Portal Frame Structures

Sem 9 - B.Tech
Assignment 2

Pravah Khandekar 1730

Riya Jain 1727
INTRODUCTION:
Portal frames are generally low-rise structures, comprising columns and horizontal or
pitched rafters, connected by moment-resisting connections. Resistance to lateral and
vertical actions is provided by the rigidity of the connections and the bending stiffness of
the members, which is increased by a suitable haunch or deepening of the rafter sections.
This form of continuous frame structure is stable in its plane and provides a clear span that
is unobstructed by bracing.

UTILITY:
They are very efficient for enclosing large volumes, therefore they are often used for
industrial, storage, retail and commercial applications as well as for agricultural purposes.

MATERIALS:
Portal Frames can be constructed using Steel, Reinforced Concrete or Laminated timber.

Steel Portal Frame Timber Portal Frame

Reinforced Concrete Portal Frame

TERMINOLOGY:
● Bay - The space between successive bents.
● Bracing - Single or diagonal members which form a truss system with columns or
rafters to provide stability and resist horizontal load.
● Cladding Runners - Members carrying side sheeting and supported by columns.
● Columns - Members generally vertical which primarily resist axial load and bending
moment.
● Column Height - The height of the column from top of the foundation to the junction
of the centre lines of rafter and column.
● Purlins - Members carrying roof sheeting and supported by rafters.
● Roof Slopes - The slope of the rafter with respect to the span length. It is obtained
by dividing the rise of the portal frame by half the span length.
● Spacing of Frames - The centre line distance of two adjacent portal frames in the
longitudinal direction.
● Span - The centre line distance between the columns at top of the foundation in the
transverse direction.

Typical portal frame

TYPES OF PORTAL FRAMES:

Pitched roof portal (fabricated from UBs):

A single-span symmetrical pitched roof portal frame will typically have:
● A span between 15 m and 50 m
● Eaves height between 5 and 10 m
● A roof pitch between 5E and 10E (6E is commonly adopted)
● A frame spacing between 5 m and 8 m (the greater spacings being associated with
the longer span portal frames)
● Haunches in the rafters at the eaves and apex.

A. Portal frame with a mezzanine floor

● Office accommodation is often provided within a portal frame structure using a
partial width mezzanine floor
● The portal frame must be designed to stabilise the mezzanine.
B. Portal frame with ‘lean-to’
● Placing the offices externally to the portal frame may create an asymmetric portal
structure. The main advantage of this configuration is that large columns and
haunches do not obstruct the office space.
● Where the structure is truly a ‘lean-to’, it depends on the portal for its stability.
Therefore the portal frame must be designed to stabilise the office structure, in the
same way as the portal frame stabilises a mezzanine.

C. Crane portal frame with column brackets

Where a travelling crane of relatively low capacity (up to say 20 tonnes) is required,
rackets can be fixed to the columns to support the crane rails. The spread of the
frame at crane rail level may be of critical importance to the functioning of the crane.
The spread can be reduced by a number of approaches, including:
● Selecting stiffer members for column and rafters.
● Reducing the pitch of the roof.
● Introducing ties at eaves level (if these do not clash with the crane).
● Using nominally rigid column bases.
D. Mono-pitch portal frame
● A mono-pitch portal frame is usually chosen for small spans or because of its
proximity to other buildings. It is a simple variation of the pitched roof portal frame,
and tends to be used for smaller buildings (up to 15 m span).

E. Propped portal frame

● Where the span of a portal frame is large (greater than say 30 m), and there is no
need to provide a clear span, a propped portal frame can reduce the rafter size and
also the horizontal thrust at the base, giving economies in both steelwork and
foundation costs.
● This type of frame is sometimes referred to as a “single span propped portal”, but it
is a two-span portal frame in terms of structural behaviour.

F. Tied portal frame

● In a tied portal frame, the horizontal movement of the eaves and the moments in the
columns are reduced. This can be useful when a crane is designed to span across
the structure below the tie level.
● The disadvantage is that the headroom is also reduced. For roof slopes of less than
15 degrees, very large forces develop in the rafters and the tie. These large forces
reduce the stability of the frame, so the design and analysis should be undertaken
with special caution.
G. Mansard portal frame
● A mansard portal frame may be used where a large clear span is required but the
eaves height of the building has to be minimised. A tied mansard portal frame may
be an economic solution where there is a need to restrict eaves spread.

H. Curved rafter portal frame

● A number of curved rafter portal frame buildings have been constructed in recent
years, mainly for architectural applications.
● The rafter can be curved to a radius by cold bending. For spans greater than 16 m,
splices may be required in the rafter because of limitations of transport. These
splices should be carefully detailed, for architectural reasons.
● These portal frames are often analysed using a model in which the curve is
represented by a series of four straight elements.
I. Cellular beam portal frame
● In recent years a series of portal frames have been constructed using cellular beams.
Such frames commonly have curved rafters, which are easily achieved using cellular
beams.
● Where splices are required in the rafter (for transport), they should be carefully
detailed, to preserve the architectural features for this form of construction.
● Many cellular beam portal frames in the span range of 40 m to 55 m have been
constructed; greater spans are possible.

J. Gable wall frames

● Gable wall frames are located at the ends of the building and may comprise posts
and simply-supported rafters rather than a portal frame.
● If the building is to be extended later, a portal frame of the same size as the internal
frames are preferred.
 K. Hipped roof frames
● Hipped roofs are often used to enhance the appearance of an industrial structure or
where a more traditional roof shape is required, for example in a supermarket,
sports hall, or car park. Hipped roofs can be constructed in a number of ways:
○ The end frame can be placed at the same spacing as the main frames and
the rafters angled to meet at the apex of the penultimate frame. This usually
leads to an end roof pitch that is steeper than the general roof pitch.
○ A gablette feature can be introduced, where the inclined rafters meet below
the apex of the penultimate frame. This reduces the pitch of the hip.
○ The rafters can be arranged at an angle of 45 degrees to create a roof pitch
equal to the main roof pitch. In this case, the spacing between the
penultimate frame and the end frame is equal to half the span and
intermediate frames may be required; these can take the form of a
flat-topped mansard portal. In all these cases, the end frame will usually be
a simple braced rafter and post frame.

DESIGN CONSIDERATION:

● Choice of material and section

Steel sections used in portal frame structures are usually specified in grade S355
steel. In plastically designed portal frames, Class 1 plastic sections must be used at
hinge positions that rotate, Class 2 compact sections can be used elsewhere.

● Frame Dimension
A critical decision at the conceptual design stage is the overall height and width of
the frame, to give adequate clear internal dimensions and adequate clearance for
the internal functions of the building.

● Clear Span and Height

The clear span and height required by the client are key to determining the
dimensions to be used in the design, and should be established early in the design
process. The client requirement is likely to be the clear distance between the
flanges of the two columns – the span will therefore be larger, by the section depth.
 Any requirement for brickwork or blockwork around the columns should be
established as this may affect the design span.

● Main frame
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 12 m
- A roof pitch between 5° and 10° (6° is commonly adopted)
- A frame spacing between 6 and 8 m
- Haunches in the rafters at the eaves and apex
- A stiffness ratio between the column and rafter section of approximately 1.5
- Light gauge purlins and side rails
- Light gauge diagonal ties from some purlins and side rails to restrain the inside
flange of the frame at certain locations.

● Haunch Dimension
The use of a haunch at the eaves reduces the required depth of rafter by increasing
the moment resistance of the member where the applied moments are highest. The
haunch also adds stiffness to the frame, reducing deflections, and facilitates an
efficient bolted moment connection.
The apex haunch may be cut from a rolled section – often from the same size as the
rafter, or fabricated from plate. The apex haunch is not usually modelled in the
frame analysis and is only used to facilitate a bolted connection.

● Positions of restraints
During initial design the rafter members are normally selected according to their
cross sectional resistance to bending moment and axial force. In later design stages
stability against buckling needs to be verified and restraints positioned judiciously.
LOADING:
The following loadings should be considered while design Portal Frame;
● Dead and Live Load:
The weight of the final structure should be taken into consideration while designing
as well as the Live load that will be imposed on the structure, this can be
determined while designing by considering the intended use of the structure.
● Wind Load:
Usually for Low-rise single-span portal frames wind loads can be ignored unless
the height/span ratio is large or if the dynamic pressure is high. Some of the
considerations to make during designing are deflection due to wind loading, Wind
uplift, the pressure difference due to wind on windward and leeward sides.

JOINERY DETAILS:

JOINERY AT DIFFERENT JOINTS

EAVES, CLADDING, HAUNCH AND BASE JOINERY
 EAVES AND APEX JOINERY

FOUNDATION:

The following terminology is used for the components in foundations of portal frames:
● Base - the combined arrangement of base plate, holding down bolts, and concrete
foundation. The terms nominally pinned and nominally rigid are usually applied to
the performance of the base, in relation to its restraint of the column.
● Base plate - the steel plate at the base of the column, connected to the column by
fillet welds.
● Holding down bolts - bolts through the base plate that are anchored into the
concrete foundation.
● Foundation - the concrete footing required to resist compression, uplift, and, where
necessary, overturning moments.
● Anchor plates - plates or angles used to anchor the holding down bolts into the
foundation. They should be of such a size as to provide an adequate factor of safety
against bearing failure of the concrete.

In a nominally pinned base for larger columns, the bolts can be located entirely inside a line
across the tips of the flanges. For smaller columns (less than say 356 mm), the base plate
is made wider so that the bolts can be moved outside the flanges. A nominally rigid,
moment resisting base is achieved by providing a bigger lever arm for the bolts and a stiffer
base plate. Additional gusset plates may be required for heavy moment connections.
Ground conditions:
Generally, portal frames exert a very low ground bearing pressure.
The size of base required to resist uplift under wind loading will usually ensure that the
bearing pressure under vertical loads is below 100 kN/m2 .

Where portal frames are founded on expansive clays or uncompacted fill, the following
design options should be considered:
● Locate the frame on a structural raft, or on a wide reinforced concrete strip footing.
● Use precast ground beams and mini-piles.
● Use bored or driven piles under each footing with linking in-situ or precast ground
beams.
● Consider ground improvement techniques, i.e. vibro-replacement under each base.
● If adequate information is available, design the frame for some base movement.
Normal practice is to construct the foundations first, then the steel frame, the
cladding, and finally the ground floor slab (which is often power floated). This tends
to make the construction of a large structural raft prior to the erection of the frame
not only expensive, but also disruptive in terms of the construction programme.

Foundation design at the fire limit state

If the foundation is designed to resist a moment due to rafter collapse in a fire, both the
base plate and the foundation itself should be designed to resist the moment.
It may be possible to offset the base to reduce or eliminate the eccentricity generated by
the moment to give a uniform pressure distribution under the base.
A number of factors can be considered in order to reduce the size of the base for design at
the fire limit state:
● The ultimate bearing pressure of the ground may be used in this extreme load case.
This will usually be in the order of three times the allowable pressure at working
load. The ground investigation company may be able to justify a higher bearing
strength for the foundation.
● In resisting moment, it has been argued that where the column abuts a floor slab,
rotation can take place about the point of contact and the moment can be resisted
by passive pressure of the ground on the side of the foundation as well as friction on
the base of the concrete. In some circumstances this may be valid, but it depends on
the condition of the ground and also on the possible presence of services and
drainage gullies running parallel to the side of the building.
● Where a tie has been provided below the slab level to resist horizontal forces, this
may be utilised to resist moments by tying action in fire conditions.
CLADDING MATERIAL AND SUPPORTING FRAME DESIGN AND DETAILS:

There are a number of proprietary types of cladding on the market. These tend to fall into
some broad categories, which are described in the following sections.
A. Single-skin trapezoidal sheeting
Single-skin sheeting is widely used in agricultural and industrial structures where no
insulation is required. It can generally be used on roof slopes down to 4 degrees, provided
that the laps and sealants are as recommended by the manufacturers for shallow slopes.
The sheeting is fixed directly to the purlins and side rails, and provides positive restraint. In
some cases, single-skin sheeting is used with insulation suspended directly beneath the
sheeting.

B. Double-skin system
- Double skin or built-up roof systems usually use a steel liner tray that is
fastened to the purlins, followed by a spacing system (plastic ferrule and
spacer or rail and bracket spacer), insulation, and outer sheet.
- Because the connection between the outer and inner sheets may not be
sufficiently stiff, the liner tray and fittings must be chosen so that they alone
will provide the level of restraint to the purlins.
- Alternative forms of construction using plastic ferrule and Z or rail-and-bracket
spacers.
- As insulation depths have increased, there has been a move towards
rail-and-bracket solutions as they provide greater stability. With adequate sealing
of joints, the liner trays may be used to form an airtight boundary. Alternatively, an
impermeable membrane on top of the liner tray should be provided.

-
Standing seam sheeting:

Standing seam sheeting has concealed fixings and can be fixed in lengths of up to 30 m.
The advantages are that there are no penetrations directly through the sheeting that could
lead to water leakage, and fixing is rapid. The fastenings are in the form of clips that hold
the sheeting down but allow it to move longitudinally. The disadvantage is that
significantly less restraint is provided to the purlins than with a conventionally fixed
system. Nevertheless, a correctly fixed liner tray will provide adequate restraint.

Composite or sandwich panels

Composite or sandwich panels are formed by creating a foam insulation layer between the
outer and inner layers of sheeting. Composite panels have good spanning capabilities, due
to composite action in bending. Both standing seam and direct fixing systems are available.
These will clearly provide widely differing levels of restraint to the purlins. The
manufacturers should be consulted for more information.
Walls in fire boundary conditions
Where buildings are close to a site boundary, the Building Regulations require that the
wall is designed to prevent spread of fire to adjacent property. Fire tests have shown
that a number of types of panel can perform adequately, provided that they remain
fixed to the structure. Further guidance should be sought from the manufacturers. Due
to the construction used for the fire test specimens, it is considered necessary by some
manufacturers and local authorities to provide slotted holes in the side rail connections
to allow for thermal expansion. In order to ensure that this does not compromise the
stability of the column by removing the restraint under normal conditions, the slotted
holes should be fitted with washers made from a material that will melt at high
temperatures and allow the side rail to move relative to the column under fire
conditions only.

Roof structure
Roof panel: It can bear the vertical load and horizontal wind load acting on the roof panel.
Generally, it uses a single color metal sheet or sandwich panel.
1. Purlin: Support structure of roof panel, which can bear the vertical load and
horizontal wind load transmitted from the roof panel.
2. Rigid frame beam: The primary load-bearing members mainly bear the self-weight
of the roof structure and the live load transmitted from the roof panel.
Wall structure:
1. Exterior wall panels: vertical and gable wall. Mainly bear wind load. It uses a single
color metal sheet or sandwich panel.
2. Wall girt: bearing the vertical and horizontal wind load transmitted by the wall
panel.

Bracing:
Type: Roof horizontal bracing, wall bracing.
1. Roof horizontal bracing: enhance the overall rigidity of the roof. It consists of a roof
cross bracing, tie beam, and fly bracing.
2. Wall bracing: It is used to improve the stability of the wall frame structure.
INSTALLATION SEQUENCE OF PORTAL STEEL STRUCTURE:

1. Install the steel column: First, fix the anchor bolts, and the steel column is set on the
foundation by connecting with the anchor bolts.

2. Install the tie beam between the steel columns.

3. Assemble the steel beam: Steel beams should be combined with high-strength bolts on
the ground and assembled.
4. Install the purlin between the two roof trusses to form a stable frame system.

Installation sequence: start with the two rigid frames supported between columns near the
gable. Install purlin, bracing, and fly bracing, etc.

Starting from the two rigid frames, install them in sequence toward the other end of the
house.

1.
Fixing of Rafter 2. Foundation detail

3. Fixing of Rainwater pipe 4. Fixing of Rafter to Stanchion

5. Fixing of rafters to Stanchion 6. Fixing of roofing sheet

COST:
REFERENCES :
https://www.steelconstruction.info/images/4/44/SCI_P252.pdf

https://www.ijert.org/research/pre-engineered-construction-analysis-and-design-of-portal-
frame-IJERTV4IS050363.pdf

https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/18152709/rules-of-thumb-for-steel-structures

https://www.steelconstruction.info/Portal_frames#Anatomy_of_a_typical_portal_frame

https://havitsteelstructure.com/specification-of-portal-steel-frame-buildings/

https://slideplayer.com/slide/2437168/

https://www.slideshare.net/gracehenry142/portal-frame-structural-systems
 Light and Ventilation in Portal Frame:

● With single storey buildings natural lighting can be gained by placing clear sheets
in the roof layout. Also using openings on the walls of the structure.
Ventilation equipment comes in two categories: Inlet equipment and
Outlet equipment. Ridge ventilator is a necessity to ensure proper
circulation of air.

Product Features

● Reduce heat build-up

● Reduce gaseous by-products from the manufacturing process
● Reduce flammable fumes to avoid risks of fire
● Increase the performance of the ventilation system in pre-engineered
buildings
● Optimize energy use of air conditioners and save operations costs.