Connect beams to columns with end plates

An end plate connection welds a plate to the beam end and bolts it to the column flange. DetailCraft places the plate, cuts the beam back, drills matching holes in the plate and the column flange, adds the bolts and the weld, and checks edge distances and spacing.

What it can connect

• A level beam (both ends at the same height), upright (rotation 0), with an I-shape profile.
• Into the flange of a vertical I-shape column, square to it.
• The beam end must sit on the column's line, between the column's bottom and top.

Beams into a column web, skewed or sloped beams, and non-I sections are refused with a reason. See What is not built yet.

Add end plates to a beam

1. Choose Select (VV) and click the beam.
2. Choose End plates in the Connect group, or Add end plates in the Properties panel.
3. Every free end of the beam that meets a column flange gets a plate. The status bar says "2 end plates added. Select one to change its plate, bolts and weld; Similar copies it to joints like it."
4. The first new end plate is selected and its settings are in the Properties panel.

If nothing happens, read the status bar:

• "This beam does not end on a column line. End plates go where a beam end meets a vertical column."
• "This beam meets a column web or at an angle; only beam-to-column-flange end plates are built so far."
• "Both ends already have connections."

Change the plate, bolts and weld

Click the end plate (or one of its bolts) to select the connection. Under Plate, bolts and weld (mm):

Type a new value and press ReturnEnter or TabTab. The plate, holes, bolts and the beam's cut length update at once. Each change is one undo step.

Below the settings you see what the connection makes:

• Bolts: for example "8 × 20 × 70 A325 (grip 36.2)".
• Weld: size, where, and its length.
• Plate: its size and its part mark.

How the numbers are worked out

• The beam is cut back by half the column depth plus the plate thickness, so the plate sits on the flange face.
• The plate height is the beam depth plus the two extensions.
• Bolt length = grip (plate thickness + column flange thickness) + allowance, rounded up to the next 5 mm.
• The weld length shown is the perimeter of the beam section.

Warnings

The connection still builds, but these appear under it and in the Problems tab:

• Bolt rows or bolts closer to the plate edge than 1.2 × the hole diameter.
• Row pitch under 2.2 × the hole diameter, or gauge under 2.4 × the hole diameter.
• Holes that run into the column web or its fillet, or off the column flange.
• A plate wider than the column flange.
• A bolt row too close to a beam flange, or a gauge too tight for the beam web and its weld.

Copy it to every similar joint

1. Select the connection you have set up.
2. Choose Apply to similar (n) in the Properties panel, or Similar in the toolbar. The number in brackets is how many joints will get it.
3. Every joint with the same beam profile and column profile, beam into a flange, that has no connection yet gets a copy with the same settings. The status bar says how many.

Copies are independent: changing one later does not change the others. Joints that already have a connection are left alone; delete those first if you want them replaced.

Moving and deleting

Connections are remade from their settings every time the model changes, so moving or resizing a beam or column carries its end plates along. If a change means the joint no longer fits, the connection stays in the model and the Problems tab says why, for example "The beam end is not on the column line any more."

To delete a connection, select it and press fn DeleteDelete. Deleting the beam or the column deletes its connections too.

Next: Add base plates and anchor rods.