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Truss Height PDF
Truss Height PDF
L. SIKO1 M. BOTIȘ2
Key words: arched truss, circular hollow section, optimal design, weight.
1
Graduate Student at the Faculty of Construction, Transilvania University of Braşov.
2
Dept. of Civil Engineering, Transilvania University of Braşov.
118 Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov • Series I • Vol. 6 (55) No. 2 - 2013
length of 5 m and the following span As mentioned before the trusses will
dimensions: 10 m, 20 m, 30 m, 40 m, 50 m, have a length between 10 and 60 m. The
60 m. distances between the joints supporting the
The secondary objective is to prove the purlins will be of 1.5, respectively 2 m.
higher efficiency of this structural type The height of each truss will be
compared to multi-span structures, covered determined so that it will lead to the lowest
with multiple trusses. possible steel consumption/ structural
weight. The modality of determining the
2.1. The Method Used for Evaluation optimal height of the steel trusses will be
discussed throughout Chapter 4.
For evaluating purposes as a first step
there will be calculated the weights per Steel sections used for creating the
afferent surface (kg/m2) of the arched arched trusses
trusses for every span length. The trusses will be made of circular
The efficiency of the structure will be hollow section (CHS) members. These
calculated using a simplified method. The sections were preferred over others
simplification will consist of considering because of their obvious advantages in the
only the weight of the main trusses (the case of tension/compression loads, as well
weights of the purlins, braces and columns as in the case of bending moments.
will be neglected).
Basically the efficiency of the structure Particularities of the arched trusses
will be measured by dividing the weight of Usually the members of straight chorded
a structure composed of multiple trusses trusses are considered (and modelled) as
with the length of 10 m (multi span pin ended elements. In this way these
structure) to the weight of a single hollow elements will only be affected by the
section truss which covers the whole span. action of the axial forces transferred
through the loaded joints.
3. Materials and Structural System The joints of arched trusses can be
designed in a similar way to those of
3.1. Materials straight chord trusses. If the arched chords
are made by bending at the joint location
In order to create the arched trusses the only the chord members can also be treated
following structural steel grades were in a similar way to those of straight chord
used: S235, S275. These were preferred trusses provided that the bending radius
because of their higher ductility compared remains within the limitations to avoid
to other steel grades. distortion of the cross section. If the arched
chords are made by continuous bending,
3.2. Structural System the chord members have a curved shape
between the joint locations, as shown in
Description of the adopted structural Figure 2.
system In this case, the curvature should be
The steel trusses used to cover these long taken into account in the member design
distances have curved chord members. As by treating the chord members as beam-
an independent structure each truss mimics column [2-4]. In order to treat the chord
the shape of a fish (Figure 1). Using this members as beam-columns the bending
nature inspired form makes possible to moment given by the eccentricity of the
cover these large distances. chord member’s axis from the straight line
Siko, L., et al.: Arched Hollow Section Trusses in Long Span Structures 119
joining the two end points of the frame In order to find the optimal solutions for
should be considered during the design the proposed objectives several structural
process, which could be calculated using models have been analysed. Because of the
the following formula: large computational volume the analysis
and design of each truss has been carried
M Ed N Ed e . (1) out using one of the industry leading finite
element analysis software.
4. Results and Discussions
4.1. Finding the Optimal Height of the
nd
As stated in the 2 Chapter the main goal Arched Trusses
of this article is to find the optimal
solutions, those with the lowest material Finding the optimal height of the arched
consumption, for various span lengths. As it trusses isn’t an easy job. It could be very
is obvious the cost of a building is in direct much time consuming, mainly because of
relation with its weight (the lower the its iterative nature. Fortunately nowadays
weight the cheaper the structure). This is the most of the finite element analysis
why the main goal of all the structural software have designing capabilities to,
engineers is how to design a building which which reduces the time needed for the
fulfils all of the building code requirements design process. In order to speed up even
and has the lowest possible weight, and in more the design process the starting height
consequence the smallest amount of of the trusses should be chosen carefully
investment during the construction process. by using one of the following methods.
The first method is based on the length. Besides its easy to use form this
cumulated experience of the engineering method provides reasonably good results
community. It consists of selecting the regarding the structural weight to.
truss height as a fraction of the span According to [1] the overall height of the
120 Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov • Series I • Vol. 6 (55) No. 2 - 2013
steel trusses with curved chord members Formulas (3) and (4) result in a truss
should be taken between the following which has the deformations in the
intervals: admissible range of the building codes.
In order to yield an optimal steel
1 1 consumption for the trusses [1]
h L. (2)
12 18 recommends the utilisation of the
following relation for the determination of
The second method is based on using the overall height:
mathematical relations to determine the
height of the truss. There are several L
empirical formulas recommended mainly for hk 0. 7 m 1 . (5)
m
straight and parallel chord members. Those
relations could also be adopted, with good The recommended optimal heights of the
results, for the design of the arched trusses. trusses for each span length are presented
The following relations could be used to in Table 1.
define the optimal height of the trusses in Starting from the results presented in
order to obtain the necessary stiffness of Table 1 several structural models, with
the structure [1]: different overall height, have been created.
These models have been analysed and
L2 designed using a finite element analysis
h , (3)
5190 f a 2 L software. At the end of each step the weight
of the structure per afferent surface has been
L determined. Finally these calculations
h . (4)
f E resulted in the optimal heights and weights
3. 7 a 2
L of the trusses presented in Table 2.
Table 3
Comparison between the weight of the multi- and the single truss systems
Weight of the multi-truss Weight of the single truss
ID Span length[m] structure per afferent surface structure per afferent surface
[kg/m2] [kg/m2]
T1 10 5.897 5.897
T2 20 11.794 6.461
T3 30 17.691 11.456
T4 40 23.588 18.232
T5 50 29.485 21.416
T6 60 35.382 29.360
90
80
82.54
70
60
Efficiency[%}
50
54.43
40
37.68
30
29.38
20
0.00
20.51
10
0
1 2 3 4 5 6
Span length x 10[m]
Fig. 3. Efficiency of the single truss structure compared to the multi-truss system