I think it took me 1-2 years of professional experience to fully understand what a fork bearing is.
And I still discuss it with my colleagues in the office from time to time: Is this a fork support or not?
Even when checking other people’s reports, I often see that this boundary condition is entered incorrectly in the structural design software.
In my opinion, the problem is that the boundary conditions of calculation examples at university are usually given. For example, you have to verify a simple supported IPE steel beeam with fork supports for lateral torsional buckling.
But how must the connection of the IPE beam to the column be designed so that it can be calculated as a fork support?
You've finished your bachelor's or master's degree and you're doing structural analysis for the first time.
Then, in software programs such as @SkyCiv, @mbtutorial, @FRILObyALLPLAN, or Polybeam from @polystruc, you have to select the support type, such as fork support, horizontally supported at the top or bottom, or unsupported.
I always found it very difficult to determine if a beam at risk of buckling horizontally is supported by a fork or at the top—because you don't learn that at university.
After a few projects and some professional experience, you've seen a few connections and you slowly begin to understand the bearing types.
Here is my explanation of a fork bearing (have I forgotten anything in this description? – let me know your explanation in the comments):
The term fork support means that, at this point, the beam is prevented from twisting around its longitudinal axis.
Here are a few examples of connections that are fork bearings and those that are not.
Do you have any other pictures of fork bearing connections that you have designed or calculated?
Structural Basics
What exactly is a fork support?
I think it took me 1-2 years of professional experience to fully understand what a fork bearing is.
And I still discuss it with my colleagues in the office from time to time: Is this a fork support or not?
Even when checking other people’s reports, I often see that this boundary condition is entered incorrectly in the structural design software.
In my opinion, the problem is that the boundary conditions of calculation examples at university are usually given. For example, you have to verify a simple supported IPE steel beeam with fork supports for lateral torsional buckling.
But how must the connection of the IPE beam to the column be designed so that it can be calculated as a fork support?
You've finished your bachelor's or master's degree and you're doing structural analysis for the first time.
Then, in software programs such as @SkyCiv, @mbtutorial, @FRILObyALLPLAN, or Polybeam from @polystruc, you have to select the support type, such as fork support, horizontally supported at the top or bottom, or unsupported.
I always found it very difficult to determine if a beam at risk of buckling horizontally is supported by a fork or at the top—because you don't learn that at university.
After a few projects and some professional experience, you've seen a few connections and you slowly begin to understand the bearing types.
Here is my explanation of a fork bearing (have I forgotten anything in this description? – let me know your explanation in the comments):
The term fork support means that, at this point, the beam is prevented from twisting around its longitudinal axis.
Here are a few examples of connections that are fork bearings and those that are not.
Do you have any other pictures of fork bearing connections that you have designed or calculated?
1 month ago | [YT] | 9