Lecture Notes:

STEEL STRUCTURES 2

Ch4. Long-Span Structures

Instructor:
Ngo-Huu Cuong  Dr.Eng., Associate Professor
Dinh-The Hung – Dr.Eng.,
Dept. of Structural Engineering – Faculty of Civil Engineering
University of Technology – VNU-HCM
CONTENTS
1. Types and characteristics
2. Tie-stayed roof – Preliminary design
3. Space decks
4. Preliminary design of a space deck
5. Framed domes
6. Schwedler dome
7. Retractable roof stadium

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1. Types and Characteristics
 Types of wide-span buildings:
 One-way-spanning buildings.
 Truss or lattice girder/stanchion frames;
 Portals and arches;
 Cable or tie stayed lattice girder roof.
 Combination portal or cable-stayed spine frame with
lateral lattice girders.
 Two-way-spanning trusses, Vierendeel girders or space
deck systems.
 Domes springing from circular or polygonal bases.
 One-way-spanning cable girder and two-way-spanning
cable net roofs.
 Air-supported roofs.
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(a) One-way spanning systems

(b) Spine portal/roof beams 4

(c) Dome roof (sports arenas, auditorium, exhibition pavilions, churches)

(d) One-way cable girder

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(e) Cable net roof

(f) Cable roof, circular building

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2. Tie-stayed roof – Preliminary design

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2. Tie-stayed roof – Preliminary design

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3. Space decks
3.1 Two-way spanning roofs
 The economical structural solution depends on the
ratio of length/breadth of the area to be roofed:
 > 2: to span one way.
  1: two ways  A rectangular area can be divided into
square or near-square areas with lattice girders and the
two-way-spanning structures can be installed in the
subdivided roof.

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3.1 Two-way spanning roofs
 The two-way-spanning grid may be a single or
double layer.
 The single-layer grid of intersecting rigid jointed members
is expensive to make and more easily constructed in RC
than steel.
 The double-layer grid can be constructed in a number of
ways.
 Lattice or Vierendeel girders intersecting at right angles can be
used to form two-way grids where the bottom chord lies below the
top chord. The roof is divided into squares which can be covered
with plastic roof units.
 Three-way grids: the surface is divided into equilateral triangles.
 Double-layer grids, where the bottom chords do not lie in the same
vertical plane or in some cases do not have the same geometrical
pattern as the top chords, are termed space grids or decks.
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Two-way grids Three-way grids
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3.2 Space decks
 The basic form of a space deck is square on
square offset with cornice or mansard edge,
where the top and bottom chords form squares
of equal area.
 The basic unit is the inverted square-based
pyramid.

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3.2 Space decks
 Other variations are possible, termed square on
larger square set diagonally.

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3.2 Space decks
 A great effort in inventiveness, research and
testing has gone into perfecting systems for
constructing space decks. Two main
construction methods are used:
 Division into basic pyramid units;
 Joint systems to connect deck members.

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3.2 Space decks
 Basic pyramid unit:
 The inverted pyramid forms the basic unit of the
square on square space deck. The units are
prefabricated with top chords as angles or channels,
tubular section web members and bottom chords
consisting of high tensile bars with screwed ends. Top
chord lengths vary from 1.2 to 2.5 m, while depths
vary from 0.8 to 1.5 m. The pyramids conveniently
stack together for transport.
 The grid is assembled by bolting the top chords
together and connecting the bottom chords through
the screwed joints. The grid is constructed at ground
level and hoisted into position as a complete
structure. 15
3.2 Space decks
 Joint system:
 The joint system gives greater flexibility in space deck
construction than the fixed component system. The
joint connects eight members coming from various
directions in space to meet at a point. The finished
structure is assembled from straight members,
usually hollow sections and joints. Three commercial
joint systems are briefly described below.
 Nodus System – This was developed by the British Steel
Corporation and is now manufactured and marketed by
Space Deck Limited. It consists of two half castings clamped
together by a bolt. The chords lock into grooves in the
castings, while the webs have forked ends for pin
connections to the lugs on the castings.
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Details of Nodus system 17
The Nodus space frame over the concourse of the Gatwich railway station
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3.2 Space decks
 Joint system:
 Mero Joint System – This consists of cast steel balls into
which the ends of members are screwed through a special
end connector. The Mero balls are made in a range of sizes
to accommodate different member sizes and web member
inclinations. There is no eccentricity at the joint.
 Nippon Steel Corporation NS Space Truss System – The
joint consists of a steel bowl node to which the space deck
members are connected by special bolted joints. There is no
eccentricity at the joint.
 Very large and heavy space deck systems have been
constructed for aircraft hangers, wide conference
halls. etc. These have heavy tubular or box members
and site-welded joints.
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The Mero system
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Type A joint
Type C joint

Type UI joint Type UX joint

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Joint systems of the NS Space Truss System
3.3 Space deck analysis and design
 Space decks are highly redundant and analysis
is carried out using a space frame program.
Joints are normally taken as pinned. The space
deck dead load from the flat roof decking and
self-weight of grid is greater than uplift due to
wind. Only the dead and imposed load case
need be considered.
 The space deck can be considered as a plate
supported on four sides to obtain member forces
for preliminary design.

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3.3 Space deck analysis and design
 For a square or rectangular grid only one-quarter of the
frame need be considered in the analysis. Rotational and
linear restraints are applied as required to members cut
by the section planes. If members are sectioned
lengthwise, one-half the properties are used in the
analysis.
 For a grid considered as pin jointed, member design is
as follows.
 Top chord – Design for axial compression and bending due to
roof load applied through purlins or roof units. Effective length =
0.9 × member length.
 Bottom chord – Design for axial tension and any bending from
ceiling or service loads.
 Webs – Design for tension or compression as applicable.
Effective length = 0.9 × member length. 23
4 Preliminary design for a space deck

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5 Framed domes
 Domes are most usually generated by rotating a plane
curve, often a sector of a circle, about the vertical axis.
Other curves, such as a parabola or ellipse, could be
used, or the dome could be formed from intersecting
cones. Again, domes are usually constructed on circular
or regular polygonal bases where apexes touch the
circumscribing circle. Other base shapes can be used.
 From classical times masonry domes have been
constructed. Another example is the Eskimo’s igloo. The
large-span skeletal or braced dome dates from the last
century. Members may be curved or straight to meet at
joints lying on the shell surface. Domes are doubly
curved surfaces, that is, the curvature is of the same
sign in each direction.
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5 Framed domes
 Braced domes are classified according to the
way in which the surface is framed. Many
different patterns have been devised. The main
types of spherical dome are as follows.

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27
5.1 Types
a. Ribbed dome
 This dome consists of equally spaced radial ribs
on arches supported by a compression ring at
the top and a tension ring or separate bases at
ground level. The ribs carry triangular loading
and the dome can be designed as a series of
two- or three-pinned arches.

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b. Schwedler dome
 This consists of ribs or meriodinal members and
parallel rings or hoops which support the ribs.
The two member systems divide the surface into
trapezoidal panels, which are braced diagonally
to resist shear due to asymmetrical loading.
 The joints between ribs and rings may be made
rigid as an alternative method of resisting shear.
If the dome is loaded symmetrically and the
joints are taken as pinned the structure is
statically determinate. An analysis can also be
based on spherical thin-shell theory.
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c. Lattice or network dome
 In this type, parallel rings are spaced
equidistantly. The annular spaces are then
subdivided by triangular networks of bars.
Members between any two adjacent rings are
equal in length.

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d. Lamella dome
 Two types, the curved and parallel lamella, are
defined. In the curved type the surface is divided
into diamond-shaped areas, while the parallel
lamella type consists of stable triangular
divisions.
 The world’s two largest domes are of the parallel
lamella type. The curved lamella type was a
development for timber domes, where the timber
cladding provided stability. Note that in the
network dome the horizontal rings cover this
requirement.
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e. Grid dome
 This type of dome is formed by a two- or three-
way intersecting grid of arcs. Where the arcs are
great circles, the geodesic dome is one special
case of the grid dome.

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5.2 Dome construction
a. Framing
 Dome framing may be single or double layer. Large
domes must be double layer to prevent buckling.
 All types of members have been used. Hollow
sections with welded joints are attractive where the
steelwork is exposed.
 Members are usually straight between nodes. The
dome must be broken down into suitable sections for
shop fabrication. Lattice double-layer domes, can be
assembled on site using bolted joints.

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b. Proprietary jointing systems
 Domes systems using the Mero and Nippon NS
Space Truss joints are available.
 The domes can be single or double layer.
Network and geodesic systems are available.

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c. Cladding
 Cladding causes problems because panel
dimensions vary in most domes and twisted
surface units are often needed. The systems
used are:
 Roof units, triangular or trapezoidal in shape,
supported on the dome frame – These may be in
transparent or translucent plastic or a double-skinned
metal sandwich construction;
 Timber decking on joists with metal sheet or roofing
felt covering;
 Steel decking on purlins and dome members with
insulation board and roofing felt – This can only be
used on flat surfaces. 35
5.3 Loading
a. Dead load
 The dead load varies from about 0.5 to say 1.2 kN/m2
of the dome surface depending on the type of roof
construction and cladding used and whether a ceiling
is provided over the inner surface.
 The load acts uniformly over the roof surface area.
b. Imposed load
 The imposed load is 0.75 kN/m as specified in BS
2

6399: Part 1. This load acts on the plan area of the

dome.
 Itis necessary to consider cases where the load
covers part only of the roof.
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c. Wind load
 The distribution of wind pressures on domes
determined by testing is given in various
references (e.g., Newberry and Eaton, 1974;
Makowski, 1984).
 The external pressure and suction distribution
depend on the ratio of dome height to diameter
for a dome rising from the ground. If the dome
rests on a cylindrical base, the cylinder height as
well as the dome rise affects the values. In
general there is a small area directly normal to
the wind in pressure, while the major part of the
dome is under suction.
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 c. Wind load
 The wind pressure
distributions for the
two cases are
shown in the
Figure. The
distributions are
simplified for use in
analysis.

Pressure distribution – Cpe values for: (a) dome rising

from ground; (b) dome on cylindrical base
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5.5 Stability
 Flexible domes, that is shallow or single-layer large-span
domes present a stability problem. Three distinct types
of buckling are as follows
a. General buckling – a large part of the surface becomes
unstable and buckles. Failures of this type have occurred where
snow loads have covered part of the dome surface. Shell theory is
extended to predict the critical pressure causing buckling. The
critical pressure on a thin shell is

where R is the radius, E the modulus of elasticity, t the shell thickness

and C the shell coefficient.
 Modified forms are given for the thickness t to allow for
membrane and ribs in a braced dome. Various values are given
for C.
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5.5 Stability
b. Snap through or local buckling – one loaded
node deflects or snaps through, reversing the
curvature between adjacent nodes in that area.
Expressions are given for checking this condition.
c. Member buckling – an individual member
buckles as a strut under axial compression. This is
considered in member design.

Dome stability can be studied using nonlinear

matrix analysis.

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6 Schwedler dome

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6 Schwedler dome

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7 Retractable roof stadium

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