1890s steel

huangyhg

1890's steel
fellers,
i am working on a project with a large beautiful barn built in the 1890s.  a floor system is supported with concrete sitting on small steel beams spaced at 4'-0 which are supported on steel girders about 15' long.  would these beams be a hot rolled shape or a welded built up plate girder?  what should be the yield stress of this material at this age?
thanks
tdog
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can you see any manufacturer markings on the steel/iron age beams that might tell where it came from and the type of beam?
mike mccann
mmc engineering
i would suspect welding was not very popular (or even well known) in the 1890's.
in fact weldability tends to be a problem with steels form the early 20th century backward.
this barn is a beautiful piece and most likely way overdesigned.  we just need to verify this floor can handle 100 psf live load, looking for accurate yield strength
thanks

check out "structural renovation of buildings" by alexander newman.  he gives dates, strengths and how to determine what you have.  you may have to load test.  it's published by mcgraw-hill. 886 pages, published in 2001.  used it's about $54 from amazon.
good luck!
the 1892 "wrought iron & steel in construction" publication by pencoyd iron works will have the answers to your questions. you can download the book (free, zipped .pdf) from this page of my website:
cut a coupon and send it to a lab for yield test.  
can your needs be calculated after physically measuring the deflection using a wire test?
  
at 74th year working on ir-one phd from uhk  - - -