PRE-ENGINEERED BUILDING

(PEB)

Example of Pre-
Engineered
Building

Pre-Engineered Buildings (PEB) are the buildings which are engineered at a factory and
assembled at site. Usually PEBs are steel structures. Built-up sections are fabricated at the
factory to exact size, transported to site and assembled at site with bolted connections. This
type of structural concept is generally used to build industrial buildings, metro stations,
warehouses etc.

PEB (Pre-Engineered Building) revolution the construction market using built up sections in
place of conventional hot rolled sections. A large column free area is the utmost
requirement for any type of industry which is provided by PEB. The adoptability of PEB in the
place of conventional steel building design concept resulted in many advantages, including
economy & easier fabrication. These type of building structure can be finished internally to
serve any functions that is actually help in low rise building design. Examples of pre-
engineered buildings are warehouses, canopies, factories, bridges etc.

PEB concept involves the steel building systems which are pre designed and prefabricated.
As the name itself indicates, there is involvement of pre engineering of structural elements.
The basis of PEB is to provide the section at the specified location only according to the need
at that spot. The sections may differ along the length according to the bending moment
diagram. The use of optimal least section leads to the effective saving of steel and also
reduction in the cost.
PARTS OF A TYPICAL PRE-ENGINEERED BUILDING

COMPONENTS OF PRE-ENGINEERED BUILDING

Pre Engineered Buildings consist different steel structural member which are as follows:

Primary Frame
Primary framing of a PEB is an assembly of built up I-Shaped steel members & that framing
consist trusses or castellated beams etc.

Secondary Structural Elements

It is actually Cold Formed Members, which can be in diff. shapes like “Z”, “C” etc. In
general known as “Purlins”.

Roof & Wall Panels

Tin shades & Curtain Wall made of Glass & Roll-formed steel sheets usually comes in this
category.

Sandwich Panels
Sandwich Panel is made of three layers, in which a non-Aluminum Core is inserted b/w two
aluminum sheet

Other Accessories
Mezzanine floors, Bolts, Insulation, etc.

ADVANTAGES OF PRE-ENGINEERED BUILDING

Quality control is the main advantage as all the structural member are engineered
beforehand, standards of different codes also taken into consideration & these
components are made in factory under the supervision of Quality Control Engineer.

Lower cost due to the saving in design, manufacturing and on site erection cost.

Minimizing time of construction due to the use of software for design of the structural
components.

Low Maintenance due to use of standard quality of paints over steel members , which
increases the ability to withstand & finally the maintenance cost will be low as compare to
conventional steel building.
 Quick Erection, as all the members are Pre Manufactured & skilled labor is used for
connections of different components.

Warranty on PEB, mostly warranty period of 20 years given by manufactures for PEB.

Construction time: PEB reduces the total construction cost by the least 40% which leads to
faster occupancy and early revenue.

Lower cost: Saving is accomplished in design, manufacturing and erection cost.

Large clear span: In PEB the buildings can be given up to 90m clear spans which is the
important advantage of PEB with column free space.

Flexibility of expansion: PEB can be easily expanded in length by adding additional bays.

DISADVANTAGES OF PRE-ENGINEERED BUILDING

Rusting / Corrosion Sensitive, as if the quality of steel used or paint used for coating of steel
members is not of good quality , than it can damage the structure and thus reduces the life
of structure.

Insulation Cost, as insulating the building to an agreeable benchmark will furthermore add
to your construction costs.

Appearance, Steel Sections can be unattractive when left exposed.

DESIGN METHODOLOGY

Method Used: Stiffness Matrix Method

Standard Code used: AISC and ASCE

Load Considerations & their Calculations:

Loads considered in the PEB design are same as for general building structure. These are as
follows,

Dead load Calculations:

 It includes Self Wt. of Purlins, Roof & Wall Sheeting, insulation material & other
structural component.

Live / Imposed Load Calculations:

It should be Considered as per given in IS 875 (Part 2)

Wind Load Calculations

Consider the Basic wind Speed as per Area of that particular structure. Design wind
Pressure is calculated as per IS 875 (Part 3). Wind Load on Roof can be UDL &
calculation for this can be done as per IS875 (Part 3)

Seismic Load Calculations

Earthquake Loads affect the design of structure in areas of great seismic activity.
The seismic load can be calculated as per IS 1893-2002(Part 1).

Other Moving Loads

It can be Moving EOT Crane load or Mono Rail etc.

Load Combinations: As per IS 1893 – 2002 (Part 1)

7(DL ± LL)

7(DL ± EL)

3(DL + LL ± EL)

Mechanism

For diff. Load Combinations structure should be checked by considering internal work
equal to external work. Considering the following Mechanism,

Beam Mechanism

Sway Mechanism

Gable Mechanism

Combined Mechanism
 Checks Made

Effect of Axial Force: Max. Load should be checked with allowable load bearing of the
section. As, Max. Axial Force in Column/Axial Load causing yielding < 0.15

Check should also be made for Local Buckling of Flanges & Webs.

Check for the Effect of Shear Force: Shear Force at the end of the Girder should be less
than the Max. Shear Capacity.

Design Procedure

It consist some steps, which are as follows,

o Based on the geometry, set up section sizes and brace locations.

o Loading Calculations: Specify the Load case & load combinations for designing
of the framed steel structure.
o Calculate S.F. & M. for each load case detail
o By using the Standard Codes, check and compare the calculated stress with the
allowable or Permissible Shear Stress & Bending Stress values.
o Design the optimum Splice Location.
o Made check for predicted section that it satisfy or fail for any loading conditions.
o Now, by ending the design an analysis is run to achieve flange bar optimization.

VARIOUS SYSTEMS OF PEB – PRE-ENGINEERED BUILDINGS

Primary system:

This system involves tapered or parallel columns or tapered beams which are called rafters.
Base of column is either fixed or pinned based on the load requirements.

Rafter and Column used in PEB

Secondary system:

It consists of purlins, grits which are the side claddings and eave struts stiffened by sag rods.
This system also includes the flange stiffeners which joins the untied flanges of the PEB
primary system to the secondary system.

Z and C purlins

Wind bracing system:

Rod bracing and the portal system are the two types of wind bracing systems. Each one is
chosen accordingly depending on design and functional requirement.

Typical Wind Bracing across rafters

ACCESSORIES

This part includes the Turbo ventilator, ridge vents, Flashings, gutters, down pipes, ladders
etc.

Pre Engineered Building Connections

Pre-engineered Building Under Construction

APPLICATIONS OF PRE-ENGINEERED BUILDINGS – PEB

o Factories, Warehouses, Workshops, Offices

o Gas stations
o Showrooms
o Aircraft hangers
o Metro stations
o Vehicle parking sheds
o Schools, Indoor stadium roofs
o Bridges, Railway platform shelters
o Outdoor stadium canopies

PEB are more advantageous than the conventional structures in economy, speed
of construction and simple erection. As these structures have a wide scope, they must be
preferred and utilized.
REFERENCES:
https://civildigital.com/pre-engineered-buildings-peb-components-advantages-design-
methodology/#:~:targetText=Pre%20Engineered%20Buildings%20(PEB)%20are,at%20site%20with%2
0bolted%20connections.

https://civildigital.com/pre-engineered-buildings-advantages-applications-preengineered-
buildings-peb/