That's a good idea BA. Cant I just treat it as a simply supported beam with a concentrated load in the middle? But what would be the effective width to calculate the section modulus? Any suggestions?
Thank you everyone for their help.
RG4
You're 100 % correct Lomarandil.
the Excavation is on dirt and is only 6 ft wide but since it is on dirt you are right the span is longer which is why im saying the trench is 7ft but rather the span is 7 ft.
Would yield line be best to use?
BA, If I'm envisioning this correctly, He's covering an approximate 7' wide trench opening with a giant piece of steel plate that overhangs the trench 4' on each side. Which seems unrealistic. It would weigh over 6000lbs. Seems kind of unlikely that is manageable to move around.
You're correct...
I have a trench that spans 7 ft. and a steel plate is needed for a load of 16 kips plus impact. I need to check if a 1.5 thick plate works. Also how to get the stresses? Any suggestion? The plate is free at two ends and simply supported at the other two. fy = 36 ksi.
Thank you
