FOLDED PLATE

RIA NAIR
AKSHATA MARATHE
APARNA PILLAI VARUN
DHANYA PODUVAL MALHOTRA
KETKI MAHAJAN VISHAL JP
VISHAL PANSARE
RENUKA KULKARNI
YAMENI
NIKHIL NAIR

 INTRODUCTION
It is another form of stressed skin roof and is sometimes called
folded slab construction.

The fold may take the form of a pitched roof, monitor roof or a
multifold roof in single or multiple bays with up stand or down
stand diaphragms at the supports to collect and distribute the
slabs to enable concrete to be introduced and vibrated openings
or windows can be left in the upper surface form work and these
will be filled in with slip in pieces after the concrete has been
placed and vibrated.

PRINCIPLE
Longer spans can be accommodated with relatively small
increases in weight by enlarging the lever arm of the structure; the
top and bottom chords of each slanted slab house the main
reinforcements while the shear stresses are absorbed across the
sloping sides. The folded plate acts as a beam and can support
even greater loads.
BASIC ELEMENTS :
The principle components in a folded plate structure are 1. The inclined plates.
2. Edge plates which must be used to stiffen the wide plates.
3. Stiffeners to carry the loads to the supports and to hold the
plates in line.
4. Columns to support the structure in the air.

FOLDED PLATES

 CONCEPT
Folded plate roof is the other form of stressed skin or membrane in, which the stiffness of the skin
is, used to distribute the loading to the point of support and is sometimes called folded slab
construction.

The basic design concept is to bend or fold a flat slab so that the roof will behave as a beam
spanning in the direction of the fold.

It is an example of a 3-dimensional or space structure.

1. When a thin sheet of paper rests between two
supports it will bend due to the fact that it has
insufficient strength to carry its own weight.
2. If the same piece of paper is folded then it will be
capable of supporting one hundred times its own
weight.
3. If the load is increased past this point then the
structure will fail and the folds will flatten out.

4. This problem can be rectified by using transverse

stiffeners at the ends. The folded plate acts as a
beam and can support even greater loads.

FOLDED PLATES

 TYPES OF FOLDING
THREE

SEGMENT

PLATE :-

The end stiffeners are rigid frames rather than deep

girders.
The forces from the reactions of the sloping plates on
these rigid frames will be quire large and at an outside
column they will not be balanced by thrusts from the
adjacent plates.
The size of the frames may be reduced by using a steel
tie between the tops of the columns which can be
concealed in the fenestration.
The dimensions of the plates are dependent on both the
width of the barrel and on the span.
The depth of the shell should be about 0.10 times the
span and the maximum slope of a plate should not be
greater than 40 degrees.

CANOPIES : This folded plate has four segments.

A two segment structure is not desirable because it has

very little torsional resistance.

Stiffeners can often be hidden on the top surface so

they are not in evidence and the shell will appear to
spring from the vertical column.
At the wall of the building there should also be a
stiffener hidden in the wall construction. Provision should
be made for drainage of the center valley.

FOLDED PLATES

FOLDED

 TYPES OF FOLDING
Z SHELL : Dramatic architectural effect - if the structure can be
shown by a cantilever projected out beyond the support.

The windows are normally open to the north but most of

the light is actually reflected south light.
Each of the units has one large sloping plate and two
edge plates arranged with space between the units for
windows.

Adjacent units should be tied together by structural

window mullions.

The spans are limited in comparison to the plates having

a large number of units side by side.
EDGE

SUPPORTED

FOLDED

PLATES :-

The usual upturned edge plate can be eliminated and

the roof structure can be made to appear very thin if
the edge plate is replaced by a series of columns.

The slab between columns must be designed as a

beam and it may be convenient to extend the main roof
slab as a cantilever canopy.

The beam element that carries the load of the roof

between columns will then be wider and windows under
the slab will have the same function as in the previous
examples of folded plates.

The vertical columns in the end walls at the crown of

the gable take the reactions of the plates , thus the
horizontal ties may be eliminated.

FOLDED PLATES

 TYPES OF FOLDING
FOLDED PLATE TRUSS
There are horizontal ties across the width only at the
ends of the building and the structure acts as an
edge supported shell.
The thrusts from the triangular crossed arches are
carried lengthwise to the ends. The top chord of the
inclined truss is formed by the ridge member.

The bottom chords are the ties at the base of the

side gables and the diagonals are formed by the
sloping valleys at the intersection of the gables and
the triangular plates.

The top longitudinal compression member may

require some additional thickness to form a
compression member of sufficient size to carry the
compression force.
WALLS CONTINUOUS WITH SHELL : In this structure the walls are of tilt-up concrete
construction; concrete is cast flat on the floor and raised
into place by cranes.

The walls are designed to be continuous with the roof

plates.
In this design, columns are not necessary at the
junction of the individual side wall panels because the
walls are braced at the top. Only a simple grouted key
slot is provided.

The tilt-up panels can serve as their own foundation

walls so only a continuous footing pad is used with a
notch to receive the tilt-up panel.

FOLDED PLATES

 TYPES OF FOLDING
TAPERED

FOLDED

PLATE

RIGID

FOLDED

Folded plate structures may be built with tapered elements

Another possibility is to place the smaller depths all at one
end so that the entire structure forms a circular ring.
The height of the shells at the center of the span is the
critical dimension for bending strength.
Therefore, the structure is not very efficient and not
suitable for long spans because of the excess height required
for the large ends.
A folded plate may be used for walls as a thin structural
element by casting each plate flat on the floor and grouting
the joints full of concrete.
A wall of this type can be made much thinner than a flat
wall.

FRAME :-

An arch with straight segments is sometimes called a

rigid frame.

It is not as efficient as the curved arch because the

bending moments are greater.

Ties across the plates are required at the knees and at

the crown in order to distribute the forces at the ends of
each segment.

FOLDED PLATES

PLATES :-

 CONSTRUCTION METHOD
If a flat slab is folded or bent, it can behave as a
beam spanning in the direction of the fold with a
depth equal to the rise of the folded slab.
When loaded , compression and tension stresses
will be set up at the top and the bottom of the
section respectively.
Each slab spans between the folds and must be
thick enough to span this distance and to have
sufficient stiffness, to distribute the loads
longitudinally.
End frames must be provided to collect the force in
the slabs and transfer them to the supports.

FOLDED PLATES

 DESIGN PRINCIPLE
The base unit of a folded plate is assembled from a thin steel
reinforced concrete or steel surface that is bent to increase its
strength and allow it to span like a beam.
Folded plates have the primary bending stresses across their
inclined section with peak stress at the ridge. The depth of
the plates fold is proportional to its resistance to bending.
Folded plates can be made of reinforced concrete or the steel
but then can also be made of a mixture of concrete and
lightweight terracotta tiles, in order to reduce the overall
weight , or lightweight polymer mixture of concrete and fibre
glass.
Scored laminated timber sheets can also be used, resulting in
a much lower weight to span ratio.
This distribution of load through the depth of the steel
reinforcement concrete or steel section embeds the folded
plate with an affective property of pleating and arching that
remains consistent within any space it defines.

FOLDED PLATES

 CONSTRUCTION METHOD
Perpendicular to the main span, the shell acts as short span
plates in transverse bending.

FOLDED PLATES WITH SIMPLE JOINT

In the main span direction, the shell develops

membrane tension at the top and compression at the
bottom, in analogy to a beam in bending.

When the folded plate is that with a simple joint, which

mean that no more than 2 elements are connected to the
joint.
But when more than 2 elements are connected to the joint.
But when more than2 elements are connected to the joint,
it can be named as multiple joint.
The width of any plate should not be larger than 0.25 its
length to be considered to act as beam.

FOLDED PLATES

 COMPONENTS OF FOLDED PLATES

The principle components in a folded plate structure are as given
below:
1) The inclined plates
2) Edge plates which must be used to stiffen the wide plates
3) Stiffeners to carry the loads to supports and to hold the
plates in line
4) Columns to support the structure in the air
) A strip across a folded plate is called a slab element because
the plate is designed as slab in that direction.
) The span of the structure is greater distance between columns
and the bay width is the distance between similar structural
units.

RIGID FRAME

) The structure above is a two segment folded plate .

) If several units were placed side by side, the edge plates
should be omitted except for the first and the last plate.
) If the edge plate is not omitted on inside edges, the form
should be called a two segment folded plate with a common
edge plate.
) The structure above may have a simple span, or multiple span
of varying length, or the folded plate may cantilever from the
supports without a stiffener at the end.

FOLDED PLATES

PRISMATIC BARRELS

o The span and the width of each bay governs the overall depth.
This should not be less than between 1/10th and 1/15 of the
span , or 1/10th of the width , which is greater.
o The width of each slab is limited only by requirement of the
lateral stiffness which dictate the thickness.
o There are various methods of retaining the folds in position at
the points of support where the load is taken down to the
foundations they are as follows:

Lattice frame or a rigid frame

Upstand diaphragm beam
Down stand diaphragm beam
Hipped folded slab
Prismatic barrels
North light
NORTH LIGHT

FOLDED PLATES

 CONSTRUCTION DETAILS

FOLDED PLATES

 CONSTRUCTION DETAILS

FOLDED PLATES

 APPLICATION OF FOLDED PLATES

Folded structures have found the application in
architectural buildings and engineering structures.
Based on the position in the architectural structure, this
type of construction can be divided into: roof, floor and
wall folded constructions.
The largest number of examples of folded structures are
roof structures. The need for acquiring the larger range
and more cost effective structure the folded structures are
used.

St. Pius X Catholic

Church.

Used as Canopy

The Riverside Museum,

Glasgow

FOLDED PLATES

SunBow House, Los

Angeles

 ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES

ADVANTAGES

DISADVANTAGES

1. Folded plates are ideally suited for a variety

of structures such as factory buildings,
assembly halls, godowns, auditorium gym
large spaces requiring column free spaces.

1.

Shuttering is expensive.
Centering is also costly.

2.

Mostly used for RCC roofing

2. Simple shuttering involving straight planks

are required. moveable formwork can be
done resulting speedy construction.

3.

Thin sections --- strict

supervision desired

3. Folded plates can provide longer span giving

column free areas.
4. The design components and the diaphragms
are simple compared to shell roofing.

FOLDED PLATES

 DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS

FOLDED PLATES

 COMPONENTS OF FOLDED PLATES

FOLDED PLATES