lateral bracing for light gauge steel
 

lateral bracing for light gauge steel
say i have this situation. i have a continuous beam over a supporting column. can this connection be designed as to assume the bottom flange of the light gauge beam is braced. if so, how. can i provide stiffiners within the light gauge beam? thanks for your help.
what would brace the beam? the column is probably supported by the beam laterally, unless it is a cantilever that is so stiff it can support the beam, point being that the column can't brace the beam if the beam braces it. stiffeners do not function much (none at all per code) for bracing beams for global instability. an external brace is best, just like you would with a wide flange.
thanks for the reply. thinking about it.. it was kind of a stupid question. things can be much more simple by turning and looking at the whole picture upside down.