Lateral Bracing Design

In the case study performed by Havey Kagan in Common Case of collapse of Metal-Plate-Connected
Wood Roof Trusses,the roof collapsed because it had no lateral bracing on internal web members.It was
determined that these unbraced compression members exceeded the allowable length to depth ratio for
in plane compression without required lateral bracing,causing the members to buckle and fail.

Types of Bracing

Temporary Bracing: Bracing used to hold framework in a safe condition during construction until enough
permanent construction has been put in place to provide complete stability.

Permanent Bracing: Bracing must be provided to enable the roof, wall and floor framework to resist the
horizontal forces. An appropriate connection is needed to transfer these forces through the framework and sub-
floor structure to the buildings foundation. The most common form of permanent bracing is continuous
lateral bracing, which is a member placed and connected at right angles to a chord or web to prevent
it from buckling under design loads. Other forms of bracing include T-Braces, L-Braces and Scabs.

Findings

Bracing force for an individual roof truss is quite small.Design force for typical roof truss has been
assumed to be 2 percent of the compression force on the web member.However,for assembly of truss
,buckling might occur in the same direction for every truss,so the bracing force accumulates along the
brace member.
How it works?

Determine how many no of webs can be braced by one diagonal.

Determine the force required to brace each web.
Determine how many webs can be braced with one diagonal.
Determine the connection between diagonal brace & web at centre of the diagonal.

The axial force in web and connection(maybe nail size based on web member type) generally governs
the design.

It is as pushing a vertical stick onto the floor,but if the same is restrained by another unit in between,the
pressure required is more to buckle it.

Why this topic?

During the Nepal Earthquake,one of the most important lesson learnt was also maintaining integrity of
roof and connection.In Nepal Rural Housings,where usually theunreinforced masonry designs are
prevalent in low rise domestic building, wood truss/steel truss are commonly used.L ack of bracing is one
such reason for its localized failurecausing the roof to cave in.Hence,media or internet can be an access
to help to truly understand the necessity of bracing ,it acts as engineering component and for
http://www.structural101.com/Roof-Truss-Permanent-Bracing.html

https://failures.wikispaces.com/Wood+Truss+Failures

http://www.pawlingfire.org/content/training/file/ROOF%20TRESSES%20AND%20THE%20DANGERS.pdf

https://goulddesigninc.wordpress.com/2016/08/03/temporary-vs-permanent-bracing-what-you-need-
to-know/