Classifications

• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E04—BUILDING
  • E04C—STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS; BUILDING MATERIALS
  • E04C3/00—Structural elongated elements designed for load-supporting
  • E04C3/02—Joists; Girders, trusses, or trusslike structures, e.g. prefabricated; Lintels; Transoms; Braces
  • E04C3/04—Joists; Girders, trusses, or trusslike structures, e.g. prefabricated; Lintels; Transoms; Braces of metal
  • E04C3/08—Joists; Girders, trusses, or trusslike structures, e.g. prefabricated; Lintels; Transoms; Braces of metal with apertured web, e.g. with a web consisting of bar-like components; Honeycomb girders
  • E04C3/083—Honeycomb girders; Girders with apertured solid web
  • E04C3/086—Honeycomb girders; Girders with apertured solid web of the castellated type
• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E04—BUILDING
  • E04C—STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS; BUILDING MATERIALS
  • E04C3/00—Structural elongated elements designed for load-supporting
  • E04C3/02—Joists; Girders, trusses, or trusslike structures, e.g. prefabricated; Lintels; Transoms; Braces
  • E04C3/04—Joists; Girders, trusses, or trusslike structures, e.g. prefabricated; Lintels; Transoms; Braces of metal
  • E04C2003/0404—Joists; Girders, trusses, or trusslike structures, e.g. prefabricated; Lintels; Transoms; Braces of metal beams, girders, or joists characterised by cross-sectional aspects
  • E04C2003/0408—Joists; Girders, trusses, or trusslike structures, e.g. prefabricated; Lintels; Transoms; Braces of metal beams, girders, or joists characterised by cross-sectional aspects characterised by assembly or the cross-section
  • E04C2003/0413—Joists; Girders, trusses, or trusslike structures, e.g. prefabricated; Lintels; Transoms; Braces of metal beams, girders, or joists characterised by cross-sectional aspects characterised by assembly or the cross-section being built up from several parts
• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E04—BUILDING
  • E04C—STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS; BUILDING MATERIALS
  • E04C3/00—Structural elongated elements designed for load-supporting
  • E04C3/02—Joists; Girders, trusses, or trusslike structures, e.g. prefabricated; Lintels; Transoms; Braces
  • E04C3/04—Joists; Girders, trusses, or trusslike structures, e.g. prefabricated; Lintels; Transoms; Braces of metal
  • E04C2003/0404—Joists; Girders, trusses, or trusslike structures, e.g. prefabricated; Lintels; Transoms; Braces of metal beams, girders, or joists characterised by cross-sectional aspects
  • E04C2003/0426—Joists; Girders, trusses, or trusslike structures, e.g. prefabricated; Lintels; Transoms; Braces of metal beams, girders, or joists characterised by cross-sectional aspects characterised by material distribution in cross section
  • E04C2003/0434—Joists; Girders, trusses, or trusslike structures, e.g. prefabricated; Lintels; Transoms; Braces of metal beams, girders, or joists characterised by cross-sectional aspects characterised by material distribution in cross section the open cross-section free of enclosed cavities
• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E04—BUILDING
  • E04C—STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS; BUILDING MATERIALS
  • E04C3/00—Structural elongated elements designed for load-supporting
  • E04C3/02—Joists; Girders, trusses, or trusslike structures, e.g. prefabricated; Lintels; Transoms; Braces
  • E04C3/04—Joists; Girders, trusses, or trusslike structures, e.g. prefabricated; Lintels; Transoms; Braces of metal
  • E04C2003/0404—Joists; Girders, trusses, or trusslike structures, e.g. prefabricated; Lintels; Transoms; Braces of metal beams, girders, or joists characterised by cross-sectional aspects
  • E04C2003/0443—Joists; Girders, trusses, or trusslike structures, e.g. prefabricated; Lintels; Transoms; Braces of metal beams, girders, or joists characterised by cross-sectional aspects characterised by substantial shape of the cross-section
  • E04C2003/0452—H- or I-shaped

Definitions

• This invention relates to improvements in castellated beams, and in particular to improved processes for the manufacture of such beams
• Castellated beams are widely used in construction and are generally of I-section, comprising a web of material, most commonly steel, between a pair of flanges.
• the web of material has a series of regularly spaced apertures, most commonly hexagons or squares. The effect of the apertures is to reduce the weight of a beam of any particular depth, compared to a beam of similar depth having a continuous web.
• Castellated beams are conventionally manufactured from standard universal beams having a web depth which is less than that of the desired castellated beam. Typically, the web depth of the standard beam is approximately two-thirds that of the castellated beam.
• a cut is made along the length of the beam, typically using an oxy-acetylene burner. The cut has a regular castellated form, including sections parallel to the flanges on both sides of the centre line of the web. The two sections of the beam are then separated and displaced longitudinally such that the edges of one which are parallel to the flange abut the corresponding edges of the other. The abutting edges are then welded together.
• the resulting castellated beam has a depth which is greater than that of the original standard beam, typically by 50%, and a correspondingly greater load-bearing capacity, but the weight of the beam is substantially unchanged.
• the conventional method of forming castellated beams suffers from a number of limitations.
• a method of forming a castellated beam having a series of openings of a first form comprises separating a beam longitudinally into two halves, displacing said halves laterally and longitudinally and joining said halves when so displaced so as to form a castellated beam having a series of openings of a second form, and subsequently cutting openings of the first form around said openings of the second form.
• the first form of openings will commonly be circular or oval openings which, due to the absence of corners, provide the best structural performance in the finished castellated beam.
• the second form of openings may be hexagonal or square openings, as in a conventional castellated beam.
• the longitudinal separation of the beam into two halves will be carried out in a fashion which, when the two halves are displaced and then joined together, leads to the formation of the second form of openings. This can be achieved using the form of cut which is conventionally used to form a castellated beam, as described above.
• the second form of openings are preferably substantially regular hexagons or squares.
• openings of the first form may be cut around all the openings of the second form, or around only some of the openings of the second form. It will also be appreciated that the openings of the first form may all be the same, or different forms of opening may be cut into the castellated beam. For instance, a regular series of circular openings may be cut, interrupted by one or more elongate openings where required, eg to accommodate ducting or the like.
• the openings of the first form are preferably circular and are formed by cutting around most or all of the second form of openings in the beam.
• the beam is most commonly a steel beam.
• the various cutting operations are most commonly performed using conventional cutting apparatus, eg thermal cutting equipment. Examples include one or more oxy-acetylene burners, plasma or laser cutters, any of which may operate under automated control.
• the joining of the two beam halves to produce the castellated beam will most commonly be carried out by welding, which may be performed using generally conventional equipment.
• the method of the invention is advantageous primarily in that it permits a castellated beam to be produced with openings of any desired form. Surprisingly, although it involves two manufacturing operations, viz the initial castellation of the beam and subsequent cutting of the openings, the method can be carried out more rapidly and hence more cost effectively than single stage processes for the manufacture of castellated beams with round openings.
• the method is also flexible, in that openings of a variety of different forms can be produced.
• the second stage of the manufacturing process viz the cutting of the openings of the desired first form, also provides the advantage of removing any irregular welding run-off from the ends of the welds by which the two halves of the beam are re-joined, thereby producing openings with clean edges which result in optimal structural performance.
• the longitudinal cut which is made in the beam to divide the beam into halves includes sections which extend parallel to the longitudinal axis of the beam such that such parallel sections of the two beam halves can be welded together.
• the sections of the cut which define edges of the beam halves which are to be welded together define one or more protrusions from one of the beam halves.
• these protrusions serve to hold the surfaces to be welded together in spaced apart relationship. This greatly facilitates the welding process, and also eliminates the need for extensive preparation of the surfaces which are to be welded together. This in turn greatly speeds up the manufacturing process and hence reduces the labour costs involved.
• a method of forming a castellated beam comprises cutting a beam longitudinally to form two beam halves, each beam half having edge portions which are parallel to the longitudinal axis of said beam half, displacing said beam halves laterally and longitudinally to bring said edges of said beam halves into juxtaposition, and joining together said juxtaposed edges so as to form a castellated beam, wherein at least one of each pair of juxtaposed edges is provided with at least one protrusion which abuts the other of said pair of juxtaposed edges thereby holding said pair of juxtaposed edges in spaced apart relation.
• protrusions are formed at or near each end of each of the parallel edge portions.
• the protrusions are preferably generally semicircular in form.
• Protrusions may be formed on only one of the beam halves, so that the protrusions abut directly the parallel edge of the other beam half.
• protrusions may be formed on both beam halves, in which case the protrusions on one may abut the protrusions on the other.
• openings eg circular openings
• that cutting operation may remove any residue of the protrusions as well as welding run-off etc as previously described.
• Figure 1 is a partial side view of a standard I-section beaming showing a first stage in the formation of a castellated beam
• Figure 2 shows a second stage in the formation of a castellated beam
• Figure 3 shows a third stage in the formation of a castellated beam
• Figure 4 shows a final stage in the formation of a castellated beam.
• a castellated beam is manufactured from a conventional I-section beam 10.
• the beam 10 has a depth A and comprises a pair of flanges separated by a continuous web.
• a continuous cut 20 is made along the length of the beam, eg using an oxy-acetylene burner.
• the cut 20 comprises upper and lower (as viewed in Figure 1) parallel sections 21,22 arranged parallel to the longitudinal axis of the beam 10, on alternate sides ofthe centre line of the beam 10.
• the ends of successive parallel sections 21,22 are joined by inclined sections 23 ofthe cut 20 which traverse the centre line.
• the cut 20 has a repeat distance B. To the extent so far described, the cut 20 is similar to the form of cut conventionally used to form a castellated beam with hexagonal openings.
• the parallel sections 21,22 ofthe cut 20 and the traversing sections 23 are all of approximately equal length so that the openings 25 initially formed in the castellated beam (see Figure 2) are substantially regular hexagons. Also, and particularly importantly, at each end ofthe lower parallel sections 22 the cut 20 defines a generally semicircular protrusion 24.
• the two halves 10A,10B of the beam 30 so formed are separated and displaced, first laterally and then longitudinally by a distance corresponding to one-half the repeat distance B ofthe cut 20, into the position shown in Figure 2.
• this step of the process is similar to that carried out in the conventional manufacture of a castellated beam.
• the protrusions 24 on the upper beam half 10A abut the upper parallel sections 21 ofthe lower beam half 10B.
• the effect ofthe protrusions 24 is to hold the juxtaposed parallel edges ofthe beam halves 10A, 10B in slightly spaced apart relation, thereby greatly facilitating the formation of a weld 26 (see Figure 3) between those two edges.
• circular openings 32 are cut around the hexagonal openings (see Figure 4). This removes the corners ofthe intermediate hexagonal openings, as well as removing any residue ofthe spacing protrusions 26 and any run-off at the ends ofthe welds 26, thereby producing clean well-defined circular openings 32.
• the regular circular shape ofthe openings provides the best structural performance. If desired, some or all of the circular openings 32 may be replaced by elongate openings (eg the elongate opening 34 indicated in Figure 4 in broken lines).

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Architecture (AREA)
• Civil Engineering (AREA)
• Structural Engineering (AREA)
• Welding Or Cutting Using Electron Beams (AREA)
• Pressure Welding/Diffusion-Bonding (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (1)

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Family Applications (1)

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• 1999
  • 1999-02-26 GB GBGB9904328.3A patent/GB9904328D0/en not_active Ceased
  • 1999-10-27 GB GB9925302A patent/GB2347153A/en not_active Withdrawn
• 2000
  • 2000-02-15 AU AU25585/00A patent/AU2558500A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2000-02-15 WO PCT/GB2000/000506 patent/WO2000050705A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2000-02-15 EP EP00903827A patent/EP1155203A1/de not_active Withdrawn
• 2001
  • 2001-08-24 ZA ZA200107011A patent/ZA200107011B/xx unknown

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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