6 FOLDED PLATE STRUCTURES 6.1 INTRODUCTION ‘The capacity of a flat thin surface structure is rather limited in the scale range for which it can be used; however, its strength and stiffness is very much improved if it is folded or bent, which increases its depth and thus its moment of inertia. The effectiveness of a folded plate structure in terms of material requirements approaches that of shells; though not quite as efficient, it has the advantage of straight line construction. Familiar examples of folded plate structures are concrete stairs, and on a small scale, corrugated light-gauge metal panels and sheet piling with their various cross-sections. The richness of fold geometries have already preoccupied the Chinese and Japanese for many centuries; they consider paper folding, called origami by the Japanese, as a form of art, The recent fashion of folded lampshades are derived from their lantern designs. There are basically two types of folded surface systems: = Polyhedral surfaces: they form two-dimensional basic spatial surface units. = True folded surfaces: they form three-dimensional basic surface units. When these surfaces can be formed by a folding operation, they are called developable. Some common polyhedral surfaces have already been discussed in Chapter $ from a geometrical point of view and are not further treated here. Folded plate structures can be organized from the following points of view as also in- dicated in Fig. 6.1. = Geometry Types of folds: plane or curved; rectangular, triangular, pentagonal, etc. with straight or curvilinear edges (e.g., parabolic chords); regular and irregular prismatic, antipris- matic (Fig. 5.12), or nonprismatic folded surfaces. Fold arrangement: parallel, two-way, three-way, radial, circumferential, or any com- bination. Fold cross-section: V.WM,Z,U types, northlight forms (saw-tooth roof), cellular, shell simulation (polyhedral), and infinitely more modifications. 367. FOLDED PLATE SURFACES Ty Li we FOLDED PLATE STRUCTURE SYSTEMS FOLDED PLATE BARREL | FOLDED PLATE DOME PYRAMIDAL FOLDED PLATE ‘STRUCTURE. POLYHEDRAL FOLDED PLATE ‘STRUCTURE. L —{ COMBINATIONS na — MM vb Fa He) Ki’ ROA nv — 4 AE OU HE AOKED Fig. 6.1 Folded plate structure systems.6.1 Introduction 369 ™ Construction Plate structure: solid, framed, trussed, corrugated, composite, ete. (e.g., see Fig. 8.1). Construction process: cast-in-place, prefab components, folding operation. = Material: concrete, steel, timber, plastics, paperboard, composites (see Section 8.1). © Structural behavior: beams, arches, frames, surfaces, vaults, shells of various forms (e.g, domes, hyperbolic paraboloids), intersecting forms, etc. ‘The geometry of the folds greatly influences the behavior of the structure. This is ap- parent from Fig. 6.1 by comparing the folded plate frames and the barrel vault; the fold arrangement determines where hinges form and whether the structural action is pre- dominantly linear or surface-like. The folds of cylindrical building forms are generally derived from antiprisms (Fig, 5.12); for instance, the geometry of the folded barrel in Fig. 6.1 is hexagon-based. It is beyond the scope of this discussion to investigate the wealth and complexity of fold geometries. However, an appreciation for formal and technical possibilities is de- veloped from the study of typical architectural buildings. Complex ribless folded vaults have already been built by the late Gothic designers, especially along the Baltic coast, Bohemia, and Saxony. The Muslim architects of the fif- teenth century employed also the folded vault principle. Among the first modern folded plate structures are Freyssinet’s concrete hangars at Orly (See Fig. 8.9a) and the German coal bunkers of the early 1920s. The few examples of folded plate structures in Fig. 6.2 express the limitless formal potential of the principle. The various fold shapes constitute either beams, slabs, or the entire enclosure. First, some of the precast concrete systems are discussed, The 125-ft span roof with end cantilevers of case (a) indicates its strength by allowing the mezzanine floor to be suspended from it. The 3 in. thick trapezoidal folded plates of case (b) are 70 ft long and 9 ft wide. The T-sections in case (c) employ inclined flanges. The double-cantilever roof of case (@) is only supported on the walls along the central corridor. The 3 in. thick, 72- ft long folded plates of case (1) rest on double-legged Y-shaped concrete columns which effectively resist wind forces. Finally, the interlocking U- and M-shaped plate units of case (h) span 90 ft The roof of case (p) is composed of prefabricated triangular stressed-skin plywood panels. Similarly, for case (q) stressed-skin plywood panels of various sizes are combined to form a spatial polyhedral-type roof surface. The roof of the circular building in (m) consists of radially arranged steel beams supporting precast conercte slab elements. Three sloping planes, which are framed with exposed steel members and the metal deck below, define the enclosure of the Miller Memorial Theater in Houston (1). The roof structure rests on the two primary 30-in, steel balls which are 195 ft apart, and the two secondary box columns. The balls are anchored to concrete pedestals and are encircled by claws which are attached to the roof frame so that uplift forces can be resisted. The space frame skin of the monumental Crystal Cathedral (s) forms a continuous envelope. An- other striking example of the folding principle is the U.S. Air Force Academy Chapel in Colorado Springs (Fig. 4.59a). Foldable, low-cost housing enclosures have been successfully developed by Hirshen and Van de Ryn in 1966 for migrant workers in California. The 3-in. thick prefolded paperboard vaults (sce Fig. 8.3c) consist of sandwich elements of coated kraftboard with polyurethane foam core.6.2. The Structural Behavior of Surfaces with Parallet Folding a Though the folded plate principle in concrete is usually in the range 40-150 ft, it is found in much larger-scale buildings. Probably the world’s longest clear span folded plate structure is the 14-ft deep prestressed Allegheny Airlines’ hangar concrete roof (com- pleted in 1971) at Boston’s Logan International Airport with 252 ft. Folded plate construction has also been applied to large scale cantilever structures (Fig, 4.74). Especially remarkable are the American Airlines hangars in San Francisco and Los Angeles with their enormous 230-ft stressed steel skin cantilevers on cach side (ee in Section 4.7, Cantilever Structures). A famous example of the application of the fold principle to shell construction is the concrete dome of the University of Illinois Assembly Hall at Urbana (Fig. 8.21h). The branching, triangular folds convincingly ex- press the required buckling strength for this 400-ft span shell. 6.2. THE STRUCTURAL BEHAVIOR OF SURFACES WITH PARALLEL FOLDING Here only the more common prismatic folded surfaces with triangular and trapezoidal cross-sections are investigated, The typical characteristics of folded plates are identified in Fig. 6.3 and should be referred to in the following discussion. A folded plate roof structure may be formed by just one single folded plate unit, or it may consist of a multiple-bay system. Visualize a folded plate structure as a system of inclined beams leaning against each other. These tilted beams are carried by transverse supports such as frames, walls, and so on, at locations close to their ends. These supports transmit the vertical load components to the ground and also act as stiffeners, preventing the structure from unfolding or flattening out. The lateral thrust that causes this ten- dency to unfold is often carried by tie rods attached directly to the folded plates, in which case the support structure must resist only the vertical forces. Intermediate trans- verse diaphragms (i.e., panels above and/or below the folds, or ties) are sometimes used in order to reduce deformation, as well as to ensure that the folded surface is stiff enough to behave as a total unit. To increase the stiffness in beam action, longitudinal supports may be placed along the valley fold lines, that is, beams and trusses can be used to this effect. While the interior folded plates of a multiple-bay system can support each other laterally, the free longitudinal edge of the exterior plates are vulnerable to large displace- ments and, in general, need to be stiffened by edge beams. To develop some understanding about the structural behavior of folded plates, the ex- ternal load action is resolved into components perpendicular and parallel to the plates. ‘The normal force components cause the plate to respond as a one-way slab with supports along the fold lines. These supports are critical since they are, to some degree, flexbible. For the purpose of approximate study, one may assume that the multibay roof is uni- formly loaded, thus for a typical interior unit no differential displacements between the supports along the valley and ridge edges are caused; the supports along the fold lines can be considered rigid. In order to have true one-way slab action, using standard concrete construction, the plate span L must be at least twice the plate width b (L > 2b). The load components parallel to the plates, that is, the reactions of the transverse slab, cause the plates to act as deep beam structures resting on transverse supports; it is assumed that the inclination of the plates is steep enough to allow for this type of behavior. The analysis can be assumed statically determinate for folded plates hinged along the372 Folded Plate Structures Fig. 6.3 fold lines such as steel and timber trusses or stressed-skin plates that lean against each other and are covered, for example, with light-gauge metal deck or plywood. In this case, the deck behaves similarly to the one-way slab, and the trusses or girders act as indepen- dent deep beams. However, the analysis is highly indeterminate for monolithic continu- ous folded plate structures such as cast-in-place concrete construction. Here, the plates act as both deep beams and slabs. The following discussion attempts to develop some understanding about the behavior of monolithic folded plate structures. Previously, it was stated that the assumption of one-way slab action is justifiable only for plates having a proportion of L > 2b. As the plate span decreases and approaches the same dimension as its width, the plate begins to ‘act more as a two-way slab. On the other hand, as the plate span increases (J, > 6), the slab action becomes less and less important. These conditions are encountered in such various examples as corrugated metal panels used as decking, monolithic concrete joist slabs, and wide-flange metal beams, where the flange width, in comparison to the beam span, is so small that only the beam action is considered. ‘The interplay of slab and beam action is investigated, from a geometrical point of view, in Fig. 6.3. The ribs in the concrete joist slab are so closely spaced that its primary behavior is its beam action; the slab behavior perpendicular to the joists is so small that6.2. The Structural Behavior of Surfaces with Parallel Folding 373 usually only temperature reinforcing is required. As the ribs move further apart, slab action becomes more and more pronounced, resulting in a one-way slab system sitting on beams. The independent action of beam and slab is apparent not just from the location of the beams but also from the relative thickness of the slab as compared to the beam size. However, due to the continuity between slab and beam, part of the slab acts together with the beam, establishing the familiar concept of the effective flange width. Following, the widths of the edge beams are reduced to the same thickness as the slab and then in- clined, thus decreasing the span of the slab. Now a new structural system is generated: a continuous folded surface. Here the horizontal and inclined plates both act as slabs and beams. The plate thickness depends on its width, that is, the magnitude of the transverse bending stresses depends upon the span of the slab. The total height of the folded beam is a function of the longitudinal span; the usual height-to-span ratio for folded plate struc- tures is in the range h/L = 1/10-1/15. Further inclination of the plates eliminates the horizontal portions and results in V-shaped folding (Fig. 6.3). Now the direct slab action is decreased, since the force components normal to the surface, which only cause slab action, are reduced. But the overall effect may not cause a reduction in slab action be- cause the slab span has been increased. As the fold height decreases, and the structure becomes flatter, the force components normal to the plate due to gravity action become larger, hence the slab action increases, approaching a two-way slab. Although the force components parallel to the plate decrease, the inertia of the folded plate beam decreases much faster, resulting in an increase in beam action and hence in longitudinal stresses. It is obvious from this discussion that the slope of the plates must be reasonable, so that the assumed behavior is possible and the material is efficiently used. For V- or W-shaped folding, the slope of the plates is typically in a range 25°-45°, It is of interest to note the changes in structural behavior in a given folded-plate sys- tem, as the number of folds is increased to the point where the structure becomes the equivalent of a single-curvature shell beam (Fig. 6.3). Although the effect of the number of folds on the beam behavior in the longitudinal direction is less pronounced, the slab behavior in the transverse direction is very much influenced by the change. As the num- ber of folds increases, the slab width decreases, hence the slab moments decrease, keeping in mind that the slabs are considered to support each other along the fold lines, When the number of folds has become infinite, fold discontinuities and stab moments disappear. Now the forces normal to the curvilinear surface are carried in the transverse direction in arch action, that is, by axial forces and bending; the lack of curvature distinguishes folded plates from shells. Folded plates are much more vulnerable to bending stresses than shells and thus less efficient from a force resistance point of view. Approximate Design of Hinged Tilted Trusses and Continuous Folded Concrete Plates A typical V-folded roof structure (Fig. 6.4a) will be examined by studying the approxi- mate behavior of an interior bay unit. Two different construction systems are analyzed: first, hinged steel trusses and then continuous reinforced concrete plates. This folded plate roof is a single-span, multibay structure with the following dimensions: longitudinal span: = 100 ft fold height: A=108t bay width: 2a = 30 ft374 Folded Plate Structures Folded Plate Action Ine-way Slab Action in the Transverse Direction” The roof must support a snow load of 30 psf on the horizontal projection (keeping in mind that the true load distribution is quite different). The height-to-span ratio of the roof is typically in the range