steel plate and beam offset

[EnricoCorvaglia]

Hi everyone

Several times I need to design rectangular steel tanks made with plates and shapes as reinforcement.

Shapes are welded upon the plates. In this case I didn't understand if is correct to impose offest on beam or to apply beam in the same plane of the plate.

I found a lot of material for T slab but I'm not sure that is applicable also for my case.

Many thank to who want and can help me

[Rafacascudo · Accepted solution]

Regarding getting the correct forces for the plate and the steel profile , it is the same problem. Using offsets(or rigid links) will give you the exact forces . Compared to the aligned model , in the offset one ,Bars will have lower bending moments and  a normal force that is nonexistent in the no offset model and that also appears on the plate .

It all depends on how you want to treat/design the structure .