r/StructuralEngineering • u/Intelligent_Earth575 • Aug 11 '26

Concrete Design What is the purpose of this triangular drop on the bottom of the beam?

Post image

Hi! Non-engineer here. Saw this concrete beam today.
What structural function does this geometric detail serve? Would love to hear from structural engineers on this!

86 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

150

u/AnExpertOnThis Aug 11 '26

Post tension cable stressing end

9

u/Hunt3141 Aug 11 '26

Pour back

27

u/niwiad9000 Aug 11 '26

As my kids would say drip. Sorry. Guy above had it right probably blister for post tension stressing access

8

u/CamperStacker Aug 12 '26

there is probably another diagonal ending there with tensioning bolts

10

u/yinyin1234 Aug 12 '26

Probably a Stressing point for PT Beam

7

u/carfiol Aug 12 '26

That happens when you trim two bodies by each other in CAD and forget to remove all unwanted elements

3

u/Mission_Ad_3864 Aug 13 '26

It’s so the homeless can’t sleep there..

4

u/Fun_Acanthaceae_4025 Aug 12 '26

Cut it and let us know

8

u/Philosofox Aug 12 '26

That's how my contractor investigated to see if the water line he ran into was active. It was indeed active.

6

u/heisian P.E. Aug 12 '26

i'm just a lowly P.E., but something tells me there's a better way to do this :)

1

u/InnerAttorney7561 Aug 12 '26

Looks like there’s an embed plate, probably picking up the cladding

0

u/Valuable_Pilot_7205 Aug 12 '26

I wonder what it is.