Wow, you people are fast! Thanks so much for the feedback.
The construction is new. The beam design is WSWSW. THe species under consideration is hemlock #2. If the shear is carried by the wood only, as the article indicated, it ends up being 285 PSI, so even doubling the 85 PSI I was using...
I have designed a flitch plate beam to be used in a wood framed house, but am baffled by a phrase in an article, which I found trough this forum.
THe clear span is 13'1", loaded at 1470#/lf for a total of 19,228#. THe beam is (3)2x12 with (2)1/2" x 11" steel plates, held together by (2) 5/8"...
