Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering

ENCI 427 – “Timber Engineering” 2014

Assignment 3: Multi-Storey Timber Building

(Group Project)

A new single storey structure has been proposed as part of the Christchurch City Rebuild. The client has requested
that the new building should mainly be constructed in timber. As the client wants to maximise the potential use of
the space inside the structure, it is expected that there will be no internal columns/posts.

The structure is 35m in width and 60m in length. The height to the knee of the structure is 3.5m and the roof has a
slope of 11°, giving an apex height of approximately 7 m above ground level. The architect involved in the project
has specified that the roof and the walls will be constructed from relatively lightweight materials.

Assignment 3a: Conceptual Design

 Make four conceptual designs of the building using different structural systems (portal frame, trusses, arches,
or other 3d structure of your choice)
 For each concept design, make the following drawings
o Structural sketches of floor plan, cross-section and elevations, showing the main structural members,
plus girts, purlins and bracing
o Perspective 3D sketch showing the main structural members and the lateral load resisting system
 Compare possible advantages and disadvantages of each solution and consider the relative cost

Assignment 3b: Preliminary Portal Frame Design

 Select one of your portal frame designs from 1a.
 Evaluate the loads on the building: permanent, imposed, snow, wind and earthquake
o Make some assumptions to keep the wind design (NZS1170.2) simple
 Sketch the load path for each load case
 Provide a preliminary design (structural sizes) of the main structural members, based on the design-guide or by
using rough calculations
 Give detailed sketch of TWO options for the main knee-joint connections

Assignment 3c: Detailed Portal Frame Design

 Carry out the detailed structural design of the portal frames under gravity and lateral loads
 Design the knee-joint connections for both options from 3b.
 Design the connections to the foundations
 Design bracing for lateral loads in the longitudinal direction of the building
 Design the roof cladding, purlins and purlin connections, girts and girt connections under gravity and wind
loads
 Make structural drawings of the whole building , including plan, cross-section, main-frame (including
connection details), purlins, bracing, girts
 Write a Design Features Report (one page describing the structure and design basics)

Due date: Thursday 22nd May, 8:00am