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Civil Engineering & Construction vocabulary · Structures and Loads

Beam

Meaning in civil engineering & construction, with examples

/biːm/nounCore term

In civil engineering & construction, beam means: A horizontal structural member that carries loads across an opening and passes them to the columns or walls at its ends. It works mainly in bending.

In Turkish: kiriş

How it is used

Used for concrete, steel and timber structures alike. Engineers talk about beam depth, beam size and reinforcement; on site, beams are cast, installed or propped. A beam resting on two supports is a simply supported beam.

Example sentences

  1. The beam over the shop entrance needs to be deeper because the span is almost eight metres.

  2. We'll pour the beams and the slab together tomorrow morning.

Common collocations

  • steel beam
  • concrete beam
  • beam depth
  • simply supported beam
  • transfer beam
  • columnA vertical structural member that collects loads from the beams and slabs above and carries them down to the foundations.
  • slabA flat, horizontal concrete element that forms a floor or a roof. It carries the loads on its surface and passes them to beams, walls or columns.
  • spanThe distance between two supports of a beam, slab or bridge. As a verb, to span means to stretch across a space from one support to another.
  • bending momentThe turning effect of loads on a beam or slab that makes it bend. It is measured in kilonewton-metres (kNm) and is largest where the member is most heavily stressed.
  • deflectionThe amount a beam, slab or other member bends or moves under load, measured as a distance, usually at the middle of the span.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Structures and Loads

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