Most domestic housing is built using timber framing; however, sometimes long open spaces within the house have required steel roof beams for specialised structural support. Unfortunately erecting steel beams requires cranes, riggers, props and welding; all extra costs that aren’t needed when building solely in timber. To potentially reduce construction costs whilst increasing the demand for value added engineered wood products, this project produced plywood box beam span tables in limit state format. These tables were derived from complex engineering calculations and analysis, and give results for F5, MGP10, LVL 10, MGP 12 and F17 timbers as framing members.
The project also developed a website containing information about engineered timber and wood based solutions for long span beam situations, and a design guide presenting options and strategies for replacing steel beams with timber.
Reference Number:
PNA020-0809
