Hi guys,
I am designing a cantilevered service platform - to support 15 psf DL and 60 psf LL. See attached image for a 2D sketch of the platform.
Per the IBC, we should be able to resist a 50 plf lateral or vertical load (or the 200 lb concentrated equivalent).
I am applying a 0.175 k-ft/ft moment to the channel (based on 50 plf * 3.5' handrail height). The channel support beam for the handrail (also supporting grating above) is laterally braced every 5'.
If I model this channel either as a 10' beam with brace points every 5', or as a full platform, with the unbraced length defined, RAM Elements fails the channel when checking against AISC DG-9.
The results are weird too - for other shapes, reducing the unbraced length clearly reduces torsion. However, for the channel, using the full beam length yields less failure in the model as opposed to specifying a smaller unbraced length.
Can someone give me insight on handrail torsion on channel beams?
I am designing a cantilevered service platform - to support 15 psf DL and 60 psf LL. See attached image for a 2D sketch of the platform.
Per the IBC, we should be able to resist a 50 plf lateral or vertical load (or the 200 lb concentrated equivalent).
I am applying a 0.175 k-ft/ft moment to the channel (based on 50 plf * 3.5' handrail height). The channel support beam for the handrail (also supporting grating above) is laterally braced every 5'.
If I model this channel either as a 10' beam with brace points every 5', or as a full platform, with the unbraced length defined, RAM Elements fails the channel when checking against AISC DG-9.
The results are weird too - for other shapes, reducing the unbraced length clearly reduces torsion. However, for the channel, using the full beam length yields less failure in the model as opposed to specifying a smaller unbraced length.
Can someone give me insight on handrail torsion on channel beams?