Print this pageSpecial Vertical & Lateral Load Considerations for Steel Joists & Joist Girders
Matthew
Stuart, P.E., S.E., F.ASCE
Course Outline
This one hour online course will provide the user with an understanding of the special design considerations necessary when dealing with unusual vertical and horizontal loads on steel joists and joist girders. This course includes a multiple choice quiz at the end.
Learning Objective
At the conclusion
of this course, the student will:
- Understand the options available
when designing joists for special uniform and concentrated vertical loads.
- Understand the capacity limitations
of both joists and joist girders to resist lateral loads.
- Understand the analysis and strengthening of standard joist and joist girder bearing assemblies for the transfer of out-of-plane lateral loads.
Course Introduction
Often in the
course of the design of a joist, loads in addition to uniform vertical gravity
loads are imposed on the member. In such a situation, for an engineer to be
able to select the appropriate member size or specify the correct load resisting
performance of a joist, the designer must be able to properly interpret the
manufacturer's allowable load tables and member capacities for both shear and
moment. This course will guide the engineer through that process.
The design
of the overall stability of a building involves an understanding of the load-path
mechanism that distributes the imposed wind or seismic loads from the cladding
to the foundations. Steel joists and joist girders are limited in this regard.
This course will help guide the engineer through the understanding of what these
limitations are.
Course Content
The course content is contained in the following PDF file:
Special Vertical & Lateral Load Considerations for Steel Joists & Joist Girders
Please click on
the above underlined hypertext to view, download or print the document for your
study. Because of the large file size, we recommend that you first save the
file to your computer by right clicking the mouse and choosing "Save Target
As ...", and then open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you still experience
any difficulty in downloading or opening this file, you may need to close some
applications or reboot your computer to free up some memory.
If you have trouble reading any of the material on line, it is recommended that the course material be printed out for better resolution.
The designer
must compensate for non-uniform loads on joists by developing the shear and
moment diagram for a particular member in order to establish an equivalent uniform
load for use in selecting a standard joist or specify a KCS series joist. A
third alternative involves the development of a loading diagram to enable the
joist manufacturer to design and fabricate a special joist for each load case.
Lateral diaphragm
collector and chord forces must be transmitted between the metal deck and the
lateral resisting system via the joist or joist girder member chords. Standard
joists and joist girders have limited capacities available to accomplish this
goal. Special detailing provisions may be required when the member bearing seat
assembly is not capable of transferring the magnitude lateral loads involved.
Additional Resource
You can download a program from Vulcraft's website called Vulcraft Assistant that helps you design joists with concentrated loads (http://www.vulcraft-in.com/). The program does not do any deflection calculations.
Related Links
For additional technical
informaion related to this subject, please visit the following websites or web
pages:
Steel Joist Institute
Vulcraft
Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.
DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDHonline.com or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered professional engineer. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.
