Selection of Appropriate Roof Truss Configuration for an Industrial Shed

With the industrial development in recent years, the need of huge industrial sheds has increased where structural optimization and cost are the two major aspects of design. Trusses are triangular formations of steel sections in which the members are generally, subjected to axial forces due to external load. For industrial sheds, the truss configurations commonly used are Pratt, Howe, Warren and Fink truss. All of these truss configurations have their own structural advantages depending upon shapes and member arrangements. The aim of this study is to compare these trusses to select the optimal truss configuration for a particular span of 30m. The length of the bottom chord members of trusses are varied keeping the overall truss height, inclination angle, span, structure length, spacing and external load same, for all configurations. The analysis has been conducted using Tekla software. It is observed that Howe truss configuration with 12 divisions of bottom chord provide best selection based on weight of truss and connections. This paper helps the designer to select an appropriate truss of span 30m, considering the safety, self-weight, truss configuration and economical point of view.