I just used the flitch beam option for the first time ever and I am running into a problem where the shear capacity does not account for the steel component? In fact, adding more steel makes the shear capacity decrease.
I get that there could be a theory that shear at the end does not benefit from the presence of steel if the steel has less depth than the wood, but at worst that should be a user option. It is easy enough to shim below the steel plies or just set the steel to the same depth to make this problem disappear.
For now, I am stuck with a beam that Calcs says fails but that is actually 100% fine.
Hi Jim,
Thanks for sharing this! This calculator assumes the following:
When flitch plates are used: shear and bearing are assumed 100% carried by wood, flitch plates don’t affect C_L calculation, and steel is conservatively assumed to creep the same as wood for long term deflection
We are actually over conservative at the moment in considering solely the wood area, which results in a decreased cross section with the flitch plates. I’ll create a feature request for this and we will keep you updated on any changes if they do occur.
Let us know if you have any other questions or concerned, thanks for sharing your feedback.
