DESIGN OF TRUSS ROOF

Chapter 7

University of Engineering & Technology, Taxila

1
 Purlin Design

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 General Notes

A. Allowable stress design (ASD) or load and

resistance factor design (LRFD) may be used for
the design of a purlin. However, only ASD
method is explained here in detail.
Service loads and reduced material strengths
are involved in allowable stress design.

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It is assumed that the roof sheathing provides the
necessary lateral support to the purlin through J-
bolts and the purlin behaves as a continuously
braced beam.

The design moment of a compact section with

closely braced compression flange is ΦbMn (LRFD)
or Mn/Ωb.

For single angles, Mn = 1.5My; for double angles,

Mn = FyZx ≤ 1.6FySx.
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For I-shaped members and channels about x-axis,
Mn = FyZx.
Following conservative value may be considered
in all the cases:

Allowable bending strength, Mb = FyZx/Ωb

= Fy х 1.10Sx/1.67
= 0.66FySx
Allowable bending stress Fb = 0.66 Fy and
Allowable tensile stress, Ft = Fy/Ωb
= 0.60 Fy
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B. The dead plus live load (D+L) combination is used
because it is proved to be critical for purlin and
roof sheet design.
C. Dead load on purlin acts due to roofing,
insulation and self-weight of the purlin.
Insulation load is considered if it is directly
attached or hanged from the sheet or the purlin.
Approximately one third or half of the
miscellaneous load may also be included.

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D. Depth of section should not be lesser than
1/27.5th of the purlin span to control deflections.

d ≥ s/27.5

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E. Order of preference for member selection may
generally be as under:

I. Single angle section with no sag rod

II. Single angle section with one sag rod
III. Single angle section with two sag rod
IV. C-section with no sag rod
V. C-section with one sag rod
VI. C-section with two sag rod
VII. W or S-section with no sag rod
VIII.W or S-section with one sag rod
IX. W or S-section with two sag rod
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 Z-section is behavior-wise the best section for a
purlin.

However as it is not a hot-rolled section and is to

be made by cold bending. It may not be readily
available.

In case the section modulus required for the first

option is much greater than 230 x 103 mm3, the
option of channel section may be selected
directly.
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F. The width of angle section may not commonly
exceed 102 mm.
G. The roof load is converted into beam load per
unit length by the formula given below:
Load per unit length = load per unit area of roof x
purlin spacing

Note: if the panel length is excessive and it is difficult to

design the roofing, purlins are also placed in between the
panel points reducing the purlin spacing and span for the
roof sheet. This induces bending moment in the top
chord of the truss, which must be checked as a beam
column for such cases.
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H. Lateral component of loads at the top flange
producing torsion should be considered separate
from the self-weight of purlin not producing
torsion (Figure 7.9)

Torque is present No Torque

Figure 7.9. Purlin Loads with and without Torque

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I. In place of using complicated formulas for
torsion design, half strength in lateral direction
(Sy/2 or Zy/2) is reserved for torsion and only the
other half (Sy/2 or Zy/2) is used for lateral
bending.

No calculations for torsion are required

afterwards.

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J. Purlin is assumed to be simply supported on
trusses, both for x and y direction bending.

The bending moments may be calculated by

using the typical bending moment diagrams
given in Design Aids.

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K. Sag rod is considered as a lateral roller support
for purlin with no effect on major axis bending
(Figure 7.10).

Major axis bending

Minor axis bending

Figure 7.10. Major Axis and Lateral Bending of a Purlin with Mid-Point Sag Rod
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L. Applied stress,

M x My
fb =   stresses due to torque
Sx Sy

For an ordinary beam where only Mx is present,

the section is selected on the basis of section
modulus and not cross-sectional area as in
tension and compression members
Mx
Sx 
Fb
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However, in case of a purlin, two unknowns (Sx
and Sy) occur in single equation.
We cannot calculate Sx and Sy as such, making it
necessary to use some simplifying assumption for
the trial section.
Once the trail section is selected, its stresses may
easily be back checked to verify that they remain
within the permissible range.
The procedure given in the next section describes
this procedure in detail.
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 Procedure for Purlin
Design

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1. wD (N/m) = (load of roofing + insulation + part of
miscellaneous loads) x purlin spacing
+ (purlin self weight) x prulin spacing
The two terms are kept separate as one is
producing torque while the other is not.

2. wL (N/m) = live load (N/m2) x purlin spacing

3. Again, self weight of the purlin is kept as a

separate entity.
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4. Calculate wx and wy by referring to Figure 7.5.

w
wy θ
wx

2/12/2019 Figure 7.11. Components of Load acting on a Purlin 20

5. Calculate maximum values of Mx and My by using
bending moment diagrams for the given sag rod
case.
Further, calculate My for loads producing torsion
and loads not producing torsion separately.

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6.For the selection of trial section, make the
following approximation applicable only for this
step.

(My)ass = 0
(Mx)ass = Mx + 4 My for single angle purlins
(Mx)ass = Mx + 2 My for single equal leg angle purlins
(Mx)ass = Mx + 15 My for C and W sections purlins

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7. Calculate the required elastic section modulus
about the major axis according to the assumption
of step number 6.

(Mx )ass (Mx )ass

(Sx) req = 
Fb 0.66Fy

Select the section such that Sx ≈ (Sx)req, d ≥ s/27.5

and the preference of section is satisfied.
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8. Actual bending stress is then evaluated by using
the following expression:

Mx My My
fb =  (with torsion) + (no torsion)
S x Sy / 2 Sy

Always consider magnitudes of Mx and My

without their signs because each combination
gives addition of stresses at some points within
the section.
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9. If the stress due to My is more than two times the
stress due to Mx revise the section by

a) increasing the sag rods

b) selecting section with bigger Sy / Sx ratio

However, if sag rods are limited due to

construction difficulties, the first option is not
employed.

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10. if fb ≤ Fb (OK)
Otherwise, revise the section.

11. Check b/t for angles, bf/tf for channels and

bf/2tf for W sections (called λ-value).

λ ≤ λp (OK)

otherwise, revise the section.

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For single angles, only shorter leg is in
compression throughout and hence is to be used
to check λ value. The value of λp for un-stiffened
elements is 10.8 and for stiffened elements is 31.6
for A36 steel.

Any section meeting these requirements and

continuously braced in lateral direction is called
compact section.

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 12. Check self-weight of the purlin:

Actual self-weight of purlin = weight of purlin section(kg/m)

x number of purlin / span of the
truss

Provided self-weight ≤ 1.20 x assumed purlin weight.

OK

Otherwise, revise purlin self-weight and all the

calculations.

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13. Write the final selection using standard
designation.
14. Design the sag rod, if required.

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 Design of Sag Rod

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 Sag Rods

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Design of Sag Rod

1.Force in sag rod, F = force due to one purlin

from Design Aids x (no.
of Purlins on one side-1)
2. Component of tie rod force in the direction of sag
rod direction should provide the required force F
(Figure 7.12)
θ
R cos θ = F F R

Force in tie rod = R = F / cos θ Figure 7.12. Force in the Tie Rod
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3.Calculate required area of the sag and tie rods
and select section.

R
Areq  Where Ft = 0.6 Fy
Ft

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Example 7.2:
Design a channel section purlin with midpoint sag
rod for the following data:

Dead load of roofing = 17 kg/m2

Insulation = 5 kg/m2
Assumed self weight of purlin = 12 kg/m2
(Approx. 15% of the applied load)

Live load = 60 kg/m2

θ = 300
P = 2.5 m
S = 5.5 m
No. of truss panels = 8
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Solution:
wD = (22 x 2.5 + 12 x 2.5) x 9.81
= 540 + 295 N/m
wL = 60 x 2.5 x 9.81 = 1472 N/m
w = 2012 + 295 N/m
w cos  2
Mx  S
8
o
2307 cos 30
Mx  5.5  7555 N - m
2

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 2012 sin30o 295sin30o
My   5.5 
2
 5.52

32 32
 951.0  139.4 N - m

(M x )ass  M x  15My  23,911 N - m

23,911  1000
(S x )req   144.9  10 mm
3 3

0.66  250

S 5.5  1000
dmin    200 mm
27.5 27.5
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Trail Section No. 1: C 230 x 19.9

Sx = 174 x 103 mm3 : Sy = 15.8 x 103 mm3

d > dmin Ok

7555  1000 951.0  1000 139.4  1000

fb   
174  10 3
(15.8 / 2)  10 3
15.8  103

 43.42  129.20  172.6 MPa  Fb (revise)

(Where Fb= 0.66Fy= 0.66 x 250 = 166MPa)

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Note:
The stress due to My is more than two times that
due to Mx.
It is better to increase number of sag rods, which is
not allowed in the statement of the example under
consideration.
The numerical values of stresses due to bending in
the two directions also explain the importance of
lateral bending compared with the major axis
bending.
Smaller value of My divided by very less value of
Sy/2 may give higher answer for the stresses.
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Trial Section No. 2: C230 x 22

Sx = 185 x 103 mm3

Sy = 16.6 x 103 mm3

fb = 40.84 + 122.98
= 163.82 MPa < Fb OK
bf/tf = 63/10.5 = 6 < 10.7 OK

Final Selection: C230 x 22

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Check For Self Weight
Actual self weight of purlin = Weight of purlin x
number of purlin/
span of truss
= 22 x 10/(2.5 x 8)
= 11 kg/m2
< 1.20 x 12 kg/m2 OK
Design of Sag Rod
F = Force due to one purlin from chart x (No. of
purlins on one side -1) =5/8 w sinθ . S x 4
= 5/8 x 2307 x sin 300 x 5.5 x 4
= 15,861 N
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R = F/cosθ
= 15,861/cos300 = 18,314 N
R
Areq 
0.6Fy
 18,314
d 2

0.6  250
req
4
dreq  12.50 mm

Use 15 mm diameter steel bar as sag rods

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Note:
The purlin, if placed as in Figure 7.13 (a), is better
for the applied loads because the load resultant
remains near the shear center.

However, this arrangement may cause slipping of

the roof sheets downwards by bending of the J-
bolts. The arrangement shown in Figure 7.13(b) is
better in this aspect of behavior and construction.

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 Design Assignment No. 5a
Design Purlin for your truss using your
own data

Due Dates:
Sections A & B: 13/05/2015
Sections C & D: 14/05/2015
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