RELATION BETWEEN TRUSS, PORTAL

FRAME
AND
SPACE FRAME

Submitted by
A. Raja sekhar

Truss

In architecture, a truss is a structure

comprising one or more triangular
units constructed with straight
members whose ends are connected
at joints referred to as nodes.
External forces and reactions to
those forces are considered to act
only at the nodes and result in forces
in the members which are either
tensile or compressive forces.

A truss consists of straight

members connected at joints,

traditionally termedpanel points.
Trusses are composed of
triangles because of the
structural stability of that shape
and design.

 Most structures are made of

several trusses joined together
to form a space framework.
Each truss carries those loads
which act in its plane and may
be treated as a twodimensional structure.
When forces tend to pull the
member apart, it is in tension.
When the forces tend to
compress the member, it is in
compression.
6-4

Members of a truss are slender and

not capable of supporting large lateral
loads. Loads must be applied at the
joints.
6-5

Types of trusses

Frame
Aframeis astructural systemthat

supports other components of a physical

construction.
A framed structure in any material is one
that is made stable by a skeleton that is
able to stand by itself as a rigid structure
without depending on floors or walls to
resist deformation.

Frames structures can be

differentiated into:
1. Rigid frame structures
A) Pin ended,
B) fixed ended.
2. Braced frame structures
A) gabled frames,
b) portal frames.

Portal frames

Portal frames are frequently

used over the entrance of a

bridge and as a main stiffness
element in building design in
order to transfer horizontal forces
applied at the top of the frame to
the foundation.
On bridges, these frames resist
the forces caused by wind,
earthquake, and unbalanced

 Portals can be pin supported,

fixed supported, or supported by

partial fixity.

A typical frame is characterised by:

A span between 15 and 50 m
An clear height (from the top of the floor to the

underside of the haunch) between 5 and 12m

A roof pitch between 5 and 10 (6 is
commonly adopted)
A frame spacing between 6 and 8m
Haunches in the rafters at the eaves and apex
A stiffness ratio between the column and rafter
section of approximately 1.5.

Pitched roof
symmetric
portalframe

Portalframe with
internal mezzanine floor

Crane portalframe
with column brackets

Mansard
portalframe

Mono-pitch
portalframe

Cellular beam
portalframe

Space frames
A space frame is a structure system

assembled of linear elements so

arranged that forces are transferred
in a three-dimensional manner.
In some cases, the constituent
element may be two dimensional.
Macroscopically a space frame often
takes the form of a flat or curved
surface

Aspace frameis atruss-like,

lightweight rigid structure

constructed from interlocking struts
in ageometricpattern. Space frames
usually utilize a multidirectional span,
and are often used to accomplish
long spans with few supports.

A space frame is usually

arranged in an array of single,

double, or multiple layers of
intersecting members.
Some authors define space
frames only as double-layer grids.
A single-layer space frame that
has the form of a curved surface
is termed as braced vault,
braced dome, or latticed shell.

Single, Double and Triple Layered

Single layer frame has to be singly

or doubly curved.
Commonly used space frames are
double layered and flat.
Triple layered is practically used for
a large span building.
COMPONENTS OF SPACE FRAME

Consists of axial members : Which

are tubes and connectors

Examples of space frames

Difference between truss and frame

1. Trusses and frames are both

composed of triangular
members connected at joints.

1. In a truss, the joints are pin

type joints and the members

are free to rotate about the pin.
As such, a truss cannot transfer
moments and members are
subjected to only axial forces
(tensile and compression).
2. On the other hand, members of
frames are connected rigidly at
joints by means of welding and
bolting. Therefore the joints of

load transfer :

In a truss the load

is transferred from
top chord, bottom
chord and web to
the walls.

In this the load

is transferred
from rafters to
the stanchions

 In space frames the load is

transferred 3 dimensional manner. In

this there will be no support walls and
floor

maximum clear span:

Trusses are used for spans of 5 m to

25 m. and the span depends on the

pitch of the roof and the depth of the
beam is span/12.
In portal frames that the maximum
span can reach 50m the column
spacing can be done to 24m. The
depth of the beam span/60
In space frames the clear span will
be around 100m and the depth is
span/40.

All the three of them are used as roof

covers and the trusses and portal frames

are used for bridges also.
whereas the space frames are used for
airport hangers mainly.
The materials used in its construction are:
For trusses we use timber, RCC and
steel..
and for portal frames we use timber,
RCC and steel.
for space frames we use mild steel
and stainless steel.

Trusses and frames are both

composed of triangular members

connected at joints.

TRUSS

Thank u