G R A PH ICA L A NA LYS IS

RO O F TRU S SES

y o n T H E U SE 0?

ENGINEERS, ARCHI
TECTS AND BUI
LDERS,

CH A S E . . G REE N E , A . M, .

PR OF . O F CIV IL E NGINE E R ING , U NIV E R S IT Y O F M ICH IGA N .

ILLU S T R AT E D B Y T H R E E F O LD ING P LAT E S .

C H ICA G 0
GEORGE . H . F R O S T P U B L I S H ER
, .

1 876 .
E n ter ed ac c o rdi ng to A ct of Con gres s ,
‘
i n th e year 1 8 7 6, b y
.

CH A S . E G R EENE
.
,

in th e o ffi c e o f t he Li b r ar ia n of Con g r ess. a t W ash in g ton .

mu s s o r
P R INT E D A l
‘ ‘

mo mmmmo n nws "

.
 C O N T E NT S .

IN T R O D U CTI O N ,

CH A P TER I
G EN ER A L PR I N CI P LE S .

CH A P TE R II .

T R U S S E S U ND E R V ER T I CA L FO R C E S ,

CH A P T E R III
T R U SS ES WIT H H O R I"O N TA L T H R U S T ,

CH A P TER IV
T R U SS E S W I T H F L AT R OOF S ,

CH A P TER V
FO R CE S N O T A PPL I E D AT "
OI N T S ,

PTER
’

CH A V I .

WI N D PR ESS U RE ,

CH A P TER V II
BEN D IN G MO ME N T A N D MO MEN T O F R E S I S TA NCE ,

CH A PTE R V III .

L OA D AN D D E TA ILS ,
 INT R O D U C T IO N .

-o

T he use o f l tion of pro blems i n

G r ap h i cal A n alys i s fo r t h e so u

c o n s t r u c t i o n h as b eco me o f lat e ye ar s v e ry w i d e s pr e ad - an d ,

r e c e n t d i sc o v e r i es i n t h i s lin e h av e e x t en d e d i t s app li c ati o n in

many n ew d i r e c ti o n s T h e r ep r esent at ion to t he eye i n on e

.
,

d i agr am of t h e for c es wh i ch exi st in t he se ver al par t s of a frame

, ,

po ssesses many adv ant ages o ver t h ei r d etermin ati on by calc ula
tion T he accu r acy of t h e fi gu re i s readily t est ed by n u mer ous
.

C hec k s A n y d esi g n er wh o fai r ly t r i es t h e met h od will b e

.

pleased with t h e si mplic ity an d d i rec tn ess of th e an alysi s ev en ,

fo r fr ames o f app ar ently c omp lex for ms T h ose p er so n s wh o

.

prefer arith metic al c omp uta tion will fi n d a di agram a u seful t es t

o f t h e acc u r acy o f t h ei r r es ult s Bein g fou n d ed on p r i n c i ples
.

a b solu t ely c o r r e c t t h ese diagr ams gi ve r esults depen din g for

,

t hei r accu r acy on t he exac tn ess w it h w hich t h e lin es h av e b een

d r aw n an d on t h e scale b y whi c h t h ey ar e t o b e me asur e d
, .

With ord in ary care the differen t for ces may b e ob tain ed much
mor e accur at ely t h an th e se ver al p ar t s of t h e frame c an b e pr o
p ortioned .

It i s adv isable t o dr aw t h e fi gur e of t he fr ame t o qui t e a lar ge

scale as all t h e o t h e r lin e s ar e d r awn p ar allel t o t h ose of t h e
,

fr ame . If it i s o bj ec t ed by an y t h at a sli gh t de vi ati o n fr o m t h e

ex ac t d i r ec ti o n s w i ll mat e ri ally c h an ge t h e len g t h s o f s o me of

th e li n es an d t h er efo r e g i v e e r r on e ou s r esult s i t may b e su g

, ,

gest ed t h at j ust so much c h an ge in t h e for m of t h e frame will

pr od uce this c h an ge i n t he for ces ; on e is t herefore warn ed
6 I N T R O D U C T I ON .

w h e re d u e allow an c e defo mati on sh ould b e made by

fo r su c h r

t h e pr o pe r di s t r i bu ti o n O f mat er i al T h e c o mp ar i son of d i ffe r ent

.

types o f t u ss for the s ame loc ality ca be mad e wi t h e ase a d

r n ,
n

t h e c h an ges pr oduc ed in all o f t h e fo r ces i n a y fr ame by a mod n

i fic at io of a few of it s pi eces c an b e r ead i ly s h o wn

n By apply .

in g eac h n ew pr i n ci ple t o a n ew fo r m of t r us s qu i t e a v ari ety of ,

pattern s h ave bee t reated wi th ou t a un due multi plicati on of

n n

fi gu r es .

No i n st ru ment s b u t t h ose whi ch ar at t h e h an d of e very e

drau ght sman ar e n eeded t o apply t hi s meth od No c lai m i s .

made fo o ri gin ali ty u n less i t b e in t he a r an gemen t of th e su b

r , r -a

ec t s a d s ome mi n o r d e t ails T e g r ap h i cal d et e mi n ati on of

j n h . r

ben di g moment s e tc i s added t o mak e t h e an alys i s of t h e

n ,
.
, ,

fo r c es co mplet e a d fi n ally some u seful d at a a d fo r mulae ar e

,
n n

gi v e n.

T h ese pages fi r s t appe a ed as a se i es of ar t icles in E ng z

°
-
r r

n eer i n d t h at fac t w ill acc ou nt fo r t h e arr an g e me nt

g a n

of s u bj ec t s an d me h o d o f r e fe r e n c e
t .
 CH A PT ER I
.

G ENERAL PR I N CI PLES .

It is prop osed in this series f arti cles t o explain and ill u strate a o ,

method fo finding the stresses in all the pi eces f a r oo f o r other

r O

t r u ss under the ac t ion

,
f a stead y load and to S how h o w the wind o ,

o r an y oblique force alters the amount o f the stresses ari sing fro m
the weight The diagrams s here developed are credited in E ng
.
, a ,

land to P r of Clerk Maxwell and the method is known by h is

.
-
,

name B u t little previo u s kn o wledge f Me c hanics will be requ ired

. o

o f the reader to understand t h e expl nations and we shall endeavor a ,

to make all p o ints Clear as we pro ceed .

Taking it f granted that i f tw o fo rces acting at a comm o n

or , ,

point are represented b y the two adj acent sides o f a paralle logram
,

c a and Fig 2 the i r resultant will be eq u al to the diagonal 6 f

on, .
,
c o

the fig u re drawn from the same point

,
— force eq u al to this e , a t

s ult ant and in the opposite direction Will balan c e the first two f c
, ,
or

es Thence C o nsidering one h alf f the p ll ll g rd we have

.
,
o ar a e o ra ,

the well known propositi o n that i f three fo rces act at a single point
-
,

and are balanced a d a triangle b e drawn with sid b s parallel to the

,
n

th ree forces these sides will be prop o rtional in length by a definite

, ,

s cale to these forces The fo rces will also b e fo u nd to act in order

,
.

ro u nd the triangle If t h magnitu de f one force is kn o wn the

. e O ,

o ther tw o can be thus readily determined .

For example L et a known wei g ht be su spended from the

p oints I and 2 (Fig I ) by the C h o rds 1 3 3 2 and 3 4 Draw b
, .
,
-
,
-
,
-
. c

t o a c o nvenient scale verticall y t o represent the weight by so , , . ,

many p o unds to the inch This line will f course be parallel t o .

,
o , ,

a d will equal the tensi on o n 3 4

n Draw parallel to 1 3 and 6 - . c a, -
, a

arallel t o 3 2 T hen will

- the triangle b represent the for es c a
p . c
8 G R AP HIC AL ANALYS I S
which act on the point 3 and they w i ll be fo u nd t o follo w o ne an ,

o ther round the triangle shown by the arrows , as .

S upp o se next that rigid triangular frame i s fas tened o n the

, ,
a ,

c o rds f Fi g I s o that as shown by Fig 2 the c or ds ar e attached

o .
, , .
,

at the vertices f the tr i angle while their direction s ar e u ndisturbed

o ,
.

Th n it matters not i f the p o rtions o f the co rds within the t riangle

e

be cut away ; eq u ilibrium f thi s co mbination as a whole will exist o

so long as the dire ctions f these cords or fo rces external to the o ,

frame meet i f pr o long d at a co mmon point

, ,
We desire t o find
e , .

the forces or stresses exerted in the three pieces o f this frame

, , .

Be fore proceeding further let us expl ain the n otation which it is ,

prop o sed to u se and which will be fo u nd very convenient when ap

,

plied to more C o mplex frames In Fig 2 write a letter in eve ry . .

,

space which is cut ff from the rest o f the figure by lines al o n g

o

which fo rces act Thus D represents the space within the trian g le
.
,

A the space limited by the external forc s on I and 2 B the space e ,

b etween the pull on 2 d the l i n which carries the wei g ht anThe n e .

let the piece f the frame or the force which lies between any tw o
o

letters be called by those letters ; thus the u pper bar f the triangle ,
o

is A D the right h and bar i B D the c ord t o the point is A C

, s ,
I ,
‘
that t o the wei g ht is C B etc In the trian g le f fo rces xt al t , . o e ern o

the frame C6 will then be the verti cal line f force t o correspond
,
O

with C B 6 a the tension f the cord B A a d l astly a the pull on I

,
o ,
n c .

This method f n o tati o n w as introd u ced by Mr Bow in his E co

o .
,

h omi es f Construction
o .

C o nsider the le ft hand apex o f the trian g le This point is in .

equilibrium under the ac tion f three fo rces vi A C C D and o ,

2 ., , ,

A D ; we know the directi o n and magnitude o f A C a d the d i re c ,

n

tion f t h e o ther two The three forces at t hi s j o int must therefo re

o .

be equal t o the three sides o f a t ri angle as b efo re N otice that t he , .

external fo rce s were taken in the o rder f the letters A C B as o ,

sh o wn by the arr o ws o n the triangle a b T ake then the forces c .

at the le ft hand an g le o f the frame in the same order and c m ,

o

mence with the one fully kn o wn o r A C P as s fr o m to be , . a c,

cause that is the d i re ction f the action O f this force o n the joint O

und er con siderati o n N ext fr o m draw d parallel to C D pro

.
,
c, e ,

longing i t until a line from its extremity a parallel t o the piece D A '
, ,

will strike The dire ction in whi c h we passed fr o m to

a. and , c
’
a,
 OF ROO F T RUSSES .
9

then to a sh ows that C D and D A b o th p u ll o n the j oint whe re

,

they meet .

N ext take the l o west j o int R emem b e ri n g again t o tak e t he .

t hree forces in eq u ilibrium at this joint in t h e s ame o rder as the

e xternal forces were t aken and com men c ing with the first kn o wn ,

o n e we g o in the stress diagr am from (I t o

, , be cau se we have j u st , c,

fou nd that the stress on the piece D C i s a p u ll on thi s joint next ,

d o wn 6 in the direction in which the wei g ht acts an d finall y we

c ,

d raw from 6 6 a parallel t o the piece B D

, ,
’
This last line must C l ose .

o n the point d o r the con stru ction has n ot been care fu lly made a d
, , n

t h e directi o n in which we draw it from 6 t o (1 show s that the pie ce , ,

B D exerts ten si o n on the l o west j o int If the reader will r u n over .

t h e triangle for the right hand j o int he will see that the directi o ns ,

j ust given are c o mplied with .

If we imag ine that F i g 2 is inverted we shall h ave three thr u sts

.
,

fo r the external forces the stress dia g ram will be inverted an d

, ,

t here will be c o mpression o n each piece O f the frame .

In order t o m ake these first principles more plain let u s take an

o ther c ase S upp o se a triangular frame (F i g
. t o rest agai n st a , .

wall b y one angle to have a we i ght su spended fro m the o uter c o r

,
‘

ner and t o be ustained b y a cord attached to the third an g le an d

, s

s e c u red to a p o int 2 S ince the frame is at rest under the action o f

.

t hree external fo rces and since the kn o wn di r ecti o ns o f tw o f th es e

,
o

fo rces viz A C and B C will meet at 4 i f prolonged the thru st o f

, .
, , , ,

the wall on the frame at I m u st have the direction o f the line 1 4 -

,

o therwise ro tati o n would take place These three fo rces will then .

be found by the following c o n struct io n Draw c vertically eq u al - a ,

t o the kn o wn weight acting d w at the right hand c orn er ; next o n ,

fr o m a line parallel to the cord and fo rc e C B an d pr ol ong it u n

c, ,

t i l from its extrem i ty6 a line may b e drawn parallel t o B A

, ,
to , ,

s trike A s we went fro m to 6 and then to C B must pull o n

a. c ,
a, ,

and B A m ust thrust ag ainst the fr me , a .

T o find the stresses on the pi ec z — take whichever j oint i s most es

C o nvenient fo r instance the o ne where the weight i s att ached ; p ass

, ,

d own for the extern al fo rce and then obse r vin g the orde r in
a c , ,

which the tri an g le f extern al forces was drawn draw d parallel

o , c

t o C D and d a parallel t o D A C D will be a tie an d D A a stru t

, . .

T ake next the j o int at I H ere the r eacti o as be fore as certain ed

. n, ,
 0

G R A P HIC AL ANALY S I S
is 6 ; next c o mes d the thrust f the piece A D ag ainst 1 ; and
a a , o

las tl y 1 6 parallel to D B to close on 6 the po i nt f beginn i ng

,
( , , ,
o ,

shows that D B also thrusts on the joint 1 .

O nce more suppose that a triangular frame (Fig

, h a , . as

weight attached to its lowest angle and that the other two po i nts ,

are supported by two inclined posts The forces 1 4 and 2 4 must .

- -

intersect 3 4 at the same p o int Draw 6 verticall y and equal to the

-
. a ,

given weight ; draw 6 parallel to 2 4 and a parallel to 1 4 N ote c - c - .

that 6 and c will b o th be thrusts N ext draw f the lowes t

ca .
,
or

joint after passing down 6 f the weight 6 d parallel to B D and

, a or , ,

d parallel t D A thus finding that B D and D A both pull on the

a o ,

joint A B A s in former cases find d which i s a compressive

.
,
c,

stress .

E nough examples have been given to show the first principles f o

this method S ince in Mechanics the pol y gon f forces follows

.
, ,
o

naturally from the trian gle f forces and is simpl y a combination f o ,

o

s ever l trian g les then i f we have several external forces or a num

a , ,

ber f pieces meeting at one joi t we follow the same rules First
o n ,
.
,

draw the pol yg on f external forces taking them in regular succes

O ,

sion round the frame either to the le ft o r right as may seem con
, ,

v i t ; next take an y joint and commencing with the known

en e n , ,

f rce or forces pas sing o v

o er each line in the direction required by
,

the action f the particular force o n the joint under considerat i on

o ,

treat the rem aining pieces in the o rder in which the external forces
were tak en and draw lines in the stress diagra m parallel to these
,
'

pieces The direction i which the lines are drawn gives the
. n ac

tion f the pieces o n t h joint We d well on this point at som e

o e .

length because it must be clearl y understo od to enable o ne to right

,

ly interpret his d i agram .

R e ferring now to the figures wh i ch have been drawn P ro f Max , .

well c lls the frame and the stress diagrams

a ip l figures f r ec r o ca ,
or

the external forces which must meet at one point (unless parallel )
, ,

in the frame diagram make a triangle in the stress diagram and , ,

the pieces which m ke the triangular frame have their stresses rep
a

resented by the li es which meet at o p o int in the tress diagram

n ne s .

This same reciprocity will exist in m o re complex figures d it is , an

a valuable check among m y which we have up o n the acc u racy

,
an ,

o f the c o n str u cti o n .

 OF ROOF T R U S SES . II

N ote further that where the point

, intersection Of the ext rnal
of e

fo rces falls within the triangular frame t h e p o int f inte rsection o f

,
o

the st resses on that frame in the stre ss diag ram falls within the tri
, ,

angle O f exte r nal fo rces and vi

, v
ce aer s .
 CH A PT ER II .

T RU S SE S UN D ER V ER T I C A L F O R C E S .

Supp o e that the roo f represented in Fi g 5 h a e rtain l oad p

s . as c er

foo t over e ch rafter L et the wh ole weight be den o ted by W It

a . .

is evident that o ne h al f f the l o ad o n the r fter C F will be up

- o a s

p o rted by the joint B and one hal f by the upper j oi nt ; the same -

will be true f r the piece D F ; there fo re the joint at B will carry

o

W t h upper j oi t W and the j o int at E

,
e n W The addi, .

ti l stress pr oduced o n C F by the bendin g action f the load

on a o

which it carri e not con idered at this time b ut m u st be noticed

s 18 s ,

and all o wed f separately L ay ff d or W t o repre ent the

or . O e , , s

weight E D acting downw rd at the joint E next d equal t o W a ,

c ,

for the wei g ht D C and lastly 6 f the wei g ht at B Call 6 the

,
C or . e

loa d li n e .

L et the two reactions or su pportin g fo rces fo r the present be con

sid e r ed as a little inclined fro m the ve rtical as sh own by the arrows ,

B A an d A E S ince the tru ss is symmetrical and sy mmetrically

.

l o aded the res u ltant O f the l oad must p ass throu gh the apex f the
,
o

roo f and as the two supporting forc es m u st meet this resultant at

, ,

one point the two reacti o ns mu st be eq u ally nclined Then to

, I .
,

complete the polygon o f external fo rces : as we have drawn d e ,

d and 6 in order passing over the frame to the le ft — draw next

c c , ,

6 a,from the extremity 6 o f the load line p arallel t o the upward t e ,

a ction B A and lastly a line ,

parallel to the other reac ti o n A E
a e, ,

to close o n the po int o f beginninge, .

A t the joint B we have equili b rium u nder the acti o n o f fou r fo rces ,

o f which the two external o nes are kn o wn Therefo re tak in g them .

,

in the same order as in the cas e f the extern al fo rces an d comme o ,

nc

i ng at pass over 6 and 6 in the directi o n of th ei r acti o ns ; then

c, c a

draw f parallel to A F den otin g a p u ll on the j oin t B an d p rol on g

a , ,
 OF ROO F T RUSSE S . 1
3

it until f parallel to F C will strike the po int of be g inning

'

c, , c, .

F C will exert a thrust P assing next to the apex f the roof we . o ,

go down over the line d f r t h e external force thence up to f and c o , ,

thence draw fd parallel to F D If this line does not cl ose on d

, .
,

the drawin g h as not been made with care The stress f d will .

sh o w thrust on the apex from the ra ft er F D A s all the stresses .

are now determined we need not consider the remain i ng joi nt .

If the supporting forces had been more inclined from the vert i cal ,

the point f their meeting in t h e stress diagram would have been

a, o ,

nearer f thus d i minishin g the tensi o n on A F The inclination

, .

might be much inc reased that a wo uld fall o n f whe the piece
so ,
n

A F wo u ld become unnecessary the thru st f the rafters being bal ,

O

an c d without it
e If fell to the right f f
.
f wo uald be a thr u st O ,
a .

If the two reaction are vertical as will be the case when the roo f
s ,

tru ss is simpl y placed upon the wall B A and A E Fig 6 will , , .

,

each be A W and the point will h therefore found at the middle

I
,
a e

of e 6 .The pol y g o n f exte r nal forces has closed up and become a

o

straight line but in the analysis it must still be u sed Thus we

, , , .

have d d e 6f the weights at th e j oints and 6

c c or f ,
4 a e or

the reacti ons The explanation used when the stress diagram f
. o

Fig 5 was co n structed will apply equally well to this o ne

. .

The reader will find it very useful when drawing a diagram f ,

or

himsel f to represent different k inds f stress by l i nes f di fferent

, o o

co l o rs ; thus l i nes denoting tensi o n may be drawn with red and com

pression lines with black in k .

The same meth od f anal y sis will next be applied to the truss f
o o

Fig 7 H ere the rafters are s upported at po i nts midway between

. .

their extremities E ach point f juncti o n f two or more pieces is

. o o

c o nsidered a j o int around which the pieces would be free to turn

were they not restrained by their connecti ons with other points .

Whatever sti ffness the j oint may possess fro m fricti on between it s

p art s or from a continuity f a piece such as a rafter through the

,
o , ,

j o int is
, not taken into account d m y add somewhat to the ,
an a

strength f the trus o s.

Mr U nwin in his excellent b oo k on Iron Bridges and R oofs

.
,

treats the rafter as a beam Continuous over several supports and d , c

termines the distributi on o f the load upo n the several joints by this
hypothesis B ut that s u ch an analysis may be true it is necess ary
.
, ,
14 GR A PH IC A L A N A LY S 1 S

t h t all the po ints at which the raft er is s uppo rted shall remain in a
a

p er fectl y straight line A s this p o sition c nnot be reali z ed

. a d i t ri a , s

bu ri o n f the load between an y t wo joints o f the rafter proportion

o

a lly to its distance from each in ac c o rd an c e with the prin c iple o f t h e ,

lever will best rep esent the c ase

,
A different distribu tion o f the
r .

l o ad h owever i f o ne prefe rs it will o nl y req u ire a corresp o ndi n g

, , ,

division f the load l i ne

o .

In the truss just taken up therefo r hal f o f t h l o ad o n C L will ,

e, e

b e carried at the lower angle and be represented b y the arrow B C ;

t h e other hal f as well as hal f the l o ad o n D K will make the fo r ce
, ,

C D and so o n three f the j oints c arry in g each o ne q u art er o f the

, ,
O

whole l oad an d the two others one eighth eac h O a vertical line
,
- . n

lay ff g f : 95 W f : d = d = % W an d C 6 : 5§ W ; then
o , e e c ,

6a : W the w o supp ortin g fo rc e N o w f r the j o int B

g a 6 t 1
, s. ,
o ,

c 6 load 6 supporting fo rce ; th en draw a 1 p arallel t o A L and

,
a

l parallel to L C ;
a "is tension and 1 c o mpressi o n A t the joint
a c .

C D the l oad is d the stress j u st determined on C L is l :then

,
c, c

d raw 1 é parallel t o L K a d i d paral lel to K D t o cl o se o n d ,

n , .

There is compression o n L K and compression on K D P assin g .

next to the joint D E d is the load d k the thru st o f D K on this , e ,

j o int k i
, the tensi o n o n K I and to c l ose o n is the c o mpressi o,
n z e,
'

e,

o n I E Take next the j oint in the middle o f the l ower tie ; we

.

have z k then k l and next 1 the last f the kn own stresses The
’

, ,
a, o .

next piece to which we come is A H ; as we have just arrived at a

w e must pass back h o ri z ontally u ntil a line fro m 6 parallel to H I
will close on i the p o int from whi c h we started The remaining
,
.

line s is eas i ly determined by takin g either the j oint E F o r the

on e ne r G It will be n oti ced that sin c e the tru ss i s symmetrically
a .
,

made d l o aded the stress diagram i s symm tric al ; é i must be bi

an ,
e .

t ed b y l ; d é and must intersect on I A ttenti o n t o s uch ’

s ec a . c c a .

p oints e sures the accuracy f the drawing

n o .

It is impracti cable to determine the stresses at any j o int where

more than two forces are un known In the present c se w C ould . a e

n ot start with the joint C D o r with D E ; f we sh ould k n o w o nly or

the external force or load d have three u nkn own stresses to find ; an

therefore our quadrilat ral hav i ng one side kn own mi gh t have the e , ,

oth er sides f any length while they were still parallel t o the o rigi
o ,

n al pieces f the fra me o By tak in g the j oints in the order j u st ob

.
 OF R OO F T R USSE S. 1
5
se rved this diffi culty w t met with When in some c ses we as n o .
, a ,

find three or more apparently u nknown forces at a joint we may

have s o me knowledge f the proportion which exists between one o

or m o re f them and a kn own force and c n thu determi e the

o , a s n

proper length o f the line in the st ress diag ram A n example of .

such a case will be given soon .

We now submit a truss Fig 8 which the reader is advised to , .

,

an a l y ze f r himsel f as a test whether the principles th us far ex

o ,

"plain d are
e clearly understood .

The truss repr sented by Fig 9 is one well adapted f c onstru e

e . or

tion in timber the verticals alone bein g made o f iron and it can be
, ,
°

used f roo fs f l rge pan In any actual case be fore commencing

or o a s .
,

to draw the di gr m assume an approximate value f the weight

a a , or

of the truss add so much f the weight o f the boards a d slates or

,
o n ,

oth e r covering as is supported by , truss and divide this t tal on e , o

weigh t by t h number f parts ,such as D I or E L in the two f

e o , ra

ters We th u s obtain t h e weight which is supposed to act t each

. a

joint where two pieces f the rafter meet The weight at each o .

abutment joint will be hal f as much If the rafter is not suppo rted .

at equidistant points div i de the total l o ad by the Combined length

,

o f both ra fters to obtain the load per foot f rafter then multipl y
,
o ,

the load per foot by the dista ce from the m iddle f one p i ece f the n o o

rafter to the middle o f the hext to btain the l o ad on the joint which , O

c o nnects them .

Dr w the vertical load li e equal to the to tal weight and c m

a n , ,
o

m i g with 6 as the lo d on B fro m one hal f f C H S pace ff

en c n c
.
a o ,
o

t e weights
h d d etc in successio clo ing at p with a hal f l o ad
c ,
e, .
,
n , s

as at 6 The p o int f division at the middle f p 6 marks ff the

. O a, o , o

two support ing force 15 and 6 wh i ch cl o se the pol y gon f ex s a a , o

ternal forces Comm nc i g now at B draw as hereto fore directed

. e n , , ,

a 6 " : f this joint The o rder o f these letters g ives the d i c

a a or . re

tions f the forces on the j oint B Th n f r the joint C D we have

o . e o

fi d k; f
c
’

z H K we h ve I:26 ; f r D E we h av e k i d l k tc
or a a 1 a o e , e .

O bs e rve th at by taking the joints in th i s order first the o ne on the

, ,

rafter and then the one bel o w it on the tie we have in each c ase
, , , ,

o l y two unknown forces out o f at some joints five forces ; and

n , , ,

that it is expedient when possible first to pass over all the known
, ,

fo rces at any j o int tak ing t h e m in t h order observed with the ex

,
e
16 GRAP HIC AL ANA L YS I S
ternal fo rces when laying o ff the lo d line The rest f the diagram a . o

presents no di ffi culty A fter the stress on N O is btained the . O ,

s tress on O G is naturall y t h same as that on F N and the diagram e ,

w i ll beg i n t o repeat i tsel f inversely It is therefore unnecessary to .

draw more than one hal f f t h e figure altho ugh i t h all been o ,
as

drawn here .

If we observe the kind f stress exerted on the joints by each o

piece as we pass over the several pol y gons we shall see that the
, ,

raft er is i n C o mpres ion as well all f the incli ed pieces while

s ,
as o n ,

the hori zontal and vertical members are in tension S ometi mes a .

vertical rod is introd u ced in the first triangle where the dotted line
is drawn It is evident that this rod will do no work i f all the load
.

is assumed to be concentrated o n the joints f the rafter and we can o ,

find this out from the stress diagram as well ; f taking the joint or ,

bel ow H in the figure we have three pieces in equilib r ium We , .

there fore begin at and pa to 6 alo g the stress l i ne latel y deter

a ss n

m i ned f A H ; then we are requ i red to draw vertical l i ne and

or a , ,

fr o m its extremit y a horizontal li e to close on the po i nt

,
from n a

which we started ; the vertical line there fore have no length c an .

A ll the work which can ev r be done by this verti cal rod is to keep e

the hori z ontal tie from sagging by sustai ing whatever small weight ,
n

i s fo u nd at i ts fo o t .

We lately saw over a large coal shed a truss i tended to be f

, ,
n o

this type where the bu i lder misled probabl y by the directio f the
, ,
n o

l p e f the main braces f a H owe Tru s br i dge had put his tim
o o s ,

b e stru ts in the other di gonals f most f the tr pezoids their ends

r a o o a ,

being apparently simpl y abutted at top and bottom Thanks to a .

very heav y raft er f one continu o us timber the tru s was still in
o ,
s

pl ce but a heav y fall f sn o w w ou ld be likely to ruin i t

a ,
o .

The skelet o n f a truss which is oft en built in iron is g i ven in Fig

o .

IO . The l o ads at the sev ral joints o f the rafter are found by the e

method pre sc ribed f the truss j ust tr ted It will be unnecessary

or ea .

to dwell upo n the manner f finding the tre ses on the joints B o s s ,

C D and H K The lines f stress f r thes joints w ill be 1 I:

,
. o o e ,
c 1, a,

6 b k i and i d If then we attempt to an l y ze the jo i nt D E

'

z, a , , . a ,

w find that with the external load we have s i x forces in q u i li

e , ,
e

br i u m f which those along K L L M and M E

,
o unknown If , , ar e .

we try the joint L A we find four forces three f w hich are also
, ,
o
18 GR A P HI C A L ANALYS I S
mai ns the same The line 6 f the joint B will then be c ome
. a ,
or ,

(1 6 bein g prolonged until it meets 6 next come 6 and i d ; c

’ ’
z
" '

then we easily draw f é l m m etc The struts H I

' ' ’ ’ ' ’
, ,
n , .
,

K L and M N are the only pieces in this hal f f the truss unaffe cted
,
o

by the change ; the amount f i crease f the stresses in the o thers o n o

can be readily seen .

To S how that it is not necessary to assume that all f the weight

‘
o

i s con centrated on the rafters let us discuss the tru ss in Fig 1 1 sup ,
.
,

pos i ng that the joints Q R and R S carry the i r share f the weight o

o f the pieces wh i ch touch these j o ints E ach s upport i ng force will .

s till be o ne hal f f the total load but the two will

- o longer eq u ally ,
no

d i vide the l o ad line between th m n o r can the load line be at o n ce e ,

meas u red O ff as eq u al t o the total weight Commencing i f v .

, co n e

nient with the e xtremity H o f the tru ss lay ff 6 i i 6 6 1 t c

, ,
o , , ,
e .
,

ending with f ; lay o ff next the reaction p g equal to one hal f the
o , ,
-

total weight acting upward then g and

,
downward and fi al ,
r r s , n

ly 6 upward f
s the o ther supp o rting fo rce t o close on 6 The
,
or , .

pol y gon f external fo rces there fore d oubles back o n itsel f as it

o , , ,

were and 6 p i s still only the load on the rafters The diagram c
,
. an

now be drawn tak i ng three joints o n the rafte r in s u cc ession be fore

,

try ing the joint Q R and when taking that joint remembe that
, , ,
r

there is a load up o n i t The loads on the h o ri z ontal tie cau se t he

.

s tresses on its three parts to be drawn on three separate lines i ,

n

s tead o f being s uperi mposed aS in the fi gures befo re gi ven .

 CH A P T ER III .

T RUSSES VV I I H
' ‘
H OR I "ON TA L T H RUS T .

When it i desired to strengthen the rafters in a ro o f f m oder ate

s o

span by s upp o rting them at their middle points a simple means O f , ,

ten empl oy ed i to spike on a piece from the lower end f one r af

, s o

ter to the middle f the o ther as sh ow in Fig 1 2 The two pie

o ,
n . .

ce s may or may not be fastened together where they cr o ss A t the .

first glance we should y that to draw the di gram we must lay

sa ,
a ,

o ff the l o ad line 6 divide it as usual then commencing at t he joint

e, , ,

E draw from f and lines parallel t o F B and B A and prolon g

, a ,

them ( ee the dotted lines ) unt i l they meet at 6

s N ext f the '
,
or

j o int F G we should get the lines 6 and g For the apex we

,
’
c
’
c
'
.

should have three lines viz 6 g g ,

and a line from
.
,
parallel
, c
’
,
c
’

to C H to strike 6 There is evidently somethi g wrong here If

. n .

we start from the other point f support K we shall obtain the o ,

re

mi d a n f the diagram in dotted lines and find that we have two

er o ,

p o ints marked some distance apart which ought t o come t g th

c
'
, ,
o e

er ; we also have two conspiring forces g and 6 whose verti ,

c
’
c
’

ca l c o mponents o u ght to balance 6 g .

A band o ning this diagram f r the present let us start at the apexo ,

o f the ro o f where we may feel s u re that there are but three forc es
, ,

one f whi ch is kn own Taking the l oad 6 g at that point draw

o .
,

the full line s g and 6 N ext f r the joint G F starting with g

c c . o ,
c ,

pas s down g f and drawf6 and 6 The joint H I will simil rl y c. a

g 1v e the figure £ 6 d i L astl y , the

c j.o int A C will add 6 and d to a a

the stresses d and 6 H ere agai n we find two points widely

c c . a

separated To make equilibrium f the joint E there fore as the

. or , ,

diagram n ow stands we have 6 6f f , and a force r a , , e, e a , a a e

quired to cl ose this pol y gon This fo rce can be other than the
. 11 0

horiz o ntal thrust which must be s uppli d to keep this truss fro m e
20 GRAPH IC A L ANAL Y S I S
s liding ou twards o n the wall plate s on t h e s upposit i o n that t h e
-
,

points o f meetin g o f two or more pieces are tru e j o ints (ones about
w h i c h t h e parts are free to turn ) Thi s h o riz o ntal reacti o n may
.

c ome from the wall or a tie r o d from E t o K will a c complish the

,

s ame end The pieces f this tru ss are all in c o mpressi o n Th at

. o .

the truss is n o t i eq uilibrium with ou t this resistance at E an d K is

n

seen i f we suppose th at E and K ar e

,
n ot prevented fro m sliding
laterally ; the joint A C will dr op the j o ints F G and H I will p ,
a

pr o ac h one an other and the apex will rise Thi s ch nge will take
, . a

place unless s o me restraining fo rce is applied The trouble arises .

from the exi s ten ce f the fou r sided fig u re s u rr o u ndin g the spac e C
o ,

whi c h fig u re is free to chan g e its form A tie fro m the apex to the .

j o int C A w o uld prevent the mo v t and it w o uld supply theen e n ,

missing l i ne c in the d o tted diagram In that cas e it is well to

’
c
’
.

n o te that the stress is gr ater in m ost o f the pie ces than when the
e

thru st c o mes fr o m the wall A str ut fro m the joint F G to the .

o mt H I would also m ake the tr u ss se c ure ; the reader c try the

j an

d i agram with that change fo r himsel f and see what piece has its ,

stress reversed b y the Ch ange The s uppo rtin g force at E might

.

n o w rather be represented by a line fr o m upward to the right to e

a, than by two rectangular c o mp o nents ; and similarly fo the o ne r

at K .

A these tr u sses
S us u ally made relian c e ag ainst Change f fo rm
are ,
o ,

when h o ri zo ntal thrust is supplied is placed upon the sti ffnes

no ,
s

o f the rafters which ar ,

o f o ne piece from ridge to
e av e and o n c s,

that f the tw o braces The bending m o ment at the joints where

o .

m o veme t wo uld take place comes fro m this otherwise unbalanced

n

hori z ontal thr u st at the wall plates Bendi n g m o ments on a rafter .

will be considered later It will be n ot i c ed that d equals 6 o r

. a a,

th t the thru st is constant all al o ng the b race This would natural

a .

ly be expected ; f the c o mp o nent of the l o ad t the joint H I which

or a

starts down the bra c e will pass to E with o ut being affected by cr o s

sin g the other br ace ; and if it were n o t f the tendency to rotate or ,

spoken f ab o ve sp i king the tw o braces together w ou ld h e need

o ,

less were i t n ot f r the reas o n that the braces are better able t o r
,
o e

sist thrust by m u t u all y staying one an o ther .

A considerati o n o f the trape zo idal tru ss represented by Fi g 1 3 , .

,

w ill b ring ou t tw o o r three p oi nts whi ch will be o f use in the anal

 OF ROO F T R US S ES . 2I

y o
S IS o f ther trusses In t l
u case let us supp o.se the l o ad t o be on s ,

the l ower part o r b ottom chord f the truss ; in order t o separat e

, ,
o

the supporting forces from the small weights o n the ends f the o

tru ss and to enable the latter to come consecutively with the other
,

weights in the load line let us draw the supporting fo ces above the , r

tie instead f below as be fore The rectangle fo rmed by the two

,
o .

vertical and two hori zo ntal pieces might become disto ted ; we will r

therefore intr od u ce th e bra e H I represented by the full line The c , .

dotted line h ows a pie e whi h might have been introduced in its
s c c

place The rectangle i th u divided into tw o triangles and move

. s s

ment prev ted en .

If the tru ss i symmetrically loaded s

—
C D D E we hall get ,
o r __
, s

the fi st st res diag ram The stress o n each vertical is equal to the
r s .

l o ad at its foot d if the l o ad had been on the upper joints n o

, an , ,

s tres w ou ld have been fo u nd o n the ve rti als It will also be seen

s c .

that the piece H I has no stress up o n it (If the read r does not . e

c learl y th i s point re fer to what was said on page 6 bout t h e

se e , , 1 , a

d o tted l i ne in Fig It is there fo re e v ident that a trapezoidal or

.
,

q u een post tru s when symmetri lly loaded require n o interior

-
s, ca , s

bracin g This fa t might be readil y een if we o n idered the form

. c s c s

as s u med by a cord suspended from tw o points o n a level

, and car ,

t ying tw o equal weights symmetricall y pl ced a .

The e o nd stres diagram W 11 be dr wn when the weight o n

s c s 1 a

the joint C D i less than that on D E L et us supp ose th t 6 and

s . a c

e
f are f the same
o mag itude in the first d iagr m and let nthe as a ,

s p n f the truss o r distan e between upports which we shall de

a o , c s ,

n o te by I be divided by the j o ints int o three eq u al parts The first

, .

s tep i to find the suppo rting fo rces S in e equ ilib ium exists i f
s . c r ,

e a h external fo rce be m ultiplied by the perpendicular distance f

c o

its line f action fro m an y one assumed point which distance may
o ,

b e called its leverage and all the pr od ucts be added t o gether those
, ,

whi h tend to produ e r otati o n ab out this point in o ne direction b

c c e

i g alled plu and th ose tending the o ther way minus it is

n c s, ce ,
ac s

s ary that the u m f these prod ucts shall be zer o ; o the wise th t o
s o r e

t tia take pla e A o nvenient point t o whi h t o m asu re t h

o n c an c . c c e e

d istan e will be o ne f the point

c s f u pp o rt f instan e the right
o s o s ,
or c ,

hand o ne Then we h ll have . s a

22 G R AP HIC AL ANA L YS I S
A F . l —F E . l —B D .
% l —DC % 1 . o ; or

there fore

If D E b e taken as
3 C D ,

AF 2 :F E +
5
E D .

It is pla i n that the object f taki ng the p o int or axis at B is t o o

eliminate B A and have o nly one un k n own quantity A F L ay

, , .

o ff this value at f a d then 6 eq u als the remainder o f the load a n a .

This method f determinati o n is c alled t 6 g m m ts an d is at

o a
'

z 7z o en ,

once the simplest and m ost generally applicable .

The point being th us l ocated we can proceed to draw the s

a ,
ec

o nd diag ram The constru cti on req u ires n o explanation bu t we will

.
,

simpl y call attention to the fact that a c o mpressive stress is now

fo u n d to exist in H I If in place f the diagonal represented by .
, o

the full line the one shown by the dotted l i now s upplied the
,
1n e s ,

reader can without di ffi culty trace out f r himsel f the change in the o

diagram whi ch i den oted by the dotted lines and the letters marked
s ,

by accents The stress o this diag o nal will be seen to be tensile

. n ,

while it i worthy f notice that the only pieces affected by the ub

s o s

st i t ut i o of n diagonal f r the other are those wh i ch form the qu ad

on e o

r i l t r al enclosing the diag o nals

a e .

If at an o ther time this excess f load mi g ht fall on D C in place

, ,
o

o f E D it is evide t that the stress on either d i agonal w ou ld be e

,
n r

versed N ow as a tensi o n diagonal is li k ely to be a slender iron

.
, ,

rod which is f no practical value to resist a thrust while the c o m

,
o ,

pressi o n member unless made fast at its extremities will n ot trans

, ,

mit tensi o n a weight o r force which may be shi fted from o ne joint
,

to an other may req u ire the des i gner t o have two di go als in the a n

s me rectangle or trape z ium or else to proporti on and fasten one

a , so

diag o nal as to withstand either kind f stres s Where both diago o .

na s l occur the diagram can still be drawn Determ ine which k ind .

o f stress tension or c o mpression the tw o shall be desi g ned t o resist

, , ,

a d then on drawin g a di ag ram

n ,
d arri v in g at a partic u lar panel , an

o r q u adrilateral try to proceed as if only o ne f the diag o nals ex i st

, o

ed . If a c o ntrary stress t o the one desired is found to be needed ,

e ras e the lines f this pa nel onl y a d tak e the other di agonal In
or ,
n .

t h e tre atment f wind yet to be taken up this method m ust o ften

or , ,

be u sed S ince the wind may bl ow on either side f the roof This
,
o .

t russ c an be used f r a bridge f short span o o .

 OF ROO F T RUSSES . 2
3

A n o t li er
example where the h ori zontal thru st o f the truss on the
W lls must be ascertained w i ll now be given
a The frame drawn in .

Fig 4 is called a hammer beam tru ss and i a very hands o me type

. 1 ,
s

O ften mployed in this country and abroad f the support f C hurch

e , ,
or o

roofs the braces being visible fro m below and t h spac s contain i ng
, ,
e e

more or less ornament l work When the church has a clear story a .
-
,

the wi dows come between the trusses at B the tru ss i s upported

n , s

o n columns and the ro o f o f the side aisle takes up the horizont al

,

thrust If there are no side r oofs the main walls are properl y
.
,

str engthened b y buttresses .

It will first be well to notic e the fact that a curv d piece i n a truss e ,

so f ar asthe transmiss i on f the force from one joint to another i s o

c oncerned acts as i f it lay in the stra i ght line between the two joint
,
s.

The curved members in the present example are t h quadrants f a e o

ci rcle The y may have any other desired curve depending some
.
,

what upon the pitch f the roo f If now we cons i der the point f
O .
, ,
o

support B P f the truss and remember that the curved piece A O

o ,

transmits the force between its two xtremities i f it were strai ght e as ,

it w i ll be evident that the thru t o f th i s inclined pi ece must have a s

horizontal component which can ot be neutrali z ed by a vertical u p n s

p o rting force alone There fore in add i tion to the r action f hal f
.
, e o

the weig ht f the roo f and truss there must be suppli d b y t h w ll

o ,
e e a ,

ass isted perh ps by a buttress or a side ro f a ce rta i n horiz o nt l

a o ,
a

thru st .

To determine the val u f this thrust L t W equal the w i ght e o e e

of tr u ss and lo d We have nine loaded joints, a d there i s there fore

a . n , ,

I
/é W at each joint xcept the two extreme onese Draw the dott d . e

line fro m 4 to the joint 2 and the similar on the other side ,
on e .

The whole truss may then be C onsidered to be made up f a sm ll o a

triangular tru ss 1 2 3 carried upon a trapezoidal tru s 4 2 3 5 t h

,
s , e

brace 4 2 being made up o f an assemblage o f pieces A s the lo d

- . a

i symmetr i call y distri buted the trape zoid will require no bracing
s , ,

compare Fig a d L A will have no stress upon it L A w i ll

( . n .

be required when the wind acts upon the roo f Considering then .

the trapezoidal truss 4 2 3 5 alone the joint 2 will carry a load equal ,

in amount to that on D M E K and F I or 95 W the j oint 3 w i ll , , , ,

carry the same amount while 4 w i ll upport /é W fro m C N ,

d s I
,
an

5 the remainder If then we l v ff on a .vertical

,
l i ne 36 W f ,
a O ,
or
2
4 GRAP H I C A L AN A L Y S I S
the load on 2 an d draw lines parallel t o 2 4 and 2 3 from its extre m
,
- -

ities the line parallel to 2 3 will be the stress in the same and will
,
-
,

als o since the load is vertical be the h ori zo ntal thru st

,
f the foot f ,
o o

the C o mp o und brace 2 4 This force is marked H in the d otted tri - .

a ngle drawn below the tru ss A reference to the trapezoid Fig .

, .

1
3 will
,
aid o ne perhaps in understanding ,
the above , .

We have n o w the data f the stress d i agram f which o ne hal f or ,

o

o nly is here g iven For the point 4 or B P we have the upward

.
, ,

s u pportin g fo rce 6p A W next p the h o r i z o ntal

, thr u st
I f the ,
a, o

wall etc a g ainst the j o int

, .
,
parallel to the line o f action f A O ,
a o o ,

and finally 6 the press u re o f the post O B on 4 The resultant f

0 , . o

6 p and p or 6 may f cou rse be used f the reaction o f the

a, a, o or

wall Taking next the joint 6 we have 6 the load 6 the thru t
.
, C , , 0 s

o f B O and we then draw

,
and The joint C D gives d md o n n c. c 72 .

The j o int M A alread y has the lines m and ; si ce the line n , n o, o a n

wh i ch is to close on m must be parallel to L M and is already ,

a

vertically over m "can have no le gth and there is no stress o n

,
a n ,

A L U pon taking the j o int D E we find also that no stress exists

.

o n L K The reader must n o t think this fact at variance w i th the

.

value H which was said to exist in 2 3 when we considered the tra -

p e i d
z o alone ; the triangular tru ss 1 2
3 will plainl y cause tensi o n a

in 2 3 and w i th this distribution f load such tension will exactly

-
, ,
o ,

ne u trali z e the compression caused i n the s m pi e b y 4 2 If one a e '

ec -
.

will co sider the truss as loaded at 6 2 I 3 and 7 onl y th u s doing

n , , , , ,

a way with N M K I I G etc he will fi d that a diagram w i ll then

, , , .
,
n

ive him s ome c o mpression on K L

g .
26 GRAP HI C AL AN A LY S I S
The l oad line will be equal to the wei g ht on the upper part f th e o

truss and the pol y gon f extern al forces will overlap as i n Fig
, o , . 1 I,

previousl y explained We go from to 6 f the load on the t op

. r ,
or

joints in sequence then up to then do w n to f the load on the

, 1 0, s or

bottom joints and finally up to again U pon dr wing the dia

,
r . a

gram it will be seen that the stress is c o mpression in the top chord
and tensio n in the botto m ch o rd ; that the stresses in the chords i n

creas e from the supp o rts to the middle ; that the stresses in the bra
ces decrea e from the ends of the truss to the m i ddle and that alter
s ,

nate ones are in c o mpression d tension those which slant up from an ,

the abutments t oward the centre be i ng compressed a d those which , n

incline in the other d i recti o n being ext nded The tie braces are e .
-
,

there fore A B C D F G and H I A decrease f depth i n the

, , , , . o

truss will increase the stresses in the chords .

A n other truss with parallel C hords may also be employed in ,

which the braces are alternat l y vertical and inclined The design e .

er will choose whether the vertical shall be ties and the d i agonals s

struts in which case the ty pe is called the H owe Truss or the

, ,

verticals struts and the diagonals ties when the tru ss may be called ,

the P ratt or perhaps the Wh i pple

,
There is an ad vantage .

in having the struts as short as possible but i f one desires to u b ut , ,

se

little iron the H owe i a good form

,
"
s .

To decide which diagonal f the rectangle shall be occu pied by o

—
the pi z S tart from the wall as a fixed point ; it is evident that
e ce ,

to keep the load C D from sinking C Q must be a strut If we , .

wish to put a tie in this panel it must l i e i n the other diagonal , ,

shown by the d o tted line C D now being held in place P O as a

.
,

strut will uphold D E We thus work out from each wall u t l we

. n l

have passed as much l oad as equals the amount supported or the ,

re

acti o n at that wall If the last load pass d exactly completes the
, . e

amount required to equal the reaction no diagonal will be required ,

in the next panel A s explained be fore w m i ght draw diagonals

.
,
e ,

o ne in each panel sloping in ei ther direction we pleased and then

,
as ,

construct the stress diagram If we found a stress on a ydiagon al . n

Opp o site to the stress we desired we could then erase that diag o nal ,

an d substitute the other er s i ng also O much f the diagram as e

, a S o t

ferred to the pieces f that panel It i better however to draw the

o . s , ,

l o ad line first fi d the dividin g p oint f r the tw o reacti o ns see

, n a o ,
 OF ROO F T RUSSES . 2
7
w h at l oad it cuts and then incline all the braces similarl y fro m each
,

W all t o wards th at l o ad In the present example C D is supposed

.

to be fo u r times D E etc A tower o n that end f the truss or

, . o

s o me s u spended l o ad w i ll ac c o unt fo the di fference It is sometimes

r .

desirable to find th e positi o n f the resultant f the l o ad o ften called

o o ,

its centre f gravity This point is the one at w h ich the total l oad
o .

o n the tru ss might be c o nsidered t o be concentrated s f as the ,

o ar

pressure o n each wall is c o ncerned If we re call the manner in .

which the s upporting fo rces were determined when the load w as u n

sy mmetrical we can see that to find the positi o n o f the resu ltant f
, ,
o

the separate l oad s we must multiply each l o ad by its h o rizontal d i s

,

tance fro m s o me c o nveni ent po int f r instance a p o int o f support, o ,

a d divide the sum

n f the se pro ducts b y the t o tal l o ad ; the quotient
o

will be the desired distan ce o f the resultant fro m t h same point e .

A S the panels are all equal a panel may be taken as a unit o f dis
,

tance ; call a panel length d the o rdinary weight o n a j o int

an ,
10 .

Then we shall have taking m o ments about H

, ,

cv -15
0 3) +4 4 ?
"
z 10
3
1 panels ,

7 w 7
the distance f the res u ltant from the end H The loads directly
o .

S u pp o rted at the wall s do n o t affect the truss If the resultant di .

vides the truss in the propo rti n f 3 3; panels to 1 7 panels the tw

o
6
o , o

s upp o rtin g forces excl udin g the am o unts t o balance B C a d G H

, n ,

will be in the same prop o rti on the larger force being o n t h sid e
, e

o f the sh o rter divisi o n There fo re drawing the load line 6 6 and

.
, ,

m easuring O ff 6 and
c
g 6 divide g ,
at into —
2 and
2 g c The t w o a .

s upp o rtin g forces will then be 6 d 6 Draw the stress diagram

a an a .

as usual ; the diag o n als will all c m in c o mpre ssi o n as intended

o e .

There will plainly be n o stress in h dotted vertical O N The t e .

stress o n the chords being inversely prop o rtional to the depth f o

t h e truss e c o n o m y o f material in the ch o rds will be served b y m k

, a

in g the depth as m u ch as p ossible In bridge trusses this depth is

.

seldom less than one eighth O f the span

- .

If t h e joint D E als o w as heavily l o aded we cou ld draw another ,

diagram f r that cas e an d as the j o ints in s u ccessi o n h ad their loads

o , ,

In c reas ed we might ma ke as many diagrams From a c ollecti o n f

, . o

d iag rams fo r all p ositi o n s o f a m o vin g lo ad we c o uld select the m x , a

28 GR A PH I C A L A N A L YS I S
im u m stress o n e ac h piece A tr uss desi g n ed t o resi st suc h stresses
.

w o uld then ans w r f r a brid g e e We s h ould find that the g re atest

o .

s tresses in the C h o rd s o cc u rred at all po int s when the bridge w s a

h eavily l o aded thr oug h ou t and th at the g reatest stress in a dia go n al

,

oc c u rred when the bridge w as heavily l oaded fr o m this pie c e t o o ne

e n d o nly that end g enerally bein g the m o re distant o ne A s we

, .

have m o re expediti ous meth ods o f treatin g a brid g e truss thi s o ne ,

is n o t used The reade r wh o is interested in t he g raphical treat

.

ment f such a s ubje ct can find it expl ai n ed in Grap hical A n alysis

o

o f Bridge Trusses
"
.

h
Grap ica l Me t h df
o or t he A n alys is of d
Bri ge T ru sses, exten d ed to Co n ti n uous
Gir de s
r an d D ra w S pan s . byC E G reen e
. . . New Yo rk D V an Nos t ran d
, .
. 1 875 .
 CH A PT ER V .

F OR C ES NO T AP P L I E D AT OI NTS
" .

We have heretofo re treated all the trusses as i f the loads were c o n

c e t r at e d at th o se points only wh ich were directl y s u pp o rted
n It .

not seldom happens that the cro ss beam s or purlin s which connect -
,

the trusses and c o nvey the weight fro m the secondary rafters to the
main rafters rest at points intermediate between the joints L et us
, .

in the pre sent example Fi g 1 7 assume that a l oad rests upon the
, .
,

middle o f each of the upper rafters If we pursue the previ o us .

method (leavin g out o f acc ou nt f r the present the bending action ,

o ,

o f this l o ad o ne hal f o f the l o ad E G will be support ed at each

) , f o

the j oints C E and G K and similarl y fo the load K M There

,
r .

fore having laid o ff the wei g hts and the tw o equal reacti o n s o f the
,

walls o the l oad line f the first diagram we may increase the l o ads
n o ,

o n the j o ints C E G K and M O by the new points f di visi o n

, ,
o ,

and c o mplete this diag ram takin g first B then the next j o int on the
, ,

inside and then the ou tside o ne It will be noticed that all o f the
,
.

piece s except the raft ers are ties .

Thi diagram gives bu t o ne stress alon g the wh o le o f the u pper

s

rafter ; but it is plain that the v ertical l oad E G must h ave a c o mp o

nent al o n g the raft er whi c h will cause a different stress to exist on
E T fro m what exists o n G T If h owever we s upp ose a j o int at.
, ,

E G the tran sverse c o mponent will cause it t o y ield as there is n o

, ,

brace beneath t o h o ld it in place L et us suppl y an im aginary force .

E F sh o wn by the d otted line equal a d dire ctl y Opposed t o thi s

, ,
n

tran sverse co mp o nent whi c h will take the pl ace f a perpendicular

,
o

strut will steady the j oint and will leave the l o ngitudinal comp o
, ,

nent to affe ct the rafte r B ut the tran sverse component f F G act

. o

n ally g ives a press u re at the j o ints C E and G K while the imagi ,

n ary fo rce E F j ust added will li ft the ends o f this rafter by the
, ,
3 0 GRAPH I C A L A N A L Y S I S
s ame am ou nt ; there fore we m ust rest o re the pressure by addin g i m
a i
g y
n arfo r c e s each o ne hal f
,
f E
- F at C Do a d G H This
, added n .

sy stem o f fo rces cannot interfere with the stresse s in any other pie
c es f r they balance by themselves T re at the similar load K M
,
o .

i n the same way .

Draw n o w f the sec o nd diag ram p a and 6 the tw o supp o rt

,
or , a ,

In
g fo rces each
,
equal to o ne hal f the t o tal l o ad Then lay O ff 6 . c,

as be fo re ; draw the d otted line d equal and parallel t o the firstc ,

im aginary fo rce C D then d vertical as b e fore then f equal t o

,
e, , e , ,

and in the directi o n o f E F then fg and s o o n arrivin g finally at

, , ,

p as usual
,
.

The c o n structi o n o f the rest f the diag ram presents no di ffi c u lty ;

o

the j o ints are taken in the same o rder as befo re and when we hav e , ,

more than one external fo rce on a joint we take them in s u ccessi o n , ,

passing in the o rder first ob se rved fo the external fo rc es When r .

we reach the u pper rafters it will be n oticed that g falls on the line
,

c l; t will be seen to be greater and g t le ss th an the line fo r the

a

sam e piece in the other figure The first di ag ram g ives the stre ss
,

which would exi st in the wh o le length f the r aft i E T G i f the o e

'

load F G were actually at its extremities ; but being at i t s middle ,

point one hal f f the l o ngitudinal c o mp o nent o f F G goe s t o dimin

,
- o

i h the c o mpression o therwise exi stin g in G T and the o ther hal f

s ,

to increase the c o mpressi o n in E T A c o mparis o n o f the two dia .

grams will S how the truth f the fo rmer statement that the system
o ,

o f imaginary fo rces d o es not affect any o f the truss outside o f the

partic ular pieces to whi c h it may be applied It is still necessary .

to provide f the bendin g action o f the transverse p o rti o n o f F G

or ,

o r a force equal and opp osite t o E F up o n the ra ft er c o n sidered as , ,

a beam extending from h i p t o apex a j oint f c o urse not being ,

o

made at E G This subject will be taken up l ater

. .

The treatment o f loads o r f fo rces not directl y resisted s ab ove

o a ,

is given by Mr B ow in his E c o n o mics f C o nstructi o n and may

.
"
o ,

be applied t o frames where one o r more of the internal Spaces are

not triangles but q u adrilaterals ; the truss w ould then be liable t o
,

distortion unless the resistance o f s o me f the pieces t o bendin g or

,
o

the stiffne ss O f the t 6 l j o ints w as c alled int o play A t oo

’

t eor e z ca .

freq u ent u o f this treatment in the s ame di ag ram will

se h o we v er , ,

be apt t o mak e c o n fu si o n .
 CH A PT E R V I .

W I N D P R E URE SS .

A ll f the force hitherto c o nsidered have been verti al ; but wh n

o s c e

w treat f the acti o n f the wind s u ch is no l o nger the

e o o e It cas .

w asformerl y u su l to de l with the wind a a vertic l l o ad ad ded

a as a ,

to the weight f t h r o o f sn ow etc and the tresses were then oh

o . e , , .
, s

t i
a ne d f the aggregate pressure T d g ld reco mmended 40
or . re o

pounds per h o rizontal square foo t a fit maxim u m f wind for e as o c

t o be pr ovided f This treatment mani fe tly c n o t be c o rrect

or . s a n ,

e ven i f the added vert ical fo rce were pl ced o n one side f the ro of a o

o nly .

The w i nd m y be taken without error as bl owin g in a horizontal

a

directi o n ; it exerts its greatest pressure when bl owi g from a point n

o f the ompass at right angles t o the side f a buildi g ; it

c o n c o n se

quently acts upo n but one side f the roof loads the truss u ym o , ns

metricall y and sometimes ause stresses f an pposite ki d in parts

,
c s o O n ,

o f the frame fr o m th o se due t o the steady l o ad

, Braces w h i h are . c

i active u nder the latter weight may there fore be necessary to resist
n

t h fo rce f the wi d
e o n .

It will not be right to desi g n the roof to sustain the wh ole force
o f the wind considered as h o riz o ntal n o r will it be correct t o de
, ,

c o mp o se this horizontal force int o tw o rectan g ular components one ,

perpendicular to the roof and the o ther al o ng i t su rface and then , s ,

take the perpendicular o r n o rmal c o mp o nent as t h one to be c o n e

s id d; f
ere the pressure f the wind arises fro m t h impact f p
or o e o ar

ti l f air moving with a certain vel o city and those particles are
c es o ,

not arrested but onl y deviated fro m their former directi o n up n

, o

s triking the ro of N or will the analy sis of a jet f water strikin g an

. o

inclined surface answer here f water escapes laterally against a ,

or

comparativel y unresist i n g medium t h air while the wind pa ticles , e , r ,

3 2 G R A PH IC AL ANALY S I S
deflected by the roof are t u rned ff into a stream o f similar air al so
.

,
o ,

in m ot i o n whi ch affe cts their lateral pro g res s We are obliged

,
.

th erefo re to h ave re cou rse to experiments f r ou r data and from the m o ,

to deduce a fo rm u la It appears that f a g iven press u re per squar

.
,
or e

fo ot ag ainst a ve rtic al plane the pressure exerted by a h o riz o ntal

,

wind current against a plane inclined to its dire cti o n is p p d i u

, ,
er en c

lar t o its surface a d is greater than the n o rmal c o mpo nent f the
,
n o

g iven h o riz o ntal pressu re U nwin qu o tes H u tt o n s expe r iments as

.
’

sh o wing that if P eq u al the horizontal fo rce o f the wind on a

,

sq u are fo ot f a vertic al plane the perpendi c ular pressure

o a ,
on

s q u are foo t f a roo f s u rface inclined at an an g le z to the horizon

'

o ,

may be expressed by the e mpirical formula

i—
P S in
CO S . I
2

If then the max i mu m fo rce f the wind be tak e n as 40 p o unds

, ,
o

o n the square fo ot the p rpendicular or n o rmal press u re per square

, e

foo t on su fac es in clined at di ff erent angles t o the h orizon will be

r

A n gle of R oot. Normal Pressure . A n gle of R oof. No rmal Pre ssure .

5 -2 lb s,
°
Ibs
°
5 35 .

IO 40
15 45
20 so
25 2 2-5 55
30 60

F o r steeper pitche s the pressure may be taken as 40 pou nds .

So me experiments of ou r own with a se cti on o f roo f f as , , so ar

they have been t present carried tend t o co nfirm the above values
a , .

In the case o f a shin g led r oo f under the heavier pressures a very ,

sli g ht force in the plane o f the ro o f was m ani fested which might be ,

attrib u ted t o the press ur e f the wind again st the b u tts f the shin
o o

g les It w as t oo slight t o be f any co nseq u en ce a d on a sm o other

. o ,
n

s u rface it w ou ld seem that the c o mp o nent p arallel to the r o o f aris ,

in g fro m the fricti o n o f the air as it passed up al o ng the surface ,

w o uld be practi cally inappreciable .

A lth o ugh s o mewhat higher pressures have very rarely been re g

i st e r d it will be su ffi cient t o provide against a h o ri z ontal fo rce
e , f o

wind f 4 pounds on the square foot and t o take from the table the
o 0 ,

pressure per square foo t o f roo f surface fo r that side o f the r oo f o n

w hi c h the wind b l o w s which press u re will b e e xe rted n o rm ally t o
,
34 GRAP HIC A L A NALYS I S
prolong this fo rce unti l it cuts the tie when the tw o reacti o ns will ,

be proportional to the two segments into which the tie is divided ,

t h larger fo rce b eing on the side f the sh o rter segment or the side
e o ,

o n which the wind blows .

The pressures on the joints will be pou nds each o n I K

an d K L and , pounds on H I and L M as denoted by the ,

a rrows Dra w n ow m6 by scale eq u al to 8 000 p ou nds inclined

.
, , ,
s o

as to be perpendicular t o the r oo f ; divide ff the reac ti o ns f the O o

s uppo rts b y means f the point and lay ff the joint fo rces in uc
O a, o s

cessi o n ml 1 6 ,
and £ 6 Th u s we complete the poly go n f ex
, , . o

ternal forces alway s drawing the l o ad or press u re lines parallel to

,

t h e forces .

P roceed with the constru cti o n f the diagram by the usual rules o ,

remembering that wind lone is bein g treated After the joint K L a .

h as given l 6 d l the joint E A gives d f

c Taking next the
c ,
e a e.

apex L M and passing al o ng ml I

, d f we find that there will ,
e, an c ,

be no line parallel to F G since g m parallel to G M will exactly , , ,

c l o se o n m the point f beginning

, A s no stress passes through o .

F G the remainder o f the 6

, g on this side can experience no
'

r a c z 7z

strain a d therefo re the compressi o n mg affects the W h o l e o f the

,
n

ri g ht hand raft e r while the tension fa afi ec t the rem ai nder f the

,
'

s o

h o riz o ntal ti e T o appreciate h ow t his can be imagine all f the

.
, o

braces in the right hal f to be rem o ved ; i t i s e v ident that the right
raft er is a s uffi cient support to the j oint L M c o nvey ing to the w ll , a

the stress mg which compresses i ts u pper end while the tie F A ,

keeps the truss fro m spreading T h e stress tri angle fo the point P . r

will therefo re b mg m e a .

A t an other time the wind may bl o w the right side Then the on .

braces o n the right will be strained as those on the left are now and ,

th ose on the left will be unstrained The wind stresses are placed .

in th e third c o lumn f the table A s in th i s truss they are all f the

o . o

same kind as those from the vert ical load they are added toget her ,

to give the tot l or maximum stress The force mg being s mall

a .
,

er t h an while i t is f the same kind s l is f no c o nsequence

,
o a o, o

fo r with wind o n the right M G w ou ld have to resist a stress equ al

, ,

to I e.

A c o mbinati o n f the two supp orti ng fo rces at e ach end as sh own

o ,

i the figure by either the p ara llel o gram or triangle f fo rce will
n , o ,
 OF ROO F T R US ES S .
35

g ive the amount and directi o n o f each reaction from the c o mb i ned

load Wind on the o ther side will exactly reverse the am o unts a d
. n

b ring them o n the pposite side o f the v e rti c al line

O .

T A BLE OF S T R E SSE S F OR F IG . 18

Win d . T otal .

B ra ces .

R afte r . .

Ifthe truss is S i mp ly pl ced up o n the wall plate s and either of the

a -
,

s upportin g forces makes a g reater angle with the vertical t han t h e

a ngle f repose between the tw o surfaces the tru ss sh ould b e bolted

O ,

d own to the wall otherwise there will be a tendency to slide d i ,

minishing the tension in the tie perhaps c au sing c o mpression i n

,

t hat member ,d changing the action o f the o ther part s o f the trus
an - s.

Th i s matter will be treated f further o .

If the weight f sn o w is als o to b e pr o vid ed fo it may readily be

o r,

d one by taking the proper fraction f the stres se s fr o m the stead y o

load d adding them to the above t ble

an a .

We propose in the example illustrated by Fig 1 9 to consider the

, .
,

truss supp o rted o n a rocker or rollers at the end T where t h

as ,
e

s mall C ircle is drawn to all o w fo r th e expan sion or contracti o n f

,
o

the i ro n frame from ch anges f temperature It is therefo re pla i n

o .

that the reacti o n at T must always be vertical The truss is up . s

posed to be 79 feet 8 inches in span and 2 3 feet in height wh ich , ,

gives an angle f 30 with the horizon and make s the length of r f

o
°
,
a

ter 46 feet It would be pr oper u suall y to support the raft er at

.

more n u mero us point b u t ou r d i agram would not then be o c lear

s s ,

with its small scale from m u l t iplicity o f lines and o ne ca readily ex

, , n

tend the method to a tru ss o f more pieces .

3 6 GRAPH I C A L AN A LYS I S
I

hi s frame su pp o rts 8 ft o f roof an d the steady l oad per sq u are

T .
,

fo ot f roo f is taken in c ludin g eve rythin g as 1 4 lb s

o ,
The t ot l ver , . a

tical load w i ll then be

x 2 x 8 : 0304 1b 1
4 " 4 6 1 s. ,

or 7 1 7 % lbs o n ll j oints ex ept the extreme one

1 . a c s.

We find from the table g iven on p ag e 3 that the n o rmal pres

, 2,

sure f the wind f a h o ri zo ntal for e f 4 l bs o n the square

o , or c o 0 .

foot m y b e t ken
, a l bs per sq u are fo ot f a roo f surfa e i
a as . o c n

c li d at an an gle f
ne The total wind pre s ure n o rmal to the
o s ,

roo f will therefore b e

,

x 46 x 8 lb s. ,

or lbs d lbs o n the middle and end j o ints re pect

. an . s

i v ly f one r ft er
e o The tru s is drawn to a scale f 5 feet to an
a . s o 0

i nch and the di gram t o that f

, lbs to an in ch
a o . .

The diagram f steady l o d i the middle o ne and a little m o re

or a s ,

than o ne hal f is drawn The o nly pie e t ll tro ubles o me is G F . c a a .

O n a rri v ing in ou r anal y si at the ape x f the roo f or at the p o int di s o ,

r ect ly over A in the tie we find three pieces whose stresses are u nde,

t mi
er d b ut we have reached the middle f the truss we know
ne , as o ,

that the diagram will b ymmetrical and there fore that g f will be e s ,

bisected by l In the se f u nsymmetrical l oad we

a . ca o an c an r e

co mmence t the other p o int f suppo rt and Close o n the apex The
a o .

stre e c used by this l oad are gi ven in the first c olumn f fig u re

ss s a o s

in t he table on pag e 3 8 c o mpression being marked and ten ion

, s

If sn o w is to be provided f make nother ol u mn in the ta or, a c

ble f am o unts properl y proporti o ned t o those just found

,
o .

Upo n turning our attenti o n to the other d i agrams we sh ll fi d , a n

th t the rollers at T cause s o mething m o re than a reversion f dia

a o

g ram oft en o nsiderable v ariation f stress when the w i nd i on

, a c o , s

di ffe rent sides f the roof Tak ing the wind blowing fro m the
o . as

le ft we draw the diagram marked W L The line g m

, . .
,

lbs is divided and lettered a hown f the four loads at the joint
.
, s S or s

where t h arrows are d awn The res u ltant f the wind press u re
e r . o ,

at the middle point f the raft er when prolonged by the dotted ar

o ,

row will divide the hori zo ntal line o r pan in the prop ortio n in
,
s

which the l oad line sh o uld be divided to g ive the tw o parallel t ea c

t i o ns i f there were no rollers at T

,
This prop o rtion w i th pitch .
, a
 OF ROO F T R USSES .
37

of is 2 to 1 ; it l ocates the p o int a

’
, an d gives m a
’
64 76 8 1b s . .
,

an d a lb s
'
g .

B u t the reaction at T m ust be vert ical and c o nsequently the ver ,

tical c o mponent o f g w ill be found at T while the h o ri zo ntal

a
’
,

c omponent o f g must C o me through

a
’
the hori zo ntal member from , ,

the resistance f t h e other wall There fo re draw

o h o ri zo ntally . a
’
a ,

a d we shall get
n
g the reacti o n t Ta while m as to C lose this tri a , a,

angle f external fo rces m u st give the d i rection and mount f the

o , a o

reacti o n at M .

It may at first sight stri ke the reader that this nalysis will n ot be a

r ct f
CO I c ,
i f onl y t h vertical component is resisted at T and i f we
or, e ,

decompose the resultant f the w i nd pressure at 0 where it strikes o ,

the roof int o tw o components we get results as follows

, ,

mp
i

V e rt i l ca t
co f lbs for angle 30
on en o lb s .
,
°
.

H orizontal
The vertical from the middle point f the rafter will divide the o

span t M T There fore am o unt of v ertical compo ent carr ied

a .
, n

a t T = 2 1 0 3 4 lbs ; re mainde r supp o rted at M with all f horizontal

. . o

c o mponent So fa correct Take next into acc ou t the tendency

. r, . n

o f the h o ri zo ntal c o mponent at O to cause the truss to overturn It .

naturally decreases the pressure at M and increases that at T o r in , ,

o ther w o rds the couple formed by the produ ct f the horizontal

, o

c omp o nent at O and hal f the height f truss must be balanc ed by a o

tensi o n at M and a c o mpression at T with a leverage f t he span o .

Makin g the comp u tati o n f this tensi o n o r c o mpression T w have o , ,

e

" T x 79 A o r T lb 2
, s.

lbs 54 f . o

as btained by the first pro cess

O .

S till another way to find the suppo rting forces i to pro l o ng the s,

resultant u ntil it intersects the vertical through T then to draw a ,

line from M to the point o f intersection a d finall y to dr w m and ,

n a a

y a parallel to the lines from M and T This m thod depends f r . e o

its tru th on the fact that the external fo rces which keep the truss in
e quilibri u m not being parallel must meet in o ne point
, , .

H aving c o mpleted the tri ngle f external forces and l id ff the a o , a o

pressures at the joint we can readily draw the diagram It will b e s, .

found as in F i g
, 8 that braces on t h e r i g ht experience no strain
. 1 , ,

the lines g f and g Cl osing the p o ly gon which relat to t h joint

e es e
3 8 GR A P H I C A L A N A L Y S I S
PQ . the lower ti were cambered or inclined fro m b oth ends
If e ,

t o t h middle stresses from wind would be fo u nd t o exist in all f

‘

e , o

t h e b races U po n combinin g with t h inclined reacti o n m the

. e a

v e rti cal reaction als o m rked m the direction f the supp o rtin g
a a o

fo rc e will be found and it is likely to be s o much inclined t o t h e

, .

ve rti cal t hat p rovision ag i nst sliding on the wall plate at M sh o ul d

a

be m ad e .

T h e s tresses gi v en by th i s d i agram f wind on the le ft are found or

in the same table in the c o lumn marked W L It will be seen

, . .

that all of them agree in M d with those f steady l oad It may a or .

perhaps n ot be amiss t o su ggest ag in how to determine the kind f a o

stress o n any member wi t h ou t retracing the diag ram from t h e be

,

ginning Take any joint at whi ch there is an extern al fo rc e Its

. .

direction f act i on will be kn own P ass over the line f r that fo rce
o . o

in the proper dire ction and then pro ceed round the p olyg o n the
,

directi o n f m o vement over t h respective lines denotes h ow each

o e

piece act s against t h particular joint under consideration If we

e .

m o ve over a line from ri ght t o le ft f one joint we m ust pass fro m or ,

left to right f its action on the jo i nt at its other end

or .

T ABLE OF S TR E S S E S F OR F IG . 19 .

PI EC E . W . L . W . R .

R aft ers .

B r aces .

T he diag ram f wind on the right is marked w R The sup

or . .

p o rt i ng force at T while still ve r ti

, cal i s greater in am o unt and if , , ,
 OF R OO F T R U E SS S .
39

diagram W L h as been alread y c o nstructed can be taken as th t

. .
, a

p o rtion f the vertic al component f the wind p ssure not includ d

o o re e

in g f that figure ; that is g

o o t vertical component f wind o o o

pressure If this sh o uld be the first diagr m drawn find the U p

. a , S

porting fo rces in one o f th three way s g i ven above The re cti on e . a

at M is rightly den o ted by u p f when the wind is on the right ,

o r, ,

there is no external force to divide the space from M to P .

The point i m o ved c o nsiderably from i ts place in diagram W L

a s . .
,

an d this change affects the amounts O f the stress in the h o riz o ntal
member but not in those pieces which bear similar relations to the
,

two sides f the tru ss ; in ot her words C B now has the stress f
o o

L K etc In some forms f truss howe v er we find mo re materi al

, . o , ,

c hange .In the present example i t happens that the vert i cal fg
strikes the p o i nt that p the stress i t h rafter c o incides with
a , so z
'

,
n e ,

u p the reaction at M ; the wind

, n the right consequently causes o

n o stress in L A d H A The stresses from this di agram are

an .

fo und in the last column f the above table o .

There is no o ccasion to tabulate the stress on K H i f that on I G ,

is given n o r g 6 i f 6 i given N otice tha t the jo i nt K G or C F

, ,
z
'

s .

gives a parallelogram in each d i agram as alluded to be fore t h stress , , e

in I K passing to G H without C hange It w ill be seen on i p c . ns e

ti o n f the table that the comb i nation f stead y load with wi d on

o o n

the left gives maxima stresses in I P K O L N L A H A D A , , , , , ,

G I I K and K L while the rem ainder with the except i on f F G

, , , o ,

have maxima stresses f r wind on t h right F G i s str i n d l i ke

o e . a e a

in both cases .

These wind dia g rams might be drawn on eith er side o f the l i n f e o

wind force as in the c se f stead y load by changin g the o rder i n

,
a o ,

which the suppo rting forces taken or g o in g ro und the tru ss and ar e ,

j o int in the pposite direction The different diagram s still res mble
O . e

one another especially i f the comparison is mad e with one hal f f

,
- o

the stead y load di gram A lthough there exists a fo ur sided space

a .

C the structure i s su ffi cientl y br ced ag inst distorti o n ; f the space

,
a a or

C i s surro u nded by trian g les o n all sides but one

Turnin g to Fig 2 we e that when the r aft ers d o not mp di
.

. 0, se e

r ect l
y from the ridge to the eaves but are broken i to two or more ,
n

planes f descent we shall have w i d pres ures f di fferent dir

o ,
n s o ce

t i o n s and intensities on the two p o rt i on I C d K B A ft er draw s, an .

4 0 G R AP HIC AL ANALY S I S
ing the steady load diagram the method f finding the s upporting ,
o

forces which resist these two wind press u res will cl ai m our attention .

To make an example f practice we will assume that this truss or ,

drawn to a scale f 40 feet to an inch is 50 feet in span height t o

o , ,

ridge 2 0 feet and to h ips 1 4 5 feet The s i des K B and G E are

, 4 .

practically 1 6 % feet long at an angle f 60 with the h o rizon so ,

o
°
,

that their hori zontal projection is 8 56 fe t The upper rafters are e .

1 % feet long and there fore make angle with the h o rizon f
7 ,
an o

1 8
°
The trusses are 8 feet apart and are l o ad ed at the joints ,

onl y The rafters would comm o nly b supp o rt ed at intermediate

. e

po i nts ; but more lines wo u ld m ak e o ur figures less pl ai n .

The steady load is taken as 1 2 p ou nds p er squ ar e foot f r oof sur o

face or ,

(2 x 1 6 93 + 2 " x 8 6 5 60 po u nds total load , .

T h e joint L will carry one hal f the load on K B or 8 00 p o unds ; ,

I K = % K B + % I C = 8 00 + 8 40 1 640 pounds :
—
I H 8 4o +
8 40 680 pounds etc
1 These weights are lai d ff in the diagram
, . O

just above on the right f steady l ad marked S L from I to f

, , or o , . .

by a scale f pounds t o an inch The diagram is now drawn

o .

w i thout di ffi culty The t nsile stresses are mark ed and the com
. e

pressive nes This diagram makes the rafters in c o mpres si o n

o

and ll the braces in t nsion

a e .

In treating this truss loaded with sn ow it i co idered that K B

as , s ns

and E G are too steep f r any weight to accumulate there as what

o ,

ever snow fell o n them w ou ld s oo n sl i de ff Th e re fore a weight o .

o f 1 2 po u n ds per 6 £ t a l sq u are fo ot f
or the upper raft ers only
z on ,
or ,

is taken f the m ax imum sn ow l oad and as the horizontal p r j ec

or , , o

tion f I C D H is 3 3 54 feet that the load will be

o ,

33 % x 8 x 1 2
3 2 00 po u nds ,

lai d Off from 6 to g in the di ag ram marked S The end portion s

, .
,

6 £ and 6 g are each 8 00 p o unds and £ 6 is 600 pounds

, The d i vi ,
1 .

sion into two equal reactions at the points f support gives Thi s o a.

diagram muc h re sembles the other but there i s one point worth no ,

ticing ; the lines o f stress £ and 6 d cross in the first diagram but , c , ,

do not in the second ; while the reverse is the case with d and 6 e c.

The result is that the stress f C D i s reversed by the maximum o

snow l o ad and th i s stress i s greater i n amount than the one fo r

, ,
as

the weight f ro of etc C D w i ll be a compression m mber when

o ,
.
, e
4 2 GRAPH IC A L A N A L YS I S
0 6,which combined gi v e 6 pr operly called A H in the truss be a ,

low since the le tters from F t o H are n o t in use at present

, .

The polygon O f external forces when there is no roller under the ,

tru ss is therefore 6 i £ 6 6 1 l and 6 The completion f the

, , , ,
a, a . o

d i agram by draw i ng l i nes parallel to the several p i eces will be easy

, ,

witho u t further explanation The stresses obtain ed can be com .

pared with those f steady l oad an d added algebrai c ally to them

or ,

f
or the combined acti o n That th e po int should apparentl y fall o n . e

6 is onl y accidental The S i g ns affi xed to the lines will enable e

. on

to s ee readily that the stresses in B C and E A are now rev ersed ,

the press u re I K oblig i ng us t o use a strut to keep that joint i n place .

The resultant h w v e f m the c o mbined stresses on E A is still

i

,
o e r, ro

ten ile The am ou nts given by diagram W L 1 have not been tab
s . . .

u l t d as we pre fe r re d t o treat this truss from another point

a e ,
f view o .

H ad the y been plac ed in t h e table it would be unnecessary t o draw ,

a diagram f r wind o n the right f the d i fferent member o f t h e

o ,
or s

truss wou ld exchan g e stresses symmetrically ; that i s, A B w o uld

have the stress f E A and E A that o f A B ; D H f C I etc C D
o , o .
, .
,

remaining the same The rest f the table Co uld there fore be m
. o co

p le et d b y inspection .

If r o llers are placed at L to allow f movement resulting from ,

or

change f temperature the s upporting forces will be modified L A

o , ,

becoming vertical The diagram marked W L 2 shows the effect

. . .
,

o f this change S o f as drawin g the lines f wind pressure 6 £j 6 l

. ar o ,

the pol ygo n f e x ternal forces will be obtained in the same manner
o

as be fore We may then dra w the parallelogra m and locate the

.

point here marked then draw horizontally

a
’
d we S hall a
’
a ,
an

g et l the vertical reaction at L equal to the verti cal component f

a, , o

l a o f the figure just preceding .

In case the former diagram h a n ot been drawn a readier way to s ,

determine l w i ll be as follows — Draw 6 1 plainl y t h resultant

a , e

o f 6j and j " ; then having prolonged the

, d o tted ar ows at I and K r

until they meet draw a line parallel to 6 1 throu gh their i te s c

, , , n r e

t i on Th i s l i ne w i ll g i ve the pos i ti on f the resultant f the wind

. O o

pressures and l 6 i s w to be divided in the ratio f t h e two eg

,
no O s

ments i nto wh i ch the resultant divides the pan L F The point of s .

division will fall at "

where l 6 is crossed by a d the point
, a
’
a, an

a can thus be located witho u t the parallelogram The work is less .

,
 OF R OO F T RU SES S .
43

as there will be but one point to be determined instead f tw o Thi o . s

method will not answer f fi din g the uppo rting forces i f they are
or n s

b oth i nclined as i t wou ld give L A and A H paralle l to O e another

, n .

The reaction at L being l the o ne at F is 6 requiring the a, a , re

si t
s an c at F f the entire hori z ontal component f the wind pres
e o o

sure .

A compari son o f the tw o W L d iagrams will S h o w that the stress . .

in every pie ce is changed very decidedly in am o unt and that in a ,

n u mber f the pieces the stresses are reversed Those obtai ned
o .

w t t h the r o llers at L are tabu lated with thei r proper signs in t h e

c olu mn marked W L . .

T ABLE OF ST R E SSE S F O R F IG . 20.

PI E C E . W . L . W . R .

A B

B r aces .
B C
C D 9 0
—1
—
, 0 4o
2 50 1: 3 2 50

7 50 9 1 0
D E +
— 5 00
1 , O4O 1, 3oo 2 50
E A 1 , 1 60

E G +3 0
4 2 5 50
DH + 2 , 2oo + 3 A 7 O
,

+2 , 2oo +3 o8 o ,

BK + 2 600
When t h e wind blows from the right the diagram marked W B , . .

will be drawn The lines £ 6 g f representing the wind will corre

.
, ,

s o n d in v alue with 6 6 1 o f the precedin g fi g ure and since t h e

p , ,

other dia g ram w as c o structed first the vertical reaction at L will

n ,

now be obtained by drawing the h o rizontal line a from either the a

’
,

angle o f the parallel o gram or the proper point o f divisi o n f the o re

su lt t £f
an as to give , s othe smaller part f the vertical compo
4 o

n ent f the wind press u re ; that is l from W L 2 pl u s

o from ,
a, . .
,
a z,
’

W R eq u als the vert ical projection f the polygon f external forces

. . o o .

When this d i agram is c o mpleted by the custo mary rules a com ,

parison f it with the one just preceding will make clear the effect
o

o f wind o n di fferent sides The stress in the raft er s i s m uc h greater

.

when the wind blows on the side farthest fro m the r o llers but it i ,
s

alway s c ompressi ve The forces in the brace s are all reversed

. .

The weight o f the r oo f and truss may be the o nly external force ,

o r s n o w may be added ; and in either c ase the wind may also blow, ,
 GR A PH IC A L A NALYS I S
o n o ne side or the other S electing then fro m the table those t . s r es

s es wh i ch may exist together we find the maximum tension d ,

an

c ompression i n each pi ece given in the l t two columns T h , as as . e

raft ers are always compressed and A B is alw y s in tension The , a .

other p i eces m u st be designed to resist both kinds f stress although o ,

the compress i on on D E i qu i te ins i gnificant s .

If a truss has a curved o u tline the pressure f the wind w i ll make , o

a di fferent angle with the horizon f every point B t there will or . u

be no sensi ble error i f the press re on each piece is assumed to b u e

normal to i t curv e at its middl po i nt or what i s sensibl y the same

s e , ,

t hing perpe d i cular to the straight line j o ini g i t two extremities

,
n n s .

Thus in the truss f Fig the wind pressure on C T is taken

o . 2 1, as

perpendicular to a straight line from B to the next joint in the raft er .

We will first give the dimensi o ns used f this truss which is or ,

here drawn to a scale f 3 feet to an inch The span is sixty feet ; o 0 .

height at midd le f rafters 5 feet at middle f main tie 6 feet The

o 1 , o .

c u rves are arcs f C ircles the radii f the upp r and lower ones being
o , o e

respectively 3 7 % feet and 78 feet The raft ers are spaced ff at i . O n

t v l
er f
a s o feet ea h way fr o m the middle and the tie is divided
1 1 c ,

into % feet len gths The end p i eces will differ slightly from
10 .

these measures The tr u ses are 0 feet apart Fro m th data

. s 1 . e ,
ra

d iu 3 7 % feet and hal f ch o rd o r sine 5 % feet it is e y to calculate

s , , as

th t the C h o rd f the first piece f rafter from the middle will make
a o o

an angle with the horizon f 8 49 % The second piece will be o

°

incli ed three times as much or 6 8 and the la t five ti mes as

n , 2
°
2
’
s ,

much or 44 ,
The intensity f n o rmal wind press re will then
°
o u

be when interpolated in the table f page 3

,
lbs per square o 2, .

foot f the upper length

or lbs f the next length and lbs , . or , .

f or the l owest piece M u lti pl y ing these intensities by .

" we 1 1 1 0,

g et 8
9 9 lbs 7 5% lbs d. 0
4 94
,
lbs 2respectivel
2 y represented by
. an .
,

t h small rrows
e if concentrated at the middle points f E D and
a , as o ,

C The steady lo d is taken at a small figure 3 lbs per piece

. a ,
2 00 .

o f rafter to all o w the d i sturbing e ffect f the wind t o be more

, o

marked .

It is prop osed that the di g o nals f this truss hall be light iron a or s

r ods not adapted to resist ompression and there fore i f a ompre

, c , , c s

s i v e stress would occur in a part ic u l r diagonal in case it we e l o ne a , r a

i n a p anel we substitute the other diag o nal which will then b e in

, ,
 OF ROO F T R U ES SS .
45

tensi o n This statement w expl ained in connection with the tra

. as

p e i
z o d al truss Fig 3 In lettering
, the figure. that t wh
1 i ch i.
,
'

ze s

required f a particular distribution f load is supposed to exist d

or o ,
an

the other diagonal is not taken acc ou nt f Thus Consideri ng the o .

,

panel thro ugh which the dotted arrow is drawn i f the brace which ,

go es from the top o f O P to the bottom f Q R i under stre it o s ss ,

will be called P Q while the rafter will be Q E and the bottom t i e

,

P A If the other diagonal is strain d the raft er will be called P E

. e ,

and the m ain tie Q A .

The diagram f r w eight f r oo f and truss is just above Fig 24

o o .
,

and is drawn by layin g ff t h e loads from to 6 and then taking up o

the j o ints in succession The scale is 8000 lbs to an inch The . . .

point 0 support B gives 6 a t

1 O n taking the next joint in the c c.

top or bottom member we find three pieces whose stresses are u , n

known Both diagonals R S c annot be in action as ti es at once

.

there fo re suppress o ne f r instance that which runs t o the uppe r ,

o

end f S T We shall then have onl y two unknown stresses at the

o .

upper j o int and can draw t s an d d The lower joint will then
,
’
s
’
.

g i ve t t a 9
.
’
, But r s will be a compressive stress as we
,
a r
’
r
’
s
’ ' ’
,

just moved from to ;

T hi s diag o nal is there fore not the right
r
’
s

o ne Takin g the other and try in g the l ower joint first we have
.
, ,

f s t and the upper joint then g

a ives d c t s d A nal o gy will lead r

u s and ri g htl y to take the o ther dia go nals which m

.
,

, , p the same e

w ay as far as the middle and th e n b e c au se o f symmetry f load

, , , o ,

we t ake t h ose which incline t h e o th e r w ay It is therefore eas y .

,

aft e r t h e fi rst att empt to de c ide w hi h di g o nal to reject and which

,
c a

to r etain .

It will be seen how s mall the stresses are throughout the bracing ,

comp ared with th o se in the main mem bers If d h ad been slight . r

ly more inclined so as t stri k e 3 n o diag o nal R S would have been

, o ,

req u ired fo this di strib u ti o n f load A ll f the pie ces f the low
r o . o o

er member being denoted O o ne sid e by A will have their stress

,
n ,

lines radiatin g from T h e length f 6 6 etc as compared wi th

a. o ,
.
,

that f H K &c sh ows the ne cessity f drawing the truss skeleton

o , .
,
O

o n a large scale so as to secure parallelism o f the respect i ve lines i

,
n

each figu re .

We may anal y se the effect o f t h e wind separately upo the truss n ,

bu t s there is a likeliho od th at the wind will rever e the stress on

,
a s
4 6 G R AP HIC AL ANALYS I S
s ome f t h e d i agonals which experience tensi o n from t h e s t e a d y
o

load n d that we shall be obli g ed there fo re t o s u bstitute the o t h e r

,
a , ,

d iag o nals in such panels it seems better t o draw the diagram f ,

th e o r

wind and the weight o f the r oof in c o nj u n cti o n Aft er it is c . o n

s tructed by comparis,
o n with the diagram fo verti c al lo ad j u s t r ,

dr wn what port ion is due to wind al o ne can d oubtless b e as c e r

a ,

f ained The t w di agrams ab ove the tr u ss marked W R an d W

. o , . . .

a re drawn f the maximum fo rce f wind on either side c o mb i d

or o ,
n e

with the weight f the roo f etc o ,

.

It will be seen that the external l o ad line 6 f one case is t h e °

2 o

e xact reverse f £ 6 f the other A explanation f the constru cti o

o o . n o n

o f W B w i ll su ffi ce f
. . both A s the wind blows from the ri g h t
or .
,

there is onl y the steady load on the left hal f f t h e truss Be gi n o .

ning therefo re with the j oint at I we will lay ff vertically 6 eq u l ,

o 2, a

t oo ne hal f the load o n H K o r 1 1 50 lbs N ext g 6 2 300 lb

-
, . s .
,

l o ad at G H and so on c o rresp o nding exactly with the l o ad l i ne f

, ,
o

the steady load diagram discussed before as f r as the j oint F E , , a .

H ere we find in addition to 2 300 lbs vertical press u re an in c line d

,
.
,

fo rce perpendicular to the tangent at E o r t o the c hord f the p i e ce , o ,

and equal to hal f o f 98 9 lb the wind pressure b fo re c o mpu

on e- s ., e

t d f
e E This gives the inclined l i ne as f r as in the diagram
or . a e .

The next joint gives d mani festly made up f the other hal f o f e, o

9 98 lbs o f the vertical 2 00 lbs

.
, 3 as us u al and finally o f one hal f f .
, , o

2 2 % lbs from the next length f ra fter and perpendicular to i t

7 5 . o , .

The forces f the emaining jo i nts C D and B C W i ll be plotted in

or r

t h same manner and we there fore see that commencing at B

e , , ,
as

i proper f r this l o ad line we lay O ff the vertical and inclined fo r

s o , e

os in regular succession from one side f the truss to the o ther If o .

o ne desires to draw a straight line from to d it will be the result c

a t n f the c o mbined forces at C D

o .

Connect 6 with by the dotted line This l i ne w i ll be the result .

ant f all these fo rces from 6 to

o A s the resultant f the dead o

wei g ht w hich i s symmetrically distributed acts in the line f the o

v e rti c al O P and hence through the centre f curva t u re o f the af

,
o r

ters an d as the wind pressures all p oint t o the same c entre o f the
,

circle the r es u ltant 6 must pass thro u gh the same p oint There
, .

fore throug h that p o int draw the d o tted rrow parallel to This a

a rr o w c u ts the span B I by me as u rement at 2 feet fr o m B or

, , ,
 OF ROOF T R USSES .
47

eet from I The res u ltant 6 scales

f . lbs If the sup .

p o rtin g force at B were parallel to this re s u ltant it w ou ld be fou nd ,

by taking m o ments ab ou t I when we should h av e ,

B x 60 x B lb on s.

L ay ff this for e fro m 6 t o

o If r o llers are pla ed t B t h at t e
c a
'
c a ,

a ction will be vertical and the h o riz o ntal c o mp o nent of a 6 must be

,
'

resisted at I L et fall 6 vertically determining the p int by

. a ,
o a

d rawing h o riz o ntally and c o nnect

a
’
a with The t w up
,
a o s

p ort i ng fo rces will be £ d 6 a an a .

If there are no rollers under the truss pay e pecial heed t o what ,
s

w as said in regard to Fig 9 and find the supporting fo rce fo each . 1 ,

s r

o blique pressure separately This same thing m u st b e d o ne when .

t h curve
e f the ra ft ers is n o t circular
o the for e will n ot then ,
as c s

meet at a co mm o n centre In the W L diagram the p o int . will . . a

’

c ome nearer to 6 than to — that i the quantity j u st obtained p s a

plies to the p o int f support I and falls very near t o bu t j ust

o ,
a ,

o u tside f f in the pr o l o ngat i o n f the vertical line

o ,
H av in g th u o . s

c ompleted in either c se the p o ly g o n f external forces th

, a ,
o ,
e re

mi da n f the construction will be made

er o in any example A ft er as .

the first trial to ascertain the proper diag o nal it appears that in , ,

e ach ca e the diagonals all slant one way ; so that f W i nd on o ne

s , , or

s ide one t f diag o nals is in tensi o n and f wind on the othe r

, se o , ,
or ,

a ll f the other set are str ined

o a .

The e ffect on the five pieces f a panel top b ottom two side an d o , , , s

t h diago al
e f dr awing the d i a g ram so as to give compressi o n o n
n ,
o

a d iag o nal i s h o wn in the W L figure f the panel P Q Instead

,
s . . or .

o f p and g
o we get p and g c o nsid rabl y increa ed in mo unt
r , o
’ ’
r , e s a

but the same in kind ; f p and q e ubstituted g and p or e a ar s e

’
a
’

u nchanged in kind but practi c lly what i tak en in am o unt fro m

,
a s

on e is added to the other ; while the diag o nal stress is we sai d , as ,

reversed but very nea ly the same i am o unt

, r n .

It might be practicable t o deduce some rule f determinin g b or e

fo rehand the diag o nal parallel to which o ne should draw a line bu t ,

the tentative process seems easy We find it c o nvenient to draw .

the lines parallel to the rafter and main tie p and p first then , as e a
’
,

t o sketch rou ghl y tw o lines f the susp nding piece and diag o nal or e ,

see whether that di agonal ome in ten i o n d finall y draw t h c s s , an e

right ones care fu lly It i n ot ne e ary t o p u t igns of o r o n

. s c ss s
4 8 GR A PH I C A L A NA L Y S I S
these lines fo it may be seen th at all the parts o f the rafter a e c o m
,
r r

pressed the wh ole l o wer member extended an d all the d i a g o ls

, ,
n a

in tension as we ll as all the suspendin g piec es ex cept 0 P a n d

,

Q R which are c o mpressed to a very sm all am o unt when t h e m x i

,
a

m u m wind comes fro m the right S uch pieces ar e easily s le c t e d

. e ,

if one notices th at o f and g in the W R diag ram rdraw i a . . ar e n n

d irec t i o n opp o site t o the c o mm o n one .

The stress es are g iven in the foll owing table The len g t h s o f .

raft er are den o ted in the table by a single letter The pieces f t h e . o

main tie havin g the letter A in common hav e al so the l tters w h i c h

, , e

T ABLE OF STR E S S E S F OR F IG . 21 .

W . R . W . L .

R afters

Main T ie . A

D iagon als .

S uspen de r s.

s tand befo re the stresses in the proper c olumns The in clinati o n of .

the diag o nal i s sh o wn by the si g n prefi xed t o the stres The effect s.

o f the wind o n the ri g ht o r o n the same side with the r o llers

, is t o ,

materially red u ce the stress o n a large porti o n o f the m ain tie T he .

light bracing req ui red s a marked feature o f this type o f tru ss d u e

i ,

t o its resembl an c e t o a curv e f equilibri u m for a l oad c o n centrated

o

at a series o f p o i nt s T h e pred o min an c e of ten sile me mbers make s

.

i t well adapted fo r co n str u cti o n in wr oug ht ir o n If t h e diagonal s .

 CH A PT ER V II .

B E N D IN G M O M EN T A ND M M O E N T O F RE S I S TA NC E .

H aving treated o f the acti o n f external fo rc es up o n a g reat vari

o

ety o f trusses we propose n ow to investi g ate the graphical d ete r mi

,

nation o f the bend i ng m o ments which o ccur on ce rtain pieces .

T o recapit u late some statements f an earlier chapter o

In case the transverse c o mpo nents f the load up o n a p ortion o f a o

rafter or other piece f a truss a not immed i ately resisted by the

, o , re

supporting p o wer f some adjacent parts or in other w o rds unless

o , , ,

the l o ad on t h e struct u re is actually concentr ted at the s everal a

j o ints such transverse c o mponents will exert a bendin g action o n

,

the p o rtion in q u esti o n and the additio nal stress th u s c aused i n the
,

piece may be t oo great t o be safely eglected F u rther in case the n .

,

piece makes any other than a right gle with the line f action o f an o

the l o ad or has an obliq u e fo rce actin g upo n it the stress along it

, , ,

gi v en by the diagram will be less than the maxim u m and will g en

, ,

er all
y be the mean st ress L stl y in.case a piece
a is c u r v ed
, a bend ,

in g moment will be exerted upon it by the force actin g along the

s traight line j o ining its tw o ends this bending moment b eing a max
,

i mum at the p o int where the axis o r centre l i ne o f the piece is far
t h est removed fro m the line drawn b etween its ends .

The reader is re ferred fo r an illustrati o n of the truth f s o me of o

the statements t o page 2 9 F i g 7 ; but t o take an other and a si m

, . 1 ,

ple example :
S uppose the rafters A C and B C Fig 2 2 t o be l o aded uni formly , .
,

o ver their wh o le extent L et u s assu me in the first pl ace that the

.
, ,

tie A B is o t used b u t that the thrust f the rafters is resisted by

n ,
o

the walls whi c h carry the r oo f Con sider the piec e A C S in ce

. .

the roof is sym metrically l o aded the thrust at C m u st be horiz o ntal

, ,

and there fore the reactio n which sup po rts this end o f A C will lie in
 OF R OO F T R U SSES.
5 1

the line C E The centre O f gravity f t he load on A C being at

. o

D its middle p o int the resultant o f the l o ad will if pr o l o ged up

,
-
, ,
n

wards intersect C E t E S ince the raft er is in eq u ilibri u m u nder

, a .

the lo ad and the reactions at C and A the direction f the reaction ,

o

o f the ab u tment or wall at A must also pass through E (Compare .

F i gs 3 and . Draw A E and pr o l o n g E D to G L et E G be .

meas ured by such a scale to represent the load o n A C The as .

three forces meeting in the common point E will then be eq u al t o

the respective sides f the triangle A E G drawn parallel to them ;
o ,

an d since A G eq u als E C the reactions t A and C will be A E

, , a

and C E .

Decompose A E and C E into comp o nents along and transverse

to the rafter and we shall have A F direct compression on the
,

rafter at A while C F direct compression at C The c o mpres

, .

si o n on successive secti o n s f the raft er increas es from C to A by o

the suc cessive l o ngitudinal compo ents f the load The two m n o . Co

onen t s A L and C Q which combined with A F and C F give

p , , ,

the o riginal forces A E and C E are anal gous to the suppo rting ,
o

fo rces f a beam or truss and from them we obtai n the amount

o ,
f o

the bend ing action f the load on this rafter If now the raft ers
o .
, ,

s imply rest on the w ll being secured agai nst spreading by the t i e

a ,

A B the reaction A E w ill be replaced by the two components A I

, , ,

the upward su pporting fo rce f the wall and A G the stress ex r o , ,

e

t de the tie ; but these two forces give the same stress o n the r f
on a

t eras be fore .

Consid er next the method by d i agram The load is now to be

, ,
.

concentrated at the joints and we shall have in plac e f E G A N , ,

o ,

and C P each one hal f f the load on one raft er L y ff 1 2 to

,
- o . a o -

r prese t the total load o n the roo f mak e 1 3 A N 4 A I

e n ,
-
,
1- ,

and draw 3 5 and 4 5 parallel to the raft er an d tie A G will equal .

4 5 and
,
there fore the stres s o n the tie i s g iven c o rrectl y ; but since ,

A I A N A K 3 4 3 5 equals A D and this is the stress giv -

, ,

en by the diagram as existin g from A t o C a supposit i on which is ,

true when the load is actuall y concentrated at the joints but is not ,

tru e f a distributed load But A D o r 3 5 is equal to o ne hal f f

or .
, ,
- o

A F F C and is mani festly the value o f the direct c o mpressi o n at

,

the point D f the after ; all f the load from A to D was when we
o r o ,

drew the d i agr m consider d t b co ce trat ed at the j oint A

a ,
e o e n n .
 GR A P H I C A L A N A L YS I S
T he load o n th e p rinc ipal rafte rs o f a r oof tr uss is g enerall y co n -

ce n t r at ed at a se r ie s o f eq u idistan t p o i nts by me ans f the pu li s ,

o r n ,

o r sh o rt cross be am s which extend fro m o ne tru s s to an o ther an d

-
,

whi ch are themselves weighted at a se ries o f po ints by the pressu re

o f the s e c o ndary raft ers These se cond ary rafters when empl oyed
.
, ,

carry the b o ards e t c ,and th us h ave a u nifo rmly di tributed l oad

.
, s .

It is o nly in cases where p u rlins rest at other points than the s o

ca lled joints that b endin g action o c c u rs in the prin cipal raft ers o r in ,

v ery light tru sses where the b oards are nailed directly to the m ain
rafters .

It will first be well even at the ris k o f dwelling on what i s well

,

k n own t o many t o explain what 6 d i g m m t and m men t qf

, en n o en o

r es i st a
nc e ar e A be am A B Fig 2 3 supp orted at its tw o ends
.
, .
, ,

when l o aded w ith a series f weights di stribu ted in any manner is

o , ,

in eq u ilibrium under the action f v ertical fo rces the weights actin g

o ,

d ow n w ard s and the tw o s uppo rting forces acting upward s T he .

suppo rti n g fo rce s are e asily c alculated by the principle f the lever o ,

or by tak ing momen ts as explai ned f r Figs 1 3 and 1 6 A s t h e o . .

beam is at rest there m u st be n o tenden cy t o rotate and therefo re

, , ,

i f we as sume any p o int fo r an axis the sum o f the moments th at i s , ,

of the pr o ducts o f each force by its distance from the axis m ust ,

e q u al z ero . A moment which tends t o prod u ce r otation in one di

recti o n b eing called pl us o ne which acts i n the other directi o n is
,

c alled minu s . If then we pa s i mag i nary vertical plane o f sec

s an

ti o n through any p oint i n the beam su c h as E the sum f the m o , ,

o

ments on one side f the plane f secti o n mu st b alan c e or eq u al that

o o

o n the other The sum f these moments o n o ne side o r the o the r

. o

is c alled the 6 d £ g m m t :why will be seen soon

en n o en .

These m o ments can balanc e o ne an other o nly thr ou gh t h e re sist

an c e o f t h e beam at the s ec t i o n in q u esti o n o r o f the stres ses e xe rt , ,

ed b etw ee n the p art icles c u t by t his s e cti on w hi c h re s i st the tenden ,

cy t o bend the be am The beam b ec o mes sli ght ly c o n v ex an d the

.
,

parti cles on the co nvex side are e xtended while th ose o n th e co n ,

cav e side are comp re ssed E xperiment s h o w s th at fo r fl x u re with

.
, e

in su c h m oderate limits as oc cur in p rac ti ce the horizontal fo rces ,

exer ted bet w een c o nti guou s particles vary u ni formly as we go fr o m

t h e t O p o f the beam t o the bo ttom the c o mpressive st ress being ,

mos t intense o n the c o n cave side diminishin g re gul arl y t o z e ro at

,
 OF R OO F T R USSES .
53

s o me point or hori z ontal plane call d the neutral axis then chang ,
e ,

ing t o tensi o n and in rea in g we approach the convex side The

c s as .

tw o set f stresses reacting against each other may be repres nted

s o e

to the ey e by the arr o ws in the vertical section marked E

S ince all f the external fo rces are ve rtical t hese internal stresse
o ,
s,

being horizontal must balance in themselve or the t o tal tension

,
s,

must equal the t o tal compression whence it follows th t the eutral ,

a n

axis must pass through the centre f gravity f the se ti o n T o o o c .

make this lear let one o nsider h o w the centre f g rav ity o r the
c ,
c o

positi on f the result nt f parallel forces is found (Compare Fig

o a o . .

We m u ltiply each force o r weight by its d istance from any

a ssumed ax i s and divide by the o mbined we i ghts N ow i f we t
, c . a

tempt to find the centre f g ravity f a thin cross section f this o o - o

be m and take
a ,
axis at the p oint where the centre f gravity hap
ou r o

pens to lie we can see that the distance f each particle from the
,
o

axis will vary exactl y these given stresses ; hence the neutral axis
as

m ust lie in the centre f g ravity f each cross sec t ion A s these o o .

stresses are aused by the resistance t o the bending moment on e h

c ac

s ide f the secti o n the m o ment in the interior f the beam made up
o ,
o ,

o f the s u m f the stress o n ea h part icle multiplied by its distance

o c

fr o m the n u tr l axis or indeed from any axis and known s the

e a , , a

m m t qf
o en i t m u st equal the bending moment at the given
r es s a n ce,

s e ti o n
c A s t h tensions and compressions on one side f the plane
. e o

o f secti o n tend to produce rotation ab o ut the neutral ax i s in the same

d irection their moments are added together
, .

The bending moment then in the beam A B f the figure t y , , o , a an

s ection E will be i f P is the s pporting force on the right W

, ,
u , ,

W & the weights

’
,
C. , ,

P B E W CE W DE ; .
- .
’
.

o r, in general i f L equal the arm f any weight and 2 b the s i gn

,
o , e

o f s mmation
u ,

M (the bending mo ment ) P BE 2 W L . .

,

it being remembered lway s to tak e only the weights betwe n one a e

en d and the plane f section o .

If the reader will take a special ca e and having a beam f s , , o

k nown length with weights in given po sition will first find the s,

s u pport i ng fo rces and then calculate the bending m o ment on e i ther

,

s ide f a plane f e t o n he will obtain the same res lt with pp o

o o s c i , u O
54 GR A PH IC A L AN A LYS I S
s ite sign s sh owing that the two m o ments b alan c e o ne an other
,
.

The numerical result being the product o f tw o quantiti es is read , ,

as s o many foot pounds or inch p o unds ac cord ing to the u i ts em

- -
,
n

ploy ed A s the stress on an y material is u s u ally expressed in

.

p o unds on t h e square inch the latter units are the better The mo ,
.

ment f resistance being numerically equ al to the bending moment

o ,

a d there fore equal to the above expression it is practicable

n f a , ,
or

g iven b eam and load to determine the maxi mum stress at any ,
sec

t i o n o r kn o wing the proper working stress to whi c h t o subject the

, ,

material to determine the required cro s secti o n

,
s -
.

The weights on one side f the secti o n may all be c o nsidered t o o

be concentrated at th ir common centre f gravity or poi nt f ap e o ,

o

plication f their res ultant of as the bendi g moment at that , so ar n

section is concerned and the load when conti nuous i s alway s ,

so

taken .

L et us suppose th t the wei g hts which in F i g 2 3 rest upon the

a , .
,

beam are suspended by a cord fro m the po i nts and 6 at the same a ,

level being attached to the cord at t h e successive points d f and

,
c, ,

g , verticall y below their former positions at C D F and G L et , ,

.

us fu rther suppose that the am ou nt f the weight at G alone i at o s

present known This cord can be treated as i f i t were frame

. a .

Tak ing the j i nt g into consid ration draw 5 4 verticall y equal t o

o e ,
-
, ,

the weight then 5 0 parallel to g and 4 0 parallel t o g f T h e

,
-
a ,
-

two l i nes just drawn m u st be the tensions in g a d g f F o r t he a n

joi t f f g is n o w known ; there fo r 4 3 parallel to the weight and

n , e -
,

0 parallel t o will de ermine the other o rces at The side

3
-
f t fe
f 4 3
-

m u st e qual the wei g ht at F and must lie i n the same straight lin
°

, e

wit h 5 4 ; f this triangle was constructed on the side 4 0 previously

- or -

found Continuing the constru ction fo the successive angles f t h

. r o e

c o rd we find that vertical line 5 1 will represent by its several

,
-
a -

portions the successive weights and th t the tensions on the d i ffer , a

ent parts f the cord will be g i ven by the lines parallel t o these
o

parts drawn from the points f d i vision f the load line and all con
, o o ,

verging to the common po i nt Draw 0 6 horizontally parallel to 0. -

,

a 6 this line will be the horizontal compo nent o f the tensi o n at any
p o int o f the cord and is here den o ted b y H The for m assumed
, .

by the cord f a given distrib u tion f weights may be called the

or o

cu v r
qf e as the system will be in equil i br i um or at
 OF ROOF T R USSE S.
55
re s t ; d it i s al so called in mechanics a funicular poly g o n S tude ts
an . n

of mechanics will recall the fact s easily shown here that the hor ,
o ,

i o t l component H is a constant quantity at every point

z n a .

If now the c o rd i nstead f bei g fastened at ,

and 6 is attached o n a ,

to the two ends o f a rigid bar 6 and the whole sy stem i then sus a , s

pended fro m A and B by two sh o rt c o rds i ts equilibrium w i ll not ,

be disturbed The pull 5 0 at will be decomp d into 0 6 com

.
- a ose -
,

pression on 6 and 6 5 tens i on along A S im i larly at 6 0 1 w i ll

a , ,
a .
,
-

be decomposed into 1 6 along 6 B and 6 0 al o ng 6 -

6 0 balan ces -
a. -

0 6 while 1 6 and 6
-
, 5 must
- be the supporting forces at 6 and A s a.

the suppo r ting forces do n o t depend upon the form f the fr me or

'

o a

truss the reacti o ns which carry the beam at B and A must be these
,

s ame quantities .

We may make the construction more general by drawing a u v c r e

qf g £l
e£6 £ mn f rom r
y
n point verticall y below A
an that i b y a
’
, , s,

determining the o utline f a cord which will sustai n in equilibrium o

the give weights at the given horizontal distances from A L ay

n .

o ff the we i ghts in succession from to I ; assume an y point 0 ar ’

5
b i t a i ly and connect i t with all t he p i nts f d i visi o n f the l o ad
r r o o o

l i e C o mme n ce at a and draw g parallel to 5

n .
’
, stopping a
’ ’

at the vertical d ropped fro m G ; then draw g f p rallel to 4 0 ’ ’

, a -
’

etc and finall y

.
,
p arallel to 1 0 c That this w ill be the figure
’
-
’

o f a c rd suspended from
o and 6 follows f O Ithe preced i n g d a
’ ’
l
’

lT e

m o nstrati o n Connect 6 with . d the line parallel to 6

’
a
’
,
an ,
’
a
’
,

fr o m 0 must strike the same po i nt 6 which the l i ne from 0 parallel

’
,

t o 6 touched The supporting forces i f 6

a, . exists w i ll be 1 6 ,
’
a
’
,
-

and 6 5 as befo re ; but o 6 will be the horizontal compon ent H

-
’
-
’ '
’

fo r this c ord .

If we turn again to the first Co rd attached at and 6 t h piece , a ,

e

(1 6 be i ng dispensed with and tak e any point f it the mome t o f

,
o e, n

all the forces o n o ne side o f the p o int must be the bending moment

th re ; but as the c o rd is perfectly flexible and is at rest this bend

e ,

ing m o ment w i ll equal z ero U sing instead f 1 0 i ts two compo .

,
o -
,

n e ts 1 6
n P and 6 0 H multipl y ing each force by the p p
- -
,
er en

d i c u lar distan c e o f i ts line f action from calling the combined mo o c,

ments f the weight on one side f 2 W L be fo re and de mot

o o e as ,

i n g the tendency t o produce r o tati o n in opposite w y s by pposne a o

5 6 G R AP HIC AL ANALYS I S
signs we shall have
, , fo r moments of o rces
f on th e r i g ht o f, an d

ar ou nd e,

P . 66 —2 W . L
H . e é = P 6é .

But P 6 6 = P B E and P B E E W L
. .
, . .
-
M the bendin g
,

moment at the section E f the beam as shown o ,

on pag e 5 3 th e re ,

fo re
M H e 6 .

By a similar analysis the lower cord we have of

P E W L 6 M
( . .

Fro m similarity o f triangles l 6 and 6 we have e

’ '
,

6 : 6 6
’ ’ ’ ’ ’
c l e -
0

or (6
there fo re M : (6 6
’
. e
’ ’

as in the o ther c ase The treatment i therefo re general and t he

. s ,

bending mome t at any sect i on f the beam equals the product f

n o o

H fro m the stress diagram by the vertic l ordinate below the sec a ,

tion from the cord to the l i ne connecting its two extremities

, .

The relative situ ati o ns f and 6 will depend on the C hoice o f o a

’ ’

the position of 0 and this po int may be taken wherever convenient

’
.

H is measured by the same scale used f

’
plotting 5 1 wh i le 6 or -
, e
’ ’

m u st be measured by the scale t o which A B is lai d o ff The tw o .

scales o ne representin g p ou nds and the other inches need n ot be

, ,

numerically the same Their prod uct will be inch pounds A i .

-
. s n

gle l o ad on the bea m will have f r i ts c urve f equilibrium two o o

straight lines from and meet i ng at a point verti cally under the
a
’

weight A uniforml y distributed load will give a parab o la with the

.

maximum ordinat e at the middle f t h espan This load may be o .

treated as i f concentrated at any conven i ent number f points al o n g o

the beam as we have done in getti ng the loads at the several divi
,

sions f a raft er d the angles f the pol y g o n will lie in the de

o ,
an o

sired parabola When the beam i inclined the tra sverse c o mpo
. s n

n e t s o nl y o f the load produce any bend i ng as expla i ned f

n a un i , or

form l o ad i Fig 2 2 n . .

To determine next the moment f resistance f r a parti cular form o o

o f cross sectio : - n

L et us consider first a beam o f r ec tangular cross e ctio n p re s ,

re

s ented by A B C D f Fig 2 4 The intensity f stress as shown at

o . . o ,
5 8 G R AP HIC AL ANALY S I S
lar secti o n where the areas and c entres o f gravity f the shaded
, o

po rtions are n o t Sb readily obtained the graphical method f fi d ,

or n

ing the moment f resistance is convenie t o n .

In appl y ing this method to a beam f the secti o n shown in F i g o .

2
5 we
, must first ascerta i n the centre f gravity f the section B y o o .

multiply ing each rectangular area by the distance o f its centre f o

gravity from either the top or botto m adding the pr oducts and di , ,

v id i g by the whole area we find t h

n distance f the neutral axis , e o

N O fro m that edge If G I = 6 A B G E : 6 and C A

.
, ,

6 we have

6 1. + 6 6 ' ’
distance of neutral ax i s fro m G I .

The const u c tion o f the shaded area A P B needs no explanati o

r n,

as the remarks on Fig 2 4 appl y equally well here The stress . . on

the fibres at the edge G I w i ll n ot be great as at the edge A B so ,

because they are not f r from the neutral axis If the fibres at so a .

G I were removed to K L s to be equall y rem o te with A B , so a ,

they would be equ lly strained Then to reduce the lay er G I to

a .

o ne which if it had the same intensity f stress with A B w o uld

, o ,

give the same total tress which now exists on G I project G I to

s ,

K L draw K P and L P and G I will be the desired reduced

, ,
’ ’

length The r mainder f the shaded area f the lower rectangle

. e o or

fo llows the usual r u le In the same way the fibres at C D will be .

pr ojected at Q R a d by drawing Q P and R P we determ i ne

,
n , ,

C D and thus c o mplete the shaded po rtion These triangles etc

’
.
, .
,

can be readily scaled o r c o mputed fro m kn own proporti ons f the

,
o

beam their cen t res o f gravity fo und and the moment f resistance
,
o

calc u lated .

This g raphi cal meth od f r finding the m o ment f resista ce f a o o n O

g i v en cross secti o was published in the E nglish paper E g £

- n n n e er

several years ag o an d als o in Baker s b o ok O n the S trength

’
£ g
n ,

o f Beams C o lumns and A rch es It c n als o b fo und in Wo od s ’

,
a e

R esistance o f Mate rials N ostrand s S cience S eries

" ’
an d V a ,
n ,

No . 1
9 .

A go od example f a beam wh o se moment f r i stance is not

o o es

readily determined by c lculati o n is affo rded by a deck beam often a -

,

empl oyed in floors and roofs d sh o wn in F i g 6 This example , an . 2 .

i taken from the t i x Iro Co s book f hapes and is draw n

’
s n n . o s ,
 OF R OO F T RUSS E S .
59
t o o ne quarte r scale The hei g ht o f th e se cti o n is 6 ihch es b re adth
- .
,

o f fl an g e A B 3 A in c he s thickness o f web
1
, in ch weight per y ard ,

ab ou t 44 lb s ; t he re fore the area

. f cross se c ti o n is ab o ut
o s q u are -

i n c hes .

The readiest way t o dete r mine the m o ment o f resi stan ce o f thi s
cro ss secti o n is as fo llo w s
- °

T race its full s i ze fro m the b oo k o f sh ape s an d transfer the ou tline

to so me heavy paper by go ing ov er the lines with a blunt p o int ;
ou t the section from the he avy paper and determine i t s ne u t r al ax is

by balancing it over a k ni fe edge T h us is fo und the line C D . .

Draw K L horizontally at the same distan ce fro m C D that S T is .

A B will be projected at K L and line s fro m K and L t o P t he

, ,

middle point o f C D o r the centre f g ravity o f this secti o n will o ,

cu t A B at A and B mak ing A B the red u ced length o f A B

’ ’ ’
,

whic h may w be co nsid ered to have the same stress per square
no

in c h as exist s at I G In the same way the end M f M N will be

. o

projected at O the p o int U at V and the lines fr o m O and V t o P

, ,

will c ut the horiz o ntal lines thro ugh M a d U at e w p o ints in the n n

de sired curve Th u s en oug h p o ints are determined to l oc ate the

.

bou ndary o f the sh aded p o rti o n fro m B t o P The porti o n o f the ’

.

web with parallel side s g ives o f c o urse a tri an g le fo und at o n ce by ,

drawing a line fro m W t o P The c u rv e A P c o rresp o nd s with

.
’

B P
’
. F o r the upper p orti o n project E F o n T S draw l i nes to P
, , ,

an d g et i a similar way en o ugh p o ints for this curv e Cut ou t the

n .

tw o sh ded figures b al an ce each o ne over a kni fe ed ge and thu s de

a ,

termine their respe cti v e centres f gravity Q and R Cal cu l ate theo .

area o f one ; the are a o f the o ther sho u ld exac tly equal it fo r the t o ,

t al tensi o n equals the t o t al c o mpressi o C alling this area A an d n.

the safe w o rking s tress o n the square inch f we shall then have for ,

the mo ment o f re sistan c e

'

In this example A q inche s P Q s inches

. and P R , ,

inches If there fo re f . lbs the m o ment o f resi st .

,

an c e equals

x x inch p o unds .

In simpler c as e s the required si z e o f beam to sustain a g i ven l oad

,

is m o re re dily fo und by fo rmula

a If I beam s ar e used the web .
,

be in g thin d the t op an d bo tto m fl an g es alike an ppro ximate

,
an ,
a
60 GR A PH I C A L ANA L YS I S
fo rmula may be used If F represents the rea in sq u re in he s o f
. a a c

th cros secti o n f either flange W the area f the web 6 the depth
e s- o , o ,

fr o m entre to centre f the flanges and f the

c of t on the , sa e '
s r e ss

sq u are inch the m o ment f resistance i nearly eq u al t o

, o s

W
f b F I7 ) " "

The v l u e f the breakin g stress u der transver e l o ad m y b

a o n a s a e

t ken f w ood at
a ,
or to ,
lbs ; f wrou ght iro n to . or ,

lbs These quantities mu t be divided by the fa t o r f fety

. s c o sa ,

e xpl ined pre ently to give f

a s f these form u l
, o a
e.
 CH A PT ER V III .

L OA D A ND D E T A IL S .

The principal tru sses sho u ld be braced t o gether in the planes of

the rafters to prevent wind in a directi o n perpendicular t o the gable .

ends fro m producing any lateral movement It is o ft en customary

, .

also to tie the trusses down to the walls especially in th o se build ,

ings parti lly open where wind may get below the roo f
,
a ,
.

It h been a very common practice to assume the steady l o ad as

as

4 0 lbs. per square fo o t f r oo f incl u ding truss The various

o item s , .

m y be comp u ted separately and

a additional am o unt as sumed f ,
an or

the frame A ft er the tru ss is roughly d esigned its weight shou ld be

.

calculated to see how well it agrees with the assumed weight If .

the agreement is not suffi c i entl y exact the proper all owance is then ,

t o be made .

T au t w i e says that f
r n spans n ot exceeding about 75 feet and
, or ,

tru sses 7 feet apart the total load p r square foot including the
, e ,

tru ss itsel f purlins t complete may be taken as follows

, ,
e c ., ,

R d w i th
oo f co vere ug t d i b dd
co r r a e r on , un oar e 8 lbs .

Sa m i f pl t d b l w t h
e as e re ft e o e ra ers 18 lb s .

R oo f d wi th
cove re ug t d i b d co rr a e ro n , on oa r s 11 lb s .

Sa m if pl t d b l w th
e as er e ft e o e ra e rs 21 lb s
.

R oo f v d w i t h l t u b d d o l th
co e re s a e, n oa r e or n a s 1 3 lb s .

Sa m e on b d 1 % i h t hi k
o ar s nc es c 16 lb s .

Sa m if pl t ed bel w th e ft
e as e r o ra er s 26 lb s .

R oo f v d wi th h i gl o l th
c o e re s n es n a s 10 lb s .

F o r spa s fro m 75 feet t o 1 50 feet it will su ffi ce to add 4 lbs to

n .

each o f these totals .

The weight f an o rdinary lathed and plastered cei li ng is ab o ut

o

1 0 lb per square foot ; and that o f

s. o rdinary floor o f 1 % inch an

boards together with the usual 3 x 1 2 inch joists 1 5 in ches apart

, ,

fr o m centre to centr i s f om 1 0 to 1 2 lbs per square foot

e, Wh i te
r . .
62 G R APH IC AL ANALYS I S
p i ne tim ber if dry may be considered to weigh ab o ut 2 5 lbs
, , .
,

n o rthern y ell o w pine 3 5 lb and s o uthern yellow pine 4 5 lb per s. , s.

c ubic fo o t If wet add fr o m 2 0 to 50 per cent

.
, O ak may be reck .

o e d at fro m 0 to 0 lbs per c ubic foot ; c as t ir o n at lb per

n
4 5 450 . s.

cubic foot ; wrought iro n at 480 lbs per c ubic foo t . .

The all owance to be made fo r the weight of snow will depend

u pon the latitude It may acc u mulate in consid e rable quantities b
.
,
e

c o min g aturated with water and turning to ice The weight f a

s . o

cubic foot is very various Freshly fallen snow may weigh fro m 5 .

to 1 2 lbs S n o w and hail sleet o r ice may weigh fro m 30 to 50

.
, ,

lbs per c ubic foot but the quantity o n a r oof will usu ally be small
.
, .

S now saturated with water will g enerally slid e ff from roo fs of o

o rdinary pitch A n allow ance o f fro m 1 2 to 1 5 lb s per sq u a re foot

. .

o f roo f will su ffi ce f m o st latitude s or .

A fter the stresses o n the frame are determined the se v er l parts , a

must be designed t o withstand them It is not the p u rp ose to make .

here any extended remarks on the way to w o rk up a design a d get n

out the details as we wished simply t o explai n the G raphic Meth od

, .

A few suggesti o ns h owever in c onclusi o n in regard t o the proper , ,

prop o rtioning f the different members may not be amiss

o .

A materials if repeatedl y strained t o an amoun at all approach

S , t

i ng the breaking strain will fail soo ner or later the severe acti o n , ,

w eakening them and as we m u st pr o vide fo un foreseen and u

, r n

kn own defects f mate rial n d w o rkmanship it is cust o mary to so

o a ,

des i gn a structure that it will req u ire a l o ad several times greater

than the one to which it is t o be submitted to break o r i njure any
piece T h ra tio f the breaki g load to the actual or w o rking load
. e o n

i s called thef t qf saf ty For roo fs and str uc tures under a steady
a c or e .

load this factor f safety is comm o l y 3 or 4 sometimes m o re For

o n , .

str uctures like bridges where the load is movable a d where they , , n

a re exposed to shocks the fact o r is much l ar g er o ft en double in , ,

amount so f as concerns the moving l oad T h e w o rking stres ses

,
ar .

on t i mber are sm aller fractions o f the breaking stress than is the case
with i ron The quali t y o f the iro n empl oyed materially affects the
.

fo rce whi c h it may sa fely resist .

P ieces in tension will be liable to break at the smallest c ross sec -

tion It is therefo re ec o nomical f material t o enl ar g e the sc rew

. o

e nd s f iro n rod s and b o lts s o that the c ros s secti o n at the b otto m of
o -
 OF R OOF T R U SE S S. 63

th e threads sh all be at least as large at any o ther p o int It i s de as .

sirable that the centre f resistance f the cross secti o n o f stru ts and
o o -

ti es shall coincide with the Centre f figure s a de v iati o n from o ,

a

that point we ak ens the piece T o calculate the net or s mallest cross .

se c ti on f a tension member it is suffi cient to divide the fo rce to be

o

resisted by the sa fe working stress or to m u ltiply the forc e by the ,

factor o f safety and divide by the breakin g strength per square inch .

L et P = t h force t obe resisted in pounds s

e factor f safety ,
.. o ,

f zt h breaking estrength in pounds per square inch o f se c tion a d ,

n

A = t h e cr o ss section in square inches ; then

P
A s

f
The value f f f tension may be taken o — f w ood
or to as or ,

ib ; f wrought iron bars and bolts f small dimensi o ns

s. or o

an d excellent quality lb ; plates and b rs f ordinary qual

,
s. a o

ity , to Ib s.

F o r very short pie es in compressi o n whose lengths do n o t exc ,

c eed i x t i mes the least dimensio

s the same formula may be used n , .

A s the length increases the pie e has a tendency to y ield sideway s c

when compressed and the cross t i must be increased The ,

-sc e on .

most comprehens i ve formula f such piece is that known " G or or s as

do s Formul n
’
L etting 1 denote the length f the piece in inches
a.
"
o
,

6 its l t external d i ameter in inches and

ea s a certa i n constant wh i le ,
a
,

the remainder f the not tion is the same above this form u la f
o a as , , or

piece with flat ecurely bedded ends may be written

s , s ,

Ps
1
p
a

The follow i ng are the values of

f and a

W ro ugh t —
) 35
i ron r ec t a n
gu la r s t r uts
00

Cas t i ron (c ylin d r ical s t r uts )

T im b er r ec tan
gu lar s tru ts ) 7 2 ;

the struts are jointed at the i r ends by pin C onnecti ons or are so
If , ,

narrow as to readily yield sideway s at these points use 4 in plac e , a

of If one end is firml y fixed in d i recti on while the o ther end i s

a.
,

g
j o inted u i i n place f
, se a o a.
9
It i s c o nvenient f cross secti o ns o ther than circles to assume 6
,
or -
,

d compute A
an If the other dimensi o n then c o m es smaller tha n
. .

6 a less value must be tak n f r 6 and the c alc u lation made anew
, e o .
64 GRAPH IC A L ANALYS IS
F o r c r oss sec ti o ns in wrought iro n n o t re ctangles s uc h a s L T
-
, , ,

an d H sections use A 1 in,

place of I 1 I .

In determining the m o ment f resistance of a piece e x p o s e d t o o

bending or i calculatin g the cross se cti o n required t

,
n ist th e - o r e s

bending moment allowance must also be made fo po r t i s c u t

,
r o n

away in attaching fastenings etc A c u rved piece tran m i t t i g , .

, s n

eith e r thrust or tension experiences also a bending m o ment

,
t ted , a s s a

earl i er equal to the direct stress transmitted between its ends m u l t i

, ,

p lied by the perpendicular from the line joining its two ends t t h o e

centre line o f the piece Those pieces whic h resist both a b e d i g

. n n

mo ment a d a direct stre ss m yfi rs t be d esi gned t o s afel yc rry t h

n a a e

be d i g mo me t n d the t h d i mensio tr verse t t h a t i w h i h

n n n ,
a n e n an s o n c

the piece w i ll bend may be so m u ch in c re s ed that the added li e a s c

will resist the d i rect pull or thr u st If that fo rc e is thru st it w i ll b e .

well to test the size o f the piece by G ordon s Formula also ’

.

To ri g htl y proporti o n the ey es and pins f the connecti o n f t e n or o

si o n bars is not an easy matter The following rules from the P h e.

nix Iron Co s P ocket B ook will be fo u nd serv iceable :

.
’

Make the diameter f the pin from to ; o f the width o f t h e

1 o

bar i flats and 1 times the diameter f t h e bar in rounds givin g

n ,
o ,

the eye a sectional area f 50 per cent i n excess f that f the bar
o . o o .

The thickness f flat bars should be at least ne fourth f the w i dth

o o - o

in order to secure a good bearin g s u rface on the p i n and the metal ,

at the eyes should be as thick as the b ars Ma y other use ful de . n

tai ls are give in the same book n .

Most f the pocket and hand b oo ks iss u ed by the d i fferent iro

o n

c ompanies f the use f their patrons give the sections and weights
,
or o ,

o f the various shapes f r o lled bars the usual lengths the s fe l o ad s

o , , a

f r beams f d ifferent sp ans etc

o o , .

V ery cl o se atten t i o n must be given to all minor details ; to s o

prop o rtion all t h e parts f a jo i nt that i t will be no more likel y to

o

yield in o ne way than another to weaken as l i ttle s possible the a

pieces c o nec ted at a splice to give u fli cient bearing surface

n to s s o as

bring the intens i ty f stress on the surface within proper limits ; to

o

distribute rivets and b o lts s as to gi v e the gre atest resistan ce with

o

th e le st cutting away f other parts In s h o rt a fai lure f a j oint

a o .
,
o

o r co ection is as fatal t o a frame as to h av e a member too small

nn

fo r the stress up o n i t .