AN OUTLOOK ON

TRUSS DESIGN
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
PREPARED BY

 SANTOSH R. SALIAN.
 SURAJ S. REWALE.
 SHUBHAM S. RAUT.
 AJAY PUNDGE.
 INDEX
 1. INTODUCTION  6. CONNECTIONS.

 2. GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT  7. LOADS ON BRIDGES.

TRUSSES  8. ECONOMY OF TRUSS.
 3. TYPES OF TRUSSES.  9.ADVANTAGES OF TRUSS BRIDGES
 (i) KINGPOST TRUSSES.  10. DISADVANTAGES OF TRUSS BRIDGES.
 (ii) QUEENPOST TRUSSES.  11. CONCLUSION

 (iii) HOWE TRUSS.

 (iv) PRATT TRUSS.
 (v) K- TRUSS.
 (vi) CONTINUOUS TRUSS.
 4.TRUSS BRIDGES
 5. HOW BRIDGES WORK
 1. INTRODUCTION

 Trusses are triangular frame works in which the members are subjected to
essentially axial
 forces due to externally applied load. They may be plane trusses.
 external load and the members lie in the same plane or space trusses.
 members are oriented in three dimensions in space and loads may also act in any
direction.
 Trusses are frequently used to span long lengths in the place of solid web girders
and such
 trusses are also referred to as lattice girders.
 2. GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT
TRUSSES.

 A truss is a structure comprising one or more triangular units constructed with

straight members whose ends are connected at joints or nodes.
 If all the bars lie in a plane, the structure is a planar truss
 The main parts of a planar truss.
 In other words, Trusses are designed to form a stable structure.
3.TYPES OF TRUSSES.
 3.1. KINGPOST

 It is used for simple short-span bridges: 40 feet.

(probably, it was the first used with small open-
work bridges).
 Fewest number off truss members.- two diagonal
members, kingpost braces, that meet at the apex
of the truss, one horizontal beam and the king
post which connect the apex to the horizontal
beam below.
 Kingpost braces are in compression, and the
Kingpost, in compression. CHECAR
3.2. Queen post:

► It has two vertical post.

► Very strong and stable.
► It´s more stable and can support a wider span than a
kingpost.
3.3.Howe Truss Bridge

► • William Howe, 1840.

► • It became very popular and was

considered one of the best designs for
railroad bridges back in the day.
► •Wooden beams for the diagonal
members, which were in compression. It
used iron (and later steel) for the
vertical members, which were in
tension.
3.4.Pratt Truss Bridge (1844)

► Very common type but has many variations (Baltimore,

► Pennsylvania, and the Parker)
► The basic identifying features are the diagonal web
members which form a V-shape. (Howe truss bridge has
a A-shape).
► Maximum length of the this bridge can be 250 feet.
► Commonly used for supporting railways.
► The Pratt truss’s verticals functioned as compression
members and diagonals functioned as tension members.
► The Pratt truss required more iron than a Howe truss,
and due to the increased cost and less rigid construction,
builders did not extensively use it for wooden trusses
3.5. K-truss Bridges

• The length of members undergoing compression is

reduced.
•This reduction in length enables components of bridges to
endure the compressional force.

• The design is complicated and it is considered to be one of

the hardest bridges to build.
3.6.Continuous Truss Bridges.

• Comparatively, it is more rigid and statically

indeterminate structure.
• Only suitable in case where the differential settlements of
abutments and piers are not significant.
• A continuous truss bridge may use less material than a
series of simple trusses, because a continuous truss
distributes live loads across all the spans; in series of simple
trusses
• This have been used in span ranges of 150m to 400m.
 4. TRUSS BRIDGES
Trusses are used in bridges to transfer the gravity load of moving vehicles to supporting piers. Depending
upon the site conditions and the span length of the bridge, the truss may be either through type or deck
type. In the through type, the carriage way is supported at the bottom chord of trusses. In the deck type
bridge, the carriage way is supported at the top chord of trusses. Usually, the structural framing
supporting the carriage way is designed such that the loads from the carriage way are transferred to the
nodal points of the vertical bridge trusses.
Truss Girders, lattice girders or open web girders are efficient and economical structural systems, since the
members experience essentially axial forces and hence the material is fully utilised. Members of the truss
girder bridges can be classified as chord members and web members. Generally, the chord members resist
overall bending moment in the form of direct tension and compression and web members carry the shear
force in the form of direct tension or compression. Due to their efficiency, truss bridges are built over wide
range of spans. Truss bridges compete against plate girders for shorter spans, against box girders for
medium spans and cable-stayed bridges for long spans. Some of the most commonly used trusses suitable
for both road and rail bridges.
SOME OF THE TRUSSES THAT ARE
USED IN STEEL BRIDGES
 5.HOW BRIDGES WORK?

 Every passing vehicle shakes the bridge up and down, making waves that can
travel at hundreds of kilometers per hour. Luckily the bridge is designed to damp
them out, just as it is designed to ignore the efforts of the wind to turn it into a
giant harp. A bridge is not a dead mass of metal and concrete: it has a life of its
own, and understanding its movements is as important as understanding the static
forces.
 6.CONNECTIONS
 Members of trusses can be joined by riveting, bolting or welding. Due to involved procedure and highly skilled labour
requirement, riveting is not common these days, except in some railway bridges in India. In railway bridges riveting may be
used due to fatigue considerations. Even in such bridges, due to recent developments, high strength friction grip (HSFG) bolting
and welding have become more common. Shorter span trusses are usually fabricated in shops and can be completely welded
and transported to site as one unit. Longer span trusses can be prefabricated in segments by welding in shop. These segments
can be assembled by bolting or welding at site. This results in a much better quality of the fabricated structure. However, the
higher cost of shop fabrication due to excise duty in contrast to lower field labour cost frequently favour field fabrication in
India.
 If the rafter and tie members are T sections, angle diagonals can be directly connected to the web of T by welding or bolting.
Frequently, the connections between the members of the truss cannot be made directly, due to inadequate space to
accommodate the joint length. In such cases, gusset plates are used to accomplish such connections (Fig. 9). The size, shape and
the thickness of the gusset plate depend upon the size of the member being joined, number and size of bolt or length of weld
required, and the force to be transmitted. The thickness of the gusset is in the range of 8 mm to 12 mm in the case of roof
trusses and it can be as high as 22 mm in the case of bridge trusses. The design of gussets is usually by rule of thumb. In short
span (8 – 12 m) roof trusses, the member forces are smaller, hence the thickness
of gussets are lesser (6 or 8 mm) and for longer span lengths (> 30 m) the thickness of gussets are larger.
 7. LOADS ON BRIDGES
The following are the various loads to be considered for the purpose of computing
stresses, wherever they are applicable.
 Dead load
 Live load
 Impact load
 Longitudinal force
 Thermal force
 Wind load
 Seismic load
 Racking force
 Forces due to curvature
 Forces on parapets
 Frictional resistance of expansion bearings
 Erection forces
 8. ECONOMY OF TRUSSES
Trusses consume a lot less material compared to beams to span the same length and
transfer moderate to heavy loads. However, the labour requirement for fabrication
and erection of trusses is higher and hence the relative economy is dictated by
different factors. In India these considerations are likely to favour the trusses even
more because of the lower labour cost. In order to fully utilize the economy of the
trusses the designers should ascertain the following:

 Method of fabrication and erection to be followed, facility for shop fabrication

available, transportation restrictions, field assembly facilities.
 Preferred practices and past experience.
 Availability of materials and sections to be used in fabrication.
 Erection technique to be followed and erection stresses.
 Method of connection preferred by the contractor and client (bolting, welding or
riveting).
 Choice of as rolled or fabricated sections.
 Simple design with maximum repetition and minimum inventory of material.
 9. ADVANTAGES OF TRUSS BRIDGE

MOUNTAIN REGION
 1. When the members are difficult to be transported to the site and when the conditions
of construction is restricted.
 2. When a bridge in a curve alignment is required, a horizontal bent continuous bridge
or a deck truss bridge with brackets can selected.

OPEN FIELD REGION

 1. Assurance of space below the bridge soffit due to adoption of through bridge
 2. Long span bridge over the mouth of a river or the coast.
 3. Double-deck bridge having upper and lower 2-layer road surface.
 10. DISADVANTAGES OF TRUSS BRIDGE

 1. As it is composed by many members, maintenance requirements such as

repainting is needed.
 2. The sight view from the driver in case of through bridges.
 3. Materials used can be subjected to corrosion
 11.CONCLUSIONS
 1. Bridge components are having substantial fatigue life even after considering the Joint
Flexibility.
 2. Joint flexibility tends to alter the vibration characteristics of each component to
loading environment in presence of realistic damping of 2%, thus the damage
 potential of each member which depends upon the stress range and cycle counts is also
got affected ,however the change was only 40%(max).
 3. In most of members fatigue life got increased, however life of some component got
decreased, the maximum decrease observed is about 40% in one of Bottom Chords
 and Verticals.
 4. The variation in passage to failure exhibited by each component with the different
speeds makes it difficult to find a particular trend, however the trend is similar at
 different flexibilities with change only in magnitudes.
 5. It can be concluded that the reduction of joint rotational stiffness up to 50% has less
effect on structural stability of Steel Truss Railway Bridge.