huangyhg

strengthening wood beams
i would like to know what are the most commonly used methods for strengthening a wood beam. the most practical one i can think of would be to bolt a another wood beam to the side of the existing, but this isn't an option in this case. does anyone have some experience with this??
1. add a column.
2. post-tension with steel rods both sides, but this may not be possible as the extra beam option is out.
3. add steel plates to the side - they would be thinner.
4. shore the structure and replace the beam.
are the joists framing into the side of the beam or bearing on top?
mike mccann
mmc engineering
mike, thanks for the response.
option 1 is a no-go architecturally.
option 2 isn't possible as well
i am curious about option 3. how do you quantify the contribution of the steel plates?
option 4 might be possible, i'll have to study it some more.
to answer your question, joists are framing into the side of the beam.
look at it as a transformed section, similar to composite steel/concrete design.
exactly.
mike mccann
mmc engineering
structure magazine had a really good article on flitch beams a while back. i have a copy at my desk, which i will not be at again until wednesday. if you want, i'll post it then.
hi abusementpark
if you are going to place steel plates each side of the wooden beam, then the flitched beam principle as suggested is what you need and if you click on the link below you will find an outline on the principle:-
here is a link to the structure magazine article that structuraleit mentioned:
can you reinforcing the beam on the top creating a flanged section?
ns4u:
if you have to do that, then you may as well replace the beam with one that works. i can see shoring and a lot of tearout to install a flitch plate on the top.
mike mccann
mmc engineering
as your joists frame into the side of the beam, you will have to shore the joists, so you may as well install a new beam or another beam beside the existing. your op said that wasn't an option, but maybe you have to make it one.

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