If the dead load deflection of a beam is expected to be significant, we can pretend the beam upward to counteract the expected downward deflection. This pretending is called camber. The industry...

If the dead load deflection of a beam is expected to be significant, we can pretend the beam upward to counteract the expected downward deflection. This pretending is called camber. The industry standard is that for beams less than 50 feet long, it is not cost effective to camber less than 3/a inch. To have the desired flow of customers in a retail space, the architect wants to use a transfer girder to carry load from a second-story column out to other columns on the first floor. The girder will also carry floor load. A member of the engineering team has chosen a steel Wl4 x 233 (E = 29,000 ksi, I = 3010 in4) to carry the dead loads shown. Our job is to determine whether the beam should be cambered. To make that determination, we need to predict the displacement of the beam chosen. Although the peak displacement might not be exactly at midspan, the midspan displacement will be close enough. The fastest way to predict the displacement will be to use the formulas from the inside front cover of this book.