What Is Wide Flange in Construction?
What Is Wide Flange in Construction?
Wide flange is a desirable structural material for constructing homes, bridges, highway ramps, and overpasses due to its strength in resisting bending under heavy loads.
It is recognizable by the shape of the letter I, which is formed by two parts: the web and the flanges. The web forms the vertical sides while the flanges form the horizontal top and bottom parts of the I-beam profile.
Its properties make it suitable for high-load applications such as in buildings that require support against winds or earthquakes.
Why Is It Called Wide Flange?
Wide flange beams are named due to their unique shape, which features parallel sides known as ‘flanges’, and these parallelly facing sides are wider than those of I-beams.
This shape gives wide flange beams an excellent weight-bearing capacity and makes them resistant to bending and twisting, thus leading to the name ‘wide flange’.
As a result, these beams can be used for a variety of applications in commercial and industrial construction with assurance of strength and stability.
What Is The Wide Flange Used For?
Wide Flange Beams are used in many applications to provide structural stability and support. They can be found supporting the walls of earth retention systems, sound barriers for highways, and walls within a basement or underground structure.
In addition, Wide Flange Beams are often used as waler and bracing components to create cofferdams – an artificial enclosure that is constructed from interlocking sheets of steel or other material.
This provides a strong, secure barrier that is necessary for certain types of construction projects. With their impressive strength and versatility, Wide Flange Beams have become an invaluable part of any structural project.
What Is The Difference Between An I-Beam And A Wide Flange?
The main difference between an I-beam and a wide flange is the size of their flanges. An I-beam has tapered flanges that are narrower than most wide flange beams, making it lighter.
On the other hand, a wide flange beam has wider flanges and webs that can handle more weight; however, this also makes it heavier overall.
Both types of beams have their own advantages and disadvantages in different building applications depending on what kind of load they need to support.
What Is The Advantage Of A Wide Flange Beam?
Wide flange beams offer an advantage over conventional square beams in that they can support a wider range of load sizes over a larger area.
This means that the same weight wide flange beam will be able to safely and securely hold more weight than an equivalent sized square beam.
Furthermore, this wider distribution of weight helps to reduce potential failure points due to overloading, making them more reliable in large structures.
Not only are they stronger and more reliable than their square counterparts, but due to their shape, wide flange beams also weigh less than the same sized squares, making them a much more efficient choice for builders looking for maximum strength in construction without sacrificing too much on weight.
How Do You Weigh A Wide Flange?
Weighing a wide flange beam is easy and can be done with the help of its designated letter W followed by its nominal depth in inches and its weight in pounds per foot.
For example, if a beam is marked as W12 × 19 it means that it has a depth of 12 inches and a nominal weight of 19 pounds per foot. This designation makes it easier for people to determine the weight of any wide flange beam without having to actually weigh it.