🔍 Key Concepts

• Relationship between beam depth and supporting bracket depth in ship construction • Purpose of a beam bracket: to provide smooth stress transfer between the beam and the supporting structure (frame, girder, shell)** • Practical limits: very large brackets add weight and interfere with space without giving proportional strength gains

💭 Think About

• Which option represents a depth that is large enough to give good support, but not so large that it becomes structurally inefficient or impractical? • Compare each multiple of beam depth: which one seems excessively large, and which one seems too small to give effective reinforcement? • Think about common shipbuilding ‘rules of thumb’: are brackets usually made drastically larger than the member they support, or moderately larger?

✅ Before You Answer

• Eliminate any choices that would make the bracket unrealistically huge compared to the beam depth • Eliminate any choice that seems too shallow to significantly strengthen the beam end connection • Ask: in real ship spaces, which depth would still be practical for construction and access around the beam end?