Thanks for responding and yes I agree. This is typically done onsite with the crew and a welder. In this case the CM team want a stamped design showing layout and calculations. I found some information on this but wanted to see if anyone had previous experience. Thanks
In such cases, where the opposite side wants calcs, I usually asks them to provide the forces to which the welds should resist (or references to these numbers). I can do the calcs but cannot pull up such values out of my head.
Somehow the ridiculous questions magically disappear then.
Agreed. They have no idea, but require this documentation or they will only approve a max 5' wide trench covered with 1" plates. They have a standard steel plate loading requirement for the AASHTO HS20-44 Vehicle.
1. The Steel Plates need to cover a 10' x 10' excavation (Need a minimum of 1.5" Thickness of Plate)
2. Roadway speed limit 35mph
3. only 1" Thick Steel Plates are available (ASTM A36) (Need to temporarily weld two 1" plates together)
4. Max Deflection 1"
5. Design Load HS20-44
The 1.5" thickness statement is confusing, are you welding a butt joint, or two thickness of plate to achieve 2" of thickness? If the latter, an alternate approach would be to stiffen the underside of a single plate with beams/channels/flat bar, stopping short of hole edges. A sketch is always helpful.
Yes I want to welding two 1" thick plates together to achieve a thickness of 2". Use of a beam is a good idea, but the plate will be covering a 10x10 excavation for a manhole structure that top out to just under the plate.
I would assume each 1" plate takes load proportional to the stiffness as non-composite members. If you need a third plate to make it work so be it. If that is not attainable I think it will be difficult to get composite action if these plates are wide as the welds will be far apart and the plates could try to separate - or not transfer horizontal shear - over a large width.
