LONG SPAN

STRUCTURES
Building Constructions III
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WHAT IS LONG SPAN

STRUCTURES?
The width of the building and the length of the roof frame across the entire structure
are used to define long span. Long span is defined as anything greater than 20 meters,
however for Legacy, it is on the low side.
LONG SPAN STRUCTURES
DEPEND ON:

• Length
• Depth, which has a connection with
moment.
- As a general rule of thumb, divide the span length in
millimeters by 18 to 20 to get the necessary and required
depth of the beam. For example, the primary beam's span
length to depth ratio is 18 to 20, while the secondary beam's
is approximately 15 to 18.
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• When we design a long span
system we keep in mind 2 main
things:
1. Moment strength
2. Deflection
MOMENT AND MOMENT
EQUALS I*E:

1. E: modulus of elasticity of
A. Steel 200 GPA.
B. Concrete 30-50 GPA.

C. Wood is GPA

2. I: cross section
Types of long span
structural systems:

1D 2D 3D
ONE DIMENSION
SYSTEM
• BEAMS
• TRUSSES
• ARCH
• VAULT
• ONE WAY SLAB Small cross-section with large depth
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1. BEAMS
PARALLEL BEAM APPROACH

For spans up to around 20 meters, the

parallel beam method works well. Two
layers of entirely continuous beams that
run in opposite directions try to
compensate floor grids.
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COMPOSITE
• Definition: made up of several parts or elements.
IN HERE ITS STEEL WITH CONCRETE (BEAM WITH CONCRETE)

COMPOSITE BEAMS WITH WEB OPENINGS

Web openings are typically formed in beams to allow services to pass through the
beam. This enables the structural and service zones to occupy the same space, thereby
reducing the effective overall depth of floor construction for a given spanning
capability
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COMPOSITE BEAMS WITH

WEB OPENINGS
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TAPERED GIRDERS
In the 15 to 25 m span range, tapered
girders may be a financially viable
option. When applied moments are at
their highest in the middle of the span,
the girder's depth increases, making it
easier to hang services underneath the
shallower areas close to the beam
supports. In low shear areas in the mid-
span of tapered girders, web openings
may also occur.
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SOMETIMES WE HAVE TO ADD HAUNCHES TO THE END OF

COMPOSITE BEAMS TO PROVIDE A MOMENT OF
CONTINUITY.

NOTE:
Haunched compost beam: its not actually a type of beam it is just
a segment added to the beam to increase the stiffness of the
connections.
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2. TRUSS
Trusses support load much like
beams, but for longer spans. As the
depth and thus dead weight of beams
increases with span they become
increasingly inefficient, requiring
most capacity to support their own
weight rather than imposed live load.
Trusses replace bulk by triangulation
to reduce dead weight.
1. Unstable square panel deforms under
load. Only triangles are intrinsically
stable polygons
2. Truss of triangular panels with inward
sloping diagonal bars that elongate in
tension under load (preferred
configuration)
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EXAMPLES OF TRUSSES
1. WARREN TRUSSES

Pompidou center , by Piano and Rogers

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EXAMPLES OF TRUSSES
2. PRISMATIC TRUSSES: FIXED CROSS SECTION

IBM sport center by Michael Hopkins

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TYPE OF TRUSS
1. SPACE TRUSS
L
Square and triangular plan Note: Two way
space trusses are most effective if the
spans in the principle directions are about
equal, as described for two-way slabs
L
above. The base modules of trusses should
be compatible with plan configuration
(square, triangular, etc.)

2L

L
IT DOSENT WORK
2. Parallel chord cable truss:
• it is more complex than that of concave or lintel-type trusses
since they have no funicular cable. Consider a four-bay truss
with loads P1 and P2. They are transferred to the supports by a
polygon formed by the center bay bottom chords and end-bay
diagonal braces. A third load applied at the center strut is
transferred by a second polygon in conjunction with the latter
one. Thus, half the bars resist the load in active tension and the
other (passive) bars resist the load by reducing prestress.
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3. ARCH STRUCTURE

• A curved structure designed to carry loads across a gap

mainly by compression.
• Behavior: It can span large areas through compression
stresses neglecting tensile stresses.
• Main types:

1. Circular Form
2. Pointed Arches
3. Parabolic Arches
4. BARREL VAULT
• The most basic form of vaults, its relatively smooth and
semicircular in shape, resembles a tunnel.
• Concept: it uses series of arches that are placed side by side.
• Load distribution: able to withstand the outward pressure on the
lower parts of the vault , outward pressure can be resisted by
thick supporting walls, although this becomes less practicable
as the size of the vault increases.
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EXAMPLES

Lakeside Hotel Chapel, Ryuichi Cathedral of Cortona,Cathedral

Tuscany, Italyof
Cortona
Ashizawa Architects& Associates,
Japan Tuscany, Italy
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4. RIBBED SLAB
Rib slabs, also called pan joists,
are one-way systems for medium
to long spans ,Rib slabs reduce
dead weight by eliminating
concrete between ribs, providing
structural depth without bulk. The
tensile steel for positive bending is
placed at the bottom of ribs and
rib top and slab, resist
compressive stress like a T-beam.
TWO DIMENTIONS
SYSTEM
• Slabs:(if its supported from the four sides)
• Plates
• Trusses
The ratio between the cross and
the depth is not that big
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1. SLAB STRUCTURE

• Two way slab

• One way slab • Two-way slab

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A. WAFFLE SLAB

Waffle slabs are two-way systems for long

spans They reduce dead weight by two-way
ribs to eliminate excess weight between the
ribs. The tensile steel for positive bending is
placed at the bottom of ribs and the rib top
and slab resist compressive stress. Since
negative bending reverses the stress, waffle
slabs are not efficient as cantilevers with
negative bending. Waffle slabs need either
solid panels on top of columns to resist shear
stress or two-way beams.
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A. WAFFLE SLAB

1. Waffle slab with a single solid panel over

2. Waffle slab supported by beams
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SPECIAL SLABS
The Italian engineer Arcangelo proposed a waffle slab with curvilinear ribs that
follow isostatic lines for optimum stress distribution and a more elegant appearance.
Pierre Luigi Nervy built such a slab for a wool factory in Rome. For a tobacco factory
in Bologna, Nervi built a waffle slab with ribs wedged toward supporting beams for
increased shear capacity.
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• SPECIAL SLABS
1. Slab with isostatic ribs. proposed by Arcangeli
2. Slab with isostatic ribs; for a wool factory in Rome, by Nervi
3. Waffle slab with ribs wedged to increase shear capacity.
2. FOLDED PLATES
• They are assemblies of flat plates, or slabs inclined in different
directions and joined along their longitudinal edges, allowing
the system of carrying loads without adding supporting beams
along them.
• Concept:
• Folded plates behavior:
1. External force are transferred to the shorter edge of the single folded
element.
2. The reaction as an axial force is divided between the adjacent elements.
3. Forces are transferred to the bearings.
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Beam action in length direction:

1. Bending deformation causes top compression and bottom tension
2. Horizontal shear caused by compression and tension C Vertical shear is
maximum at supports and zero at mid-Spansion
3. Vertical shear is maximum at supports and zero at mid-span
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EXAMPLE

Pleats M, Hironaka Ogwa& Associates, Japan

3. CABLE TRUSS
A cable truss may withstand
loads by applying tensions at
the end nodes when it is fully
triangulated .This technique
has commonly been used to
resist wind loads on vertical
facades.
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EXAMPLE

Erasmus Bridge, Holland

VIERENDEEL TRUSSES
• is a series of rectangular frames that achieve
stability by the rigid connection (using joints) of
the vertical web members to the upper and lower
bowstring. its different from the normal truss
because it has no diagonal members.
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THREE DIMENSIONS SYSTEM

• SHELL
• DOME
• Hyperbolic paraboloid
• Pneumatic structures
• TENT STRUCTURE
• Cable nets
1. SHELL STRUCTURE
• It’s a thin curved membrane or slab that functions as a structure
and a covering at the same time, usually made of reinforced
concrete.
• Concept: Continuity and curvature.
• Load distribution: the continuous structure of shells allows
them to transmit forces in multiple directions in the surface of
the shell, but only along their discrete structural members.
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EXAMPLE

Sydney opera house, Australia

2. DOMES
• It’s a self supporting structural element that represents the
upper half of a hollow sphere
• Concept: an arch rotated around its center axis.
• Load distribution: distributes external loads around the sides
and down to the foundations. They are tightly compacted by
gravity. any external loads are carried by the compressive forces
that develop internally. domes are supported by columns, piers,
usually attached to pendentives or squinches.
• For a dome to work on long spans the height of it should be half
the diameter which would become harder to achieve the longer
the span.
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EXAMPLES

Norfolk Scope, Pier Luingi Nervi, Virginia

The pantheon, Rome

 3. HYPERBOLIC PARABOLOID
• It is a double-curved surface that resembles the shape of a
saddle.
• Concept: in the series of parabolas strung together, the
horizontal cross-sections are hyperbolas, while vertical cross-
sections (parallel to the other two coordinate planes: xz and yz
plane) are parabolas.
• They get their stability from the form not the mass, The
versatility of the form and the strength due to the rules along
the two axes enables it to withstand the dead loads. and the
wind load.
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EXAMPLE

Lomas de Cuernavaca Chapel

CABLE STRUCTURES
•  "3D cable net" is used as a generic term for some of those
structures that may include cables functioning in a variety
of ways. There are several buildings that have been made
in three dimensions that can resist weights via direct axial
tension using straight wires that are entirely "noded-out".
EXAMPLE:

The Millennium Dome Millennium Way

CABLE STRUCTURES
BICYCLE STRUCTURE
THE EYE OF LONDON
 4. PNEUMATIC STRUCTURES
• Membrane structure that is stabilized by the pressure of
compressed air.
• The pressure can be either negative (arched downwards which
is not very functional in rain) ,or positive ( arched upwards,
which is more used).
• Concept: The membrane uses fabrics that are stiffened by a
network of cables, and the rigid rings at the edges supports the
assembly.
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EXAMPLE

Eden Project, Nicholas Grimshaw, United Kingdom

 5.TENT STRUCTURES
• A shelter that consists of sheets of fabric draped over or
attached to a frame of poles or ropes.
• Since fabric is elastic and stretchy, it has strong tensile strength
and will only creep for few precents over 20 years of use, but
still fabric is not that strong of an element compression wise.
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EXAMPLE

German pavilion at expo 67, Frie Otto& Golf Gutbrod

EXAMPLE
Recycling hall, Vienna (1981)

Architect: L. M. Lang
Engineer: Natterer and Dietrich
This recycling center features a
tent-like wood structure of 560
feet (170m) diameter that soars
to a height of 220 feet (67m)
above ground, supported by a
central concrete mast.
THANK YOU
Miral Nabulsi
Tala Naser
References: 55

• Building Structures, Frank Ching, Wiley, 1975

• https://www.archdaily.com/887462/tensile-structures-how-do-they-work-and-what-are-the-different-types
• The Design of Building Structures (Vol.1, Vol. 2), Wolfgang Schueller, 2016.
• Building Support Structures, Analysis and Design with SAP2000 Software, 2nd ed, Wolfgang Schueller.
• Steel Designers Manual, Owens, Graham W. and Peter R. Knowles ,Blackwell, 1994.
• Concrete Designers Manual, by  George A. Hook and Charles S.), Inc McGraw-Hill Book Company, 2010.
• Supersheds, Second Edition: The Architecture of Long-Span Large-Volume Buildings, Wilkinson Chris,
Architectural Press, 1996.
• CONCEPTUAL AND STRUCTURAL DESIGN OF ADAPTIVE MEMBRANE STRUCTURES WITH
SPOKEDWHEEL PRINCIPLE – FOLDING TO THE PERIMETER, Master of Science – M.Sc., Motoi
Masubuchi, TU Berlin, 2013.
• https://civiljungle.com/pneumatic-structures/
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Composite Structures, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, 2018.
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