A Cautionary Note on Beam Copes

Routinely in steel construction it is necessary for many beams to be coped, at either the top or bottom flange, in order to provide clearance around the flanges of the beams which provide support. In by far the majority of cases, hot-rolled laterally supported beams with span-depth ratios in the range of 20 to 24 are involved. Generally shear capacity of the beam web is not a critical factor, the size of the copes are of reasonable proportions, and no particular problems are involved in providing adequate strength for the beam end reaction.