel construction specifically for residential construction is an excellent resourse.


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## Joshua

IHdonnie said:


> Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Got a "homemade" bridge going to a house. 8" tall I beam on either side, spanning about 20'. Has wood decking on it. If you can find a page that has something close to this listed and could scan it, I would appreciate it.


What type of traffic?


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## csol

On 2 projects I've done with just floor load bearing and a span of 20' a 8" I beam was more then enough spec'd by an engineer. The steel supply you get the beams from usually will calculate the loads and sizes for you at no charge.


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