3.

4 Cased beams
3.4.1 Introduction
This Section describes the design of cased beams that are subject to bending only and which
satisfy the conditions in Section 3.4.2. The design of cased beams not satisfying these conditions
should be carried out by reference to BS 5950-1:20001. To allow for the additional stiffening
afforded by the concrete casing the design should be carried out by following the design
procedure described in Section 3.4.3.

3.4.2 Conditions
The conditions to be satisfied to permit the stiffening effect of concrete casing to be taken into
account are as follows:
• the steel section is either:
– a single rolled section or a fabricated section with equal I- or H-flanges, or
– rolled equal channel sections arranged in contact back to back or separated by
a minimum gap of 20mm and a maximum gap of half the depth of the section.
In order to act together the channels must be interconnected, refer to BS 5950-
1:2000
• the dimensions of the steel sections do not exceed a depth of 1000mm (parallel to the
web(s)) or a width of 500mm
• the steel section is unpainted and is free from oil, grease, dirt and loose rust and
millscale
• there is a minimum rectangle of concrete casing consisting of well compacted ordinary
dense concrete of at least grade 25 to BS 8110-1:199718 and extending the full length of
the steel member and its connections
• the concrete casing may be chamfered at corners but should provide cover to the outer
faces and edges of at least 50mm
• the casing is reinforced with either:
– D98 fabric complying with BS 4483:200519, or
– a cage of closed links and longitudinal bars using steel reinforcement or wire not
less than 5mm diameter and complying with BS 4449:200520 or BS 4482:200521,
at a maximum spacing of 200mm.
The reinforcement should pass through the centre of the concrete cover of the flanges and
should be detailed to comply with BS 8110-1:1997.
• the effective length LE of the cased section is limited to the least of
40bc or (l00bc2/dc) or 250r

where bc and dc are, respectively, the minimum width of solid casing within the depth
of the steel section and the minimum depth of solid casing within the
width of the steel section
r is the minimum radius of gyration of the uncased steel section

IStructE/ICE Manual for the design of steelwork building structures 3rd edition 19