Pipe Strut vs.

Laced Strut
Chiew Sing-Ping
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
9 July 2015

Pipe Strut vs. Laced Strut

Pipe Strut

Laced Strut

PLAXIS Soil-Structure Interaction Analysis

Wall (Beam element)

Strut (Bar element)

PLAXIS Soil-Structure Interaction Analysis

Wall deflection profile

dhmax = 68.9 mm

Distribution of wall
bending moments

Wall max BM = +82.6 kNm/m

and -107.8 kNm/m

PLAXIS Soil-Structure Interaction Analysis

Strut forces

compression is -ve

Pipe Strut vs Laced Strut

Part 1: What is Pipe Strut?
Production Process: ERW, Spiral, UOE
Press-Forming & Roll-Forming
Part 2: Why use Pipe Strut?
Design of Pipe Strut vs. Laced Strut
Section Efficiency Study
Part 3: How to use Pipe Strut?
Pipe Connectors for Fixed and Free Ends

What is Pipe Strut?

How to produce a pipe?
ROLL-FORMING

SPIRAL-WELDING

ELECTRIC-RESISTANT WELDING
UOE PRESS-FORMING

ERW Electric Resistant Welding

UOE Press-Forming

Spiral Welding

10

Why use Pipe Strut?

Design of pipe strut according to EC3
1. Section classification
2. Non-dimensional slenderness Lcr 1
i 1
1 93.9 235 f
y
3. Buckling curve

0.21
0.49

4. Reduction factor

hot finished
cold formed

2
0.51 0.2

Af y
5. Buckling resistance N
b , Rd
M0

11

Design of Laced Strut

2 types of built-up struts

Laced Strut

Battened Strut

Chord

Lace

Batten

Module

12

Design of Laced Strut

z'

Efficient Laced Strut:

Izz Iyy

z y (affected by module length a)

Strong laced members

z'

13

Design of Laced Strut

Section properties of laced strut with two identical members
Effective second moment of area:

I eff 0.5h0 Ach

2

(EC3-1-1,6.4.2.1)

Ach Area of the chord

h0 distance between the centroids of chords

14

Design of Laced Strut

I z ' z ' 0.5h0 Ach I yy Ach i y 2
2

I z'z'
I yy

0.5h0 Ach
2

i y Ach

0.5h0
iy

h0
2
iy
radius of gyration about y-axis

15

Effect of Global Stiffness

Buckling modes:
h0
2
iy

Out-of-plane
buckling

h0
2
iy

In-plane
buckling

16

Effect of Module Length a

Buckling mode with inappropriate module length between
lacing members:

Local In-plane
chord buckling

17

Effect of Laced Member

Buckling modes with weak laced members:
Laced
member
buckling
Torsional
buckling

18

Section Efficiency Study

Strut Force

Strut

Strut length L

Strut spacing @ 6m c/c

Strut force
(kN/m)

Strut
spacing (m)

Force
(kN)

160

960

210

1260

250

1500

290

1740

700

4200

1000

6000

1300

7800

2000

12000

2300

13800

2500

15000
19

Compressive Resistance 6000 kN

Weight kg/m for pipe and laced struts for various length
Grade S275
Strut L
(m)

Pipe

Weight
(kg/m)

Strut L
(m)

Laced

Weight
(kg/m)

12

71112

0.56

207

12

610229UB101

0.57

222.6

15

76212

0.65

222

15

610229UB113

0.7

248.6

20

81312

0.81

237

20

610229UB125

0.93

275.2

25

91412

0.90

267

25

610305UB149

1.12

328.2

30

96512.7

1.03

298

30

686254UB170

1.23

374.4

35

101614.3

1.14

352

35

838292UB176

1.22

387

40

106714.3

1.24

370

40

914305UB201

1.29

442

45

106716

1.39

415

45

914305UB224

1.43

493

50

116816

1.42

455

50

1016305UB249

1.48

548

55

121916

1.49

475

55

1016305UB272

1.58

598

60

121920

1.63

591

60

1016305UB314

1.73

691

20

Compressive Resistance 6000 kN

800
700

Weight (kg/m)

600
500
400

Pipe
Laced

300
200
100
0
10

20

30

40
Strut length (m)

50

60

70

21

Compressive Resistance 12000 kN

Weight kg/m for pipe and laced struts for various length
Grade S275
Strut
L (m)

Pipe

Weight
(kg/m)

Strut
L (m)

Laced

Weight
(kg/m)

12

101616

0.39

395

12

838292UB194

0.41

426.6

15

101616

0.49

395

15

838292UB194

0.51

426.6

20

101616

0.65

395

20

914305UB201

0.65

442

25

116814.3

0.71

406

25

1016305UB222

0.76

488.4

30

116816

0.85

455

30

1016305UB249

0.89

547.1

35

116819

0.99

540

35

1016305UB272

1.01

599

40

121920

1.09

591

40

1016305UB314

1.15

691.5

45

1320.819

1.13

611

45

1016305UB393

1.29

864

50

1320.822.2

1.25

711.6

50

1016305UB437

1.43

961

55

1320.827

1.39

860.6

55

1016305UB487

1.56

1071

60

1320.830.2

1.51

960.3

60

3/1016305UB393

1.72

1297

22

Compressive Resistance 12000 kN

1500

Weight (kg/m)

1300

1100
900

pipe
Laced

700
500
300
10

20

30

40
Strut length (m)

50

60

70

23

Resistance & Slenderness vs. Steel Grade

Design resistance of strut = 1500kN
Suitable pipe sections with unit-weight (kg/m) for various
strut length are given below
Strut
L (m)

Pipe

323.96

Weight
(kg/m)

Slenderness

Resistance (kN)

S275

S355

S460

S275

S355

S460

47

0.41

0.47

0.53

1564

1986

2602

355.66.3

54.3

0.74

0.84

0.96

1570

1887

2396

12

4067.1

70.3

0.98

1.11

1.27

1672

1864

2167

15

4577.1

79

1.09

1.23

1.4

1678

1821

2032

20

45710

110

1.46

1.66

1.89

1503

1557

1671

25

50812

147

1.65

1.87

2.13

1630

1674

1775

30

50816

194

1.99

2.25

2.57

1533

1560

1632

35

50825

298

2.36

2.68

3.04

1708

1730

1794

40

50832

376

2.73

3.1

3.53

1638

1655

1707

24

Resistance & Slenderness vs. Steel Grade

When the slenderness is beyond the range of 1.0 - 1.5, the
high strength steel contributes little to compression
resistance.
3000

4
S355

S460

Slend275

Slend355

Slend460

3.5

Resistance (kN)

3
2000

2.5

1500

Slenderness
Slenderness

2500

S275

1.5

1000

1
500

0.5

0
0

10

15

20
25
Strut length (m)

30

35

40

45
25

Influence of Steel Grade

Design resistance =1500 kN
Suitable pipe sections with different steel grade
Strut L
(m)

S275

S355

S460

Pipe

Weight
(kg/m)

Pipe

Weight
(kg/m)

Pipe

Weight
(kg/m)

323.96

47

2736

39.5

219.16.3

33

355.66.3

54.3

323.96.3

49.3

2738

52.3

12

4068

78.6

355.68

68.6

355.68

68.6

15

40610

98

4068

78.6

355.612

101

20

45710

110

45710

110

40614

135

25

50812

147

50812

147

45714.2

155

30

50816

194

50816

194

50816

194

35

50825

298

50825

298

50825

298

40

50832

376

50832

376

50832

376

26

Influence of Steel Grade

400
350

S275

S355

S460

weight (kg/m)

300
250

200
150
100
50
0
0

10

20
30
Strut Length (m)

40

50

27

Advantages of Pipe Strut

Design of pipe strut is simpler; lesser chance of making
a mistake
Smaller diameter pipe strut will not be competitive
Larger diameter pipe strut can span longer and/or take
higher strut force without any intermediate restraint
(i.e. no king post, runner beam or splay; hence, higher
productivity)

No clear advantage in using higher grade steel because

design govern by buckling for long span strut
28

How to use Pipe Strut?

Hydraulic
Jack

Free End for manual

pre-loading

Mast Section

Connector

Fixed End

Automatic hydraulic
system

29

Example of Free End Type 1

Common specification: 800*1450 mm
Adjustable range: 0-30 cm

30

Example of Free End Type 1

Detachable End

31

Example of Free End Type 2

Steel wedge to lock the strut after pre-loading

32

Example of Free End Type 3

33

Example of Free End Type 3

Typical connection between Free End and Waler

Hydraulic Jack

Steel wedge
Filling pile

Steel pipe

Detachable End

Bolted connection
Free End

Hydraulic Jack
Waler
34

Example of Fixed End

900mm

Twin
Waler

700mm

500mm

300mm 500mm
35

Flexible Cone Connectors

Twin
Waler
Stiffener

Flexible cone
connector

36

Flexible Cone Connectors

Stiffener

500mm

300mm

37

Connection between Mast Sections

Bolted connections and connectors

Connector

Bolts

38

Concluding Remarks
Use of laced struts in Singapore is highly developed
and efficient because of our many years of experience
of MRT construction.
For pipe strut to be more competitive and productive, it
has to space wider and span longer without any
intermediate restraint.
This will naturally lead to the use of larger diameter
pipe struts.
However, pre-loading and connection design will be
more challenging.
Some clever device for manual or automatic pre-loading
and flexible connectors will have to be developed.

39