ACE58
Structural
- Feb 13, 2006
- 28
I have a 14" reinforced masonry wall with a 42'-0" opening. I am investigating spanning the opening with a wide-flanged steel lintel beam W36x135 with a bottom plate. If I consider the opening length of 42' to be the unbraced length of the compression flange, the moment capacity is not adequate by the ASD Method, Section F1.3. I realize that the concrete masonry being carried supplies a measure of bracing to the beam, but how much? I haven't found any sources that give me a length reduction factor or a procedure for calculating the reduced Fb other than Section F1.3. I can go a little deeper on beam size, but not much.