Estimate wood beam reactions, shear, bending moment, bending stress, shear stress, deflection, span ratio, and basic utilization checks. Use this wood beam calculator for lumber beams, built-up beams, deck beams, headers, girders, floor beams, and preliminary structural planning.
Section properties:
The calculator uses beam width, depth, and number of plies to estimate area, section modulus, and moment of inertia.
Load check:
The calculator combines applied uniform load, beam self weight, and center point load to estimate total beam load.
Bending and shear:
The calculator estimates bending stress and shear stress, then compares them to the entered allowable wood values.
Deflection check:
The calculator estimates deflection and compares it to the selected limit, such as L/360 or L/480.
A wood beam calculator helps estimate whether a selected lumber, built-up, or engineered wood beam may be reasonable for a simple span and load.
It can help compare load, reactions, bending moment, bending stress, shear stress, deflection, span ratio, and basic utilization percentages.
Your result shows estimated beam area, section modulus, moment of inertia, total load, support reactions, maximum shear, maximum bending moment, bending stress, shear stress, deflection, allowable deflection, and utilization percentages. These are planning estimates only and do not replace structural design.
A wood beam calculator estimates basic beam behavior such as load, reaction, moment, bending stress, shear stress, and deflection using entered beam dimensions and wood design values.
Use actual dimensions. For example, a nominal 2×10 is commonly about 1.5 inches by 9.25 inches, while a double 2×10 built-up beam would have two plies.
Utilization compares the estimated demand to the entered allowable value. A value under 100% means that simplified check is within the entered limit.
No. Final wood beam sizing may require species, grade, duration factors, wet service factors, repetitive member factors, bearing checks, lateral support, connection design, load combinations, code requirements, and professional review.