What is the difference between an H-beam and I-beam? How are they used differently?
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- From
- Junan Steel News
- publisher
- Gloria Wang
- Issue Time
- Jun 4,2018
Summary
Some people hold the view that the steel I beam and steel H beam are the same thing, in fact, this understanding is wrong.This blog will tell you the differernces between these two sections.
To those who don’t work with either these two may seem like very similar versions of the same thing.
H sections are designed to take axial forces, as columns or piles (that is underground columns). While I sections are designed to be beams, bending in a single direction.
H sections have a thicker web because the web is more likely to buckle under axial compression than under flexure. H sections also have thicker flanges as they too may buckle under axial compression. H sections tend to be very square, their width is similar to their height.
I sections are usually deeper than they are wide. Their webs are much more slender than the H sections, because the web is less likely to buckle when loaded in flexure.
Summary: steel I beam’s cross section can bear direct pressure and good resistance to pull, but the the flange of cross-sectional dimensions is so narrow that it is not torsional. H-beam is opposite, so both of them have their pros and cons.
