Understanding Steel Beams in Construction

Steel beams are literally holding up every building you walk into, and most people

have no idea how they actually work. In structural engineering, we design two types of beams: main beams

and secondary beams. The main beams are the heavy lifters, carrying the massive loads,

while secondary beams distribute weight across the structure. Here's the cool

part: every beam has three critical sections, the top flange, bottom flange,

and web in between. When engineers design restrained beams, we're calculating exactly how much

weight these steel sections can handle before they buckle or fail. It's basically solving

a puzzle where one wrong calculation could mean disaster. Next time you're in a building,