Trough Cover

[jeffl013]

I have a 6 ft wide trough that is 100 ft long and has to support a 13000 lb loaded fork truck. I have choosen to use 1/2" steel floor plate with W6 x 16 beams welded to the plate that will span the 6 ft section. Each end of the beams will be resting on a concrete shelf. I am trying to determine the center distance the beams need to be held at without overkilling. Any formulas would help. thanks

 

[MiketheEngineer]

That is a pretty straight forward structural engineering problem - hire one.

 

[jeffl013]

I agree that it is a pretty straight forward structural engineering problem. I am trying to get an idea of how many beams are needed for budgetary reasons and will eventually hire a structural engineer if we continue with the project.

 

[CarlB]

Have you considered bar grating? 6' seems a long span for steel plate.

If your beam spacing is any more than 6' then the plate essentially needs to be able to span 6' with a wheel load in the center, so the beams aren't helpinmg much unless you go to about 4' spacing. So maybe you could use a smaller beam at that spacing.

FWIW, I'm not a structural engineer

 

[semo]

As Carl led to, it all depends on your plate, grate, etc. The further the beam spacing, the thicker the plate/grate needs to be. You will have to do some design to determine that.

 

[dik]

Check with Fisher & Ludlow; they have some very heavy grating.

Dik

 

[jeffl013]

Ended up with S6 x 12.5 beams spaced on 12" centers under 1/2" plate.