Roof Trusses
Roof Trusses
Truss Terms: The terms below are typically used to describe the various parts of a
metal plate connected wood truss. The truss profile, span, heel height, overall
height, overhang and web configuration depend on the specific design conditions
and will vary by application.
Truss Configurations
The following examples represent some of the possible variations on the basic types
of trusses. The only limit to the design is your imagination.
Closed trusses
The terms closed truss and open truss are used in two ways to describe
characteristics of truss roofs. Closed truss: 1) A truss with a tie beam; 2) a roof
system with a ceiling so the framing is not visible. Open truss: 1) A truss with an
interrupted tie beam or scissor truss which allow a vaulted ceiling area; 2) Roof
framing open to view, not hidden by a ceiling.
A queen post truss has two principal rafters and two vertical queen posts. The
queen post truss extends the span, and combined with spliced joints in the longer
members extends the useful span for trusses of these types. As with a king post,
the queen posts may be replaced with iron rods and thus called a queen rod truss.
This truss is often known as a palladiana (Palladian truss) in Italy, as it was
frequently used by the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio. Sometimes a palladian
truss is defined as a compound truss with a queen post and king post truss in the
same assembly.
The queen post truss and the king post truss may be combined, by using the
straining beam of the queen post truss as the tie beam for a king post truss
above. Such combinations are known as compound trusses.
Liegender Stuhl
German illustration of a purlin roof with liegendem stuhl truss highlighted in blue.
Liegender stuhl is a truss of German origin, the German name is used in America.
This truss is found in some 18th and 19th-century buildings where Germans settled
in the U.S. The literal translation is "lying chair", lying meaning the top chords are
angled or leaning and chair in the sense of a support, in this case a post or
truss. Carpenters in the Netherlands also used this truss where it is spelled liggende
stoel.
Open trusses
Arch-braced truss
Hammerbeam truss
The hammerbeam roof was the culmination of the development of the arch-braced
truss, allowing greater spaces to be spanned. The hammerbeam roof
of Westminster Hall in London, designed by Hugh Herland and installed between
1395 and 1399, was the largest timber-roofed space in medieval Europe, spanning
a distance of just over 20 metres (66 ft). It is considered to be the best example of
a hammer-beam truss in England.
Hammer beam trusses can have a single hammerbeam or multiple hammerbeams.
A false hammerbeam roof (truss) has two definitions: 1) There is no hammer post
on the hammer beam as sometimes found in a type of arch brace truss or; 2) The
hammer beam joins into the hammer post instead of the hammer post landing on
the hammer beam.
Scissor truss
A scissor truss
The scissor truss gets its name from being shaped like a pair of shears (scissors).
Two defining features of a scissor truss are: 1) the joint where the bottom chords
pass (the hinge of a pair of scissors) must be firmly connected and 2) the rafter
(top chord) feet must land on the bottom chords. If the bottom chords join to the
under-side of the top chords the assembly is said to be "scissor braced" rather than
a scissor truss.
BRIDGE TRUSS
Truss Bridge - Types, History, Facts and Design
Truss bridge is a type of bridge whose main element is a truss which is a structure of
connected elements that form triangular units. Truss is used because it is a very rigid
structure and it transfers the load from a single point to a much wider area. Truss bridges
appeared very early in the history of modern bridges and are economic to construct because
they use materials efficiently.
Before Industrial revolution (19th century), almost all bridges in use were made of
stone. But wood and iron can resist tension and compression better and stone and United
States had much wood so they made many wooden bridges in those times and most of
them were truss bridges. Town's lattice truss, a very simple variant of truss, was patented in
1820. First half of 19th century saw very few truss bridges made of iron although the first
patent for an iron truss bride was issued to Squire Whipple in 1841. But metal slowly started
to replace wood, and wrought iron bridges started appearing in the U.S. in the 1870s only to
be replaced by steel in 1880s and 1890s. In time some places (like Pennsylvania) continued
building truss bridges for long spans well into 1930s, while other (like Michigan) started
building standard plan concrete girder and beam bridges.
From the first truss bridge, engineers experimented with different forms of truss
bridges trying to find better shape and the one that will suit them for the particular
problems. Because of that we have today many forms of truss bridges. Truss bridge can
have deck (roadbed) on top (deck truss), in the middle (through truss), or at the bottom of
the truss. If the sides of the truss extend above the roadbed but are not connected, it is
called a pony truss or half-through truss.
Here are some more common variants of truss design for bridges:
Allan truss: a pony truss based on Howe truss. The first Allan truss was finished on
13 August 1894.
Bailey truss: made for military to be easily combined in various configurations.
Baltimore truss: made like Pratt truss but it has additional bracing in the lower
section of the truss which prevents buckling in the compression members.
Bollman truss: an all-metal truss with many independent tension elements which
makes for a strong bridge that is easy to assemble.
Burr arch truss: a combination of an arch and truss which gives a strong and rigid
bridge.
Howe truss: has vertical elements and diagonals that slope up towards the center
of the bridge.
K truss: has one vertical member and two oblique members in each panel (which
form a letter K).
Lenticular truss: uses a lens-shape truss which has an upper and lower curve and
diagonal elements between them. If the curves are above and below the roadbed it is a
lenticular pony truss.
Long truss: a variant of Howe truss but made of wood and used for covered
bridges.
Parker truss: a variant of Pratt truss that has a polygonal upper chord. If chord has
exactly five segments it is called camelback.
Pegram truss: has chords that are wider at the bottom but of the same length as
each other at the top.
Pratt truss: has vertical members and diagonals that slope downward to the center.
It is a variant commonly used for railroad bridges.
Vierendeel truss: has members that are not triangular but rectangular. Rare are
bridges made in this variant of truss because it is not cheap.