Name: Verra Myza C.

Arat Date: February 1, 2019

Instructor: Engr. Ryan Art M. Tuling Rating:
Subject: AE 9 Agricultural Structure Engineering

LABORATORY NO. 1
DIFFERENT STRUCTURAL SYSTEM

I. Introduction

The Structural systems or structural frames can be defined as the assembly of inter-related or inter-
dependent elements which forms a complex structure, and they are designed and built for resisting different loads.

The structural systems are the combinations of elements which serve a common purpose. The elements of
structural systems can be related to the bones of the human body. If bones are weak and not properly aligned and
integrated into the human body, then the human body would not be able to work or perform well. In the same
way, if the structural systems are not proper then it would not be able to take loads.

The functions of Structural Systems are to resist loads acting on structures and provide a skeleton in the
building which encloses and subdivides space to provide a protected environment.

A building can also be understood as a physical embodiment of a number of systems and subsystems
integrated with each other forming building as a whole.

The structural system for a building particularly consists of a stable assembly of structural elements
designed and constructed to support and transit applied loads safely to the ground where in its each member has a
unique behavior under the applied loads.

In this laboratory activity it will identify the different types of structural systems which are the wall
bearing system, framed system, skeleton structure system, shell system, cables system, roofing system and
flooring system.

II. Objectives

Generally, this laboratory attempts to:

 Determine the different types of structural systems.

Specifically, this laboratory attempts to:

 Know the function of a structural system.

 Identify the parts of a structural system.
III. Results and Discussions

Structural Systems

 Wall Bearing System

A load-bearing wall or bearing wall, is one in which a wall of a structure bears the weight and force resting
upon it, conducting the vertical load from the upper structure to the foundation. Load-bearing walls are one of the
earliest forms of construction.
Function:
Depending on the type of building and the number of stories, load-bearing walls are gauged to the
appropriate thickness to carry the weight above it. Without doing so, it is possible that an outer wall could become
unstable if the load exceeds the strength of the material used, potentially leading to the collapse of the structure.

This type of system uses walls to carry the vertical and lateral loads of the structure down to its
foundation. Materials used for this system include but not limited to wood, concrete, and brick. This type of
structure allows for an open interior space without the use of supporting columns, however, since the walls are
carrying all the loads (including itself), the height and dimension of the structure, and the loads on the floors are
dependent on the size of the walls, as a result, it cannot handle large loads without becoming massive in size. In
addition, it does not have the ability to span large distances as compared to some other systems. This system is
typically used in residential and small business buildings because of area and height restrictions imposed by codes
that try to maximize fire safety.

 Framed System

The vertical framing system is responsible for the resisting the gravity and the lateral loads that are coming
from the floor system. This, in turn, is transferred to the foundation and the ground below. The vertical framing
system is a three-dimensional arrangement that is made up of beams and columns.
 For convenience, the system is divided into plane frames along the transverse and the longitudinal
direction. For a cast - in -situ reinforced concrete construction, the vertical system usually will have the following:
1. Columns
The columns are skeleton vertical structural elements that have different cross-sectional shapes like
square, rectangular, circular, L-shaped etc. The shape is often specified by the designer or the architect. The
column is dictated based on its height and the load acting on it. This is in turn dependent on the type of the floor
system, the number of stories, the column spacing etc. The column is designed so that it will resist the axial
compression that is combined with the biaxial bending moments. These are forces that are induced due to the
“Frame action “under the action of gravity and the lateral loads. These loads are more in the lower storeys of the
building.
This is the reason why high strength concrete is used in the lower columns with a high reinforcement. As the level
goes up, the column size can be optimized. This makes the design economical.
In areas like atriums, the floor height will be very large, mainly greater than one story height. This
situation will ask for reducing the unsupported length of the column. This can be provided by employing tie
beams. Or else the columns should be properly designed as a slender column.
2. Walls
Walls are vertical structural elements made of concrete or masonry. If the main function of these walls is to
support the gravity loads, then they are called as bearing walls. If the main function of the walls is to resist the
lateral loads coming, then they are called as shear walls. The lateral loads can be either wind or the earthquake
loads.
 The thickness of the reinforced concrete bearing walls will vary from 120mm to 200mm. For lower
storeys buildings, the thickness of the shear walls can be thicker. Now the walls that are constructed around the
lift core will serve as shear walls.
3. Transfer Girders
In some of the building construction, it might me required to have a single floor (especially the ground
floor) require column free space. This is to meet the requirement of a parking area, or conventional or lobbies. In
such situation, the load bearing vertical element cannot be allowed to continue downwards through the lower
floors and then the foundation. This problem is solved by the construction of transfer beams. The transfer beams
are very heavy beam whose depth can extend over one full story.
4. Suspenders
Suspenders can be called as vertical elements that are used to suspend the floors of a multi-storey building
form a central core made of reinforced concrete. The figure-5 is an example a building in Malaysia. The Yayasan
Sabah Headquarters in Malaysia has the building floors are suspended along with their periphery with tensile rods
are 96 in number and are 38mm thick. These rods are hung from the radial steel brackets that are attached to the
top of a 14.3m diameter reinforced concrete core. The structural steel is always a better choice to be used as
suspenders or hangers. This is because the majority of the force that is to be taken is direct tension. The steel
hangers take up only a little floor space. The suspenders employed may be hung from crossed - braced trusses,
large cantilevered beams, vierendeel girders or brackets.

 Skeleton Structure System

A skeletal building structure is a steel frame that is built to support a large building or skyscraper. The
structure is made out of metal beams forming vertical columns crossed with steel girders for stability.
Skeletal building structures are formed by riveting together steel support beams and girders. For the huge and
highest buildings, diagonal girders are added for extra backup. The places where the horizontal girders meet the
vertical columns signal new floors. The entire skeleton is assisted by a wide grid of girders on top of a concrete
pad which forms the building’s foundation. Insulation, walls, windows and interior components are added to
complete the building.

 Beam and Column System - the load of the slab is transferred to the columns or walls through the beams,
down to the foundation, and then to the supporting soil beneath.
  Frame - is a building technique with a "skeleton frame" of vertical columns and horizontal beams,
constructed in a rectangular grid to support the floors, roof and walls of a building which are all attached
to the frame.

 Truss - Trusses are composed of straight members connected at their ends by hinged connections to form
a stable configuration. Because of their light weight and high strength, are among the most commonly
used to span long lengths in the place of solid

Two Main Types

1. Planar Truss - A planar truss lies in a single plane.

2. Space Frame Truss - It is a three-dimensional framework

Planar Truss Space Frame Truss

 Arch - A structure, forming the curved, pointed, or flat upper edge of an open space and supporting the
weight above it, as in a bridge or doorway.
  Shell System

 Shell
 Folded
 Domes

-They are light weight constructions using shell elements.

-Allowing wide areas to be spanned without the use of internal supports, giving an open, unobstructed
interior.
Materials
Shell structures can be made of such materials as;
 Reinforced thin-shell concrete,
 Glass
 Steel
 Glass & Steel
 Plastic

 Tent System
A Membrane is a thin flexible surface.
  Cables System

A cable structure is a type of structure that utilizes tensioned cables to support or transmit the major loads
of the structure. In conventional structures, concrete columns are usually used to support the self-weight of
the structure as well as the downward loads but there are cases where this system is undesirable.

 Roofing System

Trusses are triangular frame works, consisting of essentially axially loaded members which are more efficient
in resisting external loads since the cross section is nearly uniformly stressed. They are extensively used,
especially to span large gaps. Trusses are used in roofs of single storey industrial buildings, long span floors and
roofs of multi-storey buildings, to resist gravity loads. Trusses are also used in walls and horizontal planes of
industrial buildings to resist lateral loads and give lateral stability.
 Pitched roof trusses

Most common types of roof trusses are pitched roof trusses wherein the top chord is provided with a slope
in order to facilitate natural drainage of rainwater and clearance of dust/snow accumulation. These trusses have a
greater depth at the mid-span. Due to this even though the overall bending effect is larger at mid-span, the chord
member and web member stresses are smaller closer to the mid-span and larger closer to the supports. The typical
span to maximum depth ratios of pitched roof trusses are in the range of 4 to 8, the larger ratio being economical
in longer spans. Pitched roof trusses may have different configurations. In Pratt trusses web members are arranged
in such a way that under gravity load the longer diagonal members are under tension and the shorter vertical
members experience compression. This allows for efficient design, since the short members are under
compression. However, the wind uplift may cause reversal of stresses in these members and nullify this benefit.
The converse of the Pratt is the Howe truss. This is commonly used in light roofing so that the longer diagonals
experience tension under reversal of stresses due to wind load.
Fink trusses are used for longer spans having high pitch roof, since the web members in such truss are
sub-divided to obtain shorter members.
Fan trusses are used when the rafter members of the roof trusses have to be sub-divided into odd number
of panels. A combination of fink and fan can also be used to some advantage in some specific situations requiring
appropriate number of panels.
Mansard trusses are variation of fink trusses, which have shorter leading diagonals even in very long span
trusses, unlike the fink and fan type trusses.
The economical span lengths of the pitched roof trusses, excluding the Mansard trusses, range from 6 m
to 12 m. The Mansard trusses can be used in the span ranges of 12 m to 30 m.
 Parallel chord trusses
The parallel chord trusses are used to support North Light roof trusses in industrial buildings as well as in
intermediate span bridges. Parallel chord trusses are also used as pre-fabricated floor joists, beams and girders in
multi-storey buildings. Warren configuration is frequently used in the case of parallel chord trusses. The
advantage of parallel chord trusses is that they use webs of the same lengths and thus reduce fabrication costs for
very long spans. Modified Warren is used with additional verticals, introduced in order to reduce the unsupported
length of compression chord members. The saw tooth north light roofing systems use parallel chord lattice girders
to support the north light trusses and transfer the load to the end columns.

The economical span to depth ratio of the parallel chord trusses is in the range of 12 to 24. The total span
is subdivided into a number of panels such that the individual panel lengths are appropriate (6m to 9 m) for the
stringer beams, transferring the carriage way load to the nodes of the trusses and the inclination of the web
members are around 45 degrees. In the case of very deep and very shallow trusses it may become necessary to use
K and diamond patterns for web members to achieve appropriate inclination of the web members.

Trapezoidal trusses
In case of very long span length pitched roof, trusses having trapezoidal configuration, with depth at the
ends are used. This configuration reduces the axial forces in the chord members adjacent to the supports. The
secondary bending effects in these members are also reduced. The trapezoidal configurations having the sloping
bottom chord can be economical in very long span trusses (spans > 30 m), since they tend to reduce the web
member length and the chord members tend to have nearly constant forces over the span length. It has been found
that bottom chord slope equal to nearly half as much as the rafter slope tends to give close to optimum design.
  Flooring System
Industrial floors
The industrial buildings are usually one-story structures but some industrial building may consist of two
or more storey. Reinforced concrete or steel-concrete composites slabs are used as a floor system. The rolled steel
joists or trusses or plate girders support these slabs. The design of reinforced concrete slabs shall be done as per IS
456-2000. Steel-concrete composite slabs are explained in more detail below.

Steel-concrete composite floors

The principal merit of steel-concrete composite construction lies in the utilisation of the compressive
strength of concrete in conjunction with steel sheets or beams, in order to enhance the strength and stiffness.
Composite floors with profiled decking consist of the following structural elements in addition to in-situ concrete
and steel beams:
• Profiled decking
• Shear connectors
• Reinforcement for shrinkage and temperature stresses
Composite floors using profiled sheet decking has are particularly competitive where the concrete floor has to be
completed quickly and where medium level of fire protection to steel work is sufficient. However, composite
slabs with profiled decking are unsuitable when there is heavy concentrated loading or dynamic loading in
structures such as bridges. The alternative composite floor in such cases consists of reinforced or pre-stressed slab
over steel beams connected together using shear connectors to act monolithically (Fig. 2.4).

A typical composite floor system using profiled sheets is shown in Fig. 2.5.
There is presently no Indian standard covering the design of composite floor systems using profiled sheeting. The
structural behaviour of Composite floors using profiled decks is similar to a reinforced concrete slab, with the
steel sheeting acting as the tension reinforcement. The main structural and other benefits of using composite
floors with profiled steel decking are:
• Savings in steel weight are typically 30% to 50% over non-composite construction
• Greater stiffness of composite beams results in shallower depths for the same span. Hence lower
storey heights are adequate resulting in savings in cladding costs, reduction in wind loading and
savings in foundation costs.
• Faster rate of construction.
 The steel deck is normally rolled into the desired profile from 0.9 mm to 1.5 mm galvanised sheets. It is
profiled such that the profile heights are usually in the range of 38-75 mm and the pitch of corrugations is
between 150 mm and 350 mm. Generally, spans of the order of 2.5 m to 3.5 m between the beams are
chosen and the beams are designed to span between 6 m to 12 m. Trapezoidal profile with web
indentations is commonly used.
 The steel decking performs a number of roles, such as:
• It supports loads during construction and acts as a working platform
• It develops adequate composite action with concrete to resist the imposed loading
• It transfers in-plane loading by diaphragm action to vertical bracing or shear walls
• It stabilizes the compression flanges of the beams against lateral buckling, until concrete hardens.
• It reduces the volume of concrete in tension zone
• It distributes shrinkage strains, thus preventing serious cracking of concrete
IV. Materials

 Laptop
 Internet Connection
 Paper
 Printer
 Pencil
 Ruler

V. Methodology

In doing this lab activity the first thing to do, is to open the laptop and secure the internet connection.
Second, browse into the internet search for the different structural systems. And lastly, copy all the needed data.

VI. Conclusion

As a result I was able to determine the different structural systems. There are different structural systems
and each system is important. This laboratory activity helps me understand that a system is an internally organised
whole where elements are so intimately connected that they operate as one in relation to external conditions and
other systems. An element may be defined as the minimal unit performing a definite function in the whole.

Further, in building construction it does have different structural systems and the particular method of
assembling and constructing structural elements of a building is important, because each elements act as a whole
to support and transmit applied loads safely to the ground without exceeding the allowable stresses in the
members.

VII. References

 https://www.google.com/search?q=structural+system&rlz=1C1RLNS_enPH786PH786&oq=structural+sy
stem&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i60l3.9240j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
 https://www.slideshare.net/alshimaak/buildings-structure-system