USING LARGE SPANS AND/OR COMPLEX ANALYSIS IN YOUR ANSWER

by Bob Wilson

One of the overarching problems in any of the examination questions is how to carry
loads over large spans. A precondition for achieving efficiency in a structural system is
that the loads are transported to the foundations as directly as possible. The forces follow
the shortest and most effective route and in an ideal world use the least material, keep the
weight down and need the least fabrication and construction. However, we know that the
provision of functional space is in conflict with this ideal: the loads must necessarily be
spread about forming rooms, corridors and working areas. The most direct route or load
path just cannot be followed; there has to be span and space, solids and voids, living
space and structure.

As structural engineers we find it convenient to consider structural efficiency by

considering separately the Global Form for the whole building and then we focus on the
Individual Elements that make-up the global form – the slabs, beams and columns. In the
examination the Global Form is developed in Section 1a and the Individual Elements in
Section 2c.

Each of the Options proposed in Section 1a will contain major elements, for example roof
trusses and transfer beams with structural [global] forms and type-names such as the
Warren Truss and Vierendeel Girder. Considered more generally these can be classified
as ‘Triangulated’ or ‘Non-Triangulated’ trusses or rigid frames [the term truss implies
that there is triangulation and consequently axial loads in the members]. The triangulated
truss is the more efficient. However, where the diagonals interfere with the function of the
building the less-efficient Vierendeel Girder may be chosen.

In the examination room there is very much less time for thinking about any given roof
truss or transfer girder, its initial sizing and the element calculations than you would
enjoy at work, or during your examination preparations. Based upon a guess as to how
many marks you could possibly earn, then for Section 1a and again for Section 2c you
should not expect more than 4 marks for each Section – yes, marks are hard to come by!
The ‘rule-of-thumb’ is 4 minutes for each mark. So you have 16 minutes in each section
for writing what you want to communicate about this principal element.

The message here is that there is nowhere near enough time for you to do anything like
the quantity of calculations or details that you may be accustomed to do in the office!
You won’t have the help of a computer or a CAD library of details. One or two
candidates have offered credible Vierendeel Girder manual solutions over the years but
most often there is a touching hope that the name will impress sufficiently without further
backup of substance that would show that the Candidate is a competent designer/detailer!

Most candidates should have come close to a Vierendeel-style steel element when they
have used a castellated or cellular beam – probably in a composite construction with a
concrete slab. Some heavily-serviced buildings use ladder-like floor joists so that pipes
and ducts can be fitted through them: these would be designed using the rigid-jointed
Vierendeel principle. Next up is probably a footbridge or link-bridge between buildings
where the parapets are used as ‘rectangular trusses’ with the deck spanning between
them. These are often fabricated using welded rectangular hollow sections. The
compression flange needs to be laterally restrained or designed to be in the form of a
walk-through structure. Beyond these ‘domestic’ uses the girders become very large and
are used on highway and railway bridges [as were the original designs of Arthur
Vierendeel in Belgium 1852-1940], and nowadays as transfer girders. Whole facades
have been united into a rigid-framed ‘girder’ spanning over a ground-level space – see
references to the Beinecke Library, Yale University (1963), Skidmore, Owings and
Merrill. This application is close to the principle of the Diagrid used on the Re Building
[London Gherkin]. Pictures can be found on Google – search for Grammene bridge,
Belgium; Scheepsdalebrug bridge, Bruges; and the Company Site for CTS Ltd with a
footbridge at Coventry [one of several footbridges displayed].

The principle of ‘trussing-without-diagonals’ has many applications including the purely

aesthetic one. Unlike a truss with diagonal members which are generally designed for
direct stress only, the Vierendeel girder members carry loads by a combination of axial,
bending and shear stress. The joints are ‘rigid’ like the joints of a portal frame, and carry
bending moments. Consequently the intervening straight members, the chords and posts,
bend through a point of contraflexure because of the double curvature.

Typically, the analysis of hyper-static structures is complicated because the size of the
members must be estimated before the analysis can be made.

Because of the combined forces in each member, the calculations for the stability of the
individual members, and the jointing, become more numerous.

Deflections must be estimated because any detailed calculations are far too extensive to
be done in the examination.

This is why I urge you – if you wish to include Vierendeel Girders in your ‘examination
tool box’ to develop the necessary skills and experience to make this particular ‘spanner’
one of the better ‘tools’ in your examination box’!

Bob Wilson
2011