www.aicsteel.

com

Purlins and Side girts Function and

connections For hot rolled & cold formed
sections.

Prepared by / Ahmed Zaky

Reviewed by / Ahmed Helmy
Purlins, girts and eave struts

They are secondary structural members used to support the wall and roof cladding panels.
1. Purlins are used on the roof
2. Side girts are used on the walls
3. and eave struts are used at the
intersection of the sidewall and the roof

The used section profiles for Purlins can vary

According to Load /span/ spacing and can be
divided to two major sections:
4. Cold formed section
5. Hot rolled section
Loads on Purlins and Side girts

Purlins and Side girts are basically beams that carry usually distributed loads so their Major inertia
should be put against load direction as indicated below

- Loads on purlin includes the following loads

1. Purlins own weight
2. Cladding own weight
3. Collateral load like (fire sprinklers, mechanical
systems, electrical systems, false ceilings, etc..)
4. Live load in case of erection and maintenance
5. Wind loads
6. Snow or hail loads depend on the geographic area
Other functions for Purlins,
Side girts and Eave STRUTS

Secondary members have two other functions:

1. Acting as struts that help in resisting part of the
longitudinal loads that are applied on the building such as
wind and earthquake loads.
2. provide lateral bracing to the compression flanges of the
main frame members thereby increasing frame capacity.
1-Cold formed section for Purlins/side
girts/Doors, Windows, and facia
 1-Cold formed Purlins/side
girts/Doors, Windows, and facia

Cold formed Z, C and other shapes, the cold formed section

thickness vary from 1 to 4 mm (AIC has its own fabrication
sequence of cold formed sections please check following path
for more info
\\10.0.0.50\TechnicalReviewDepartment\Technical review-gui
de-lines\FABRICATION SEQUENCE OF COLD FORMED

Note : Unlike main steel elements purlins and side girts may
be shifted small distance for more convenient and economic
connection ( for example indicated connections at side may
not have Gap between purlin and supporting profile and can
be implemented to avoid groove weld and grinding which are
more expensive than used fillet weld with utilizing small gap
 1-Cold formed Purlins/side
girts/Doors, Windows, and facia
Connections shapes

Welded fin plate or unstiffened bent plate or cleat angle can be most economic
option for purlin connection taking into consideration the following factors

1. Erection is AIC scope or Not

2. Bolts are paid or not
 1-Cold formed Purlins/side
girts/Doors, Windows, and facia
Connections shapes
 1-Cold formed Purlins/side
girts/Doors, Windows, and facia

 Please check attached examples for connection shapes for Cold formed section Purlins/side girts/Doors, Windows,
and facia

Click on pdf
to view
connection shapes
2-Hot rolled section for Purlins/side
girts/Doors, Windows, and facia
2-Hot rolled section for Purlins/side
girts/Doors, Windows, and facia
Connections shapes
2-Hot rolled section for Purlins/side
girts/Doors, Windows, and facia
Connections shapes
2-Hot rolled section for Purlins/side
girts/Doors, Windows, and facia
Connections shapes
2-Hot rolled section for Purlins/side
girts/Doors, Windows, and facia

 Please check attached examples for connection shapes for Hot Rolled section Purlins/side girts/Doors, Windows, and
facia

Click on pdf
to view
connection shapes
Thank you