Ice Load on Conveyor Box Truss & Tension-only Members
Ice Load on Conveyor Box Truss & Tension-only Members
(OP)
A few questions.
1) When designing box trusses for an elevated conveyor system, it is my opinion that consideration of ice load (ASCE 7-10 Chapter 10) would be appropriate. I consider these trusses to be "ice-sensitive" structures due to the exposure and relatively small members used. In some cases, this ice load can be appreciable, depending on the location and member profiles used. Does anyone agree, or am I over-designing?
2) What's everyone's thoughts on using tension-only members within a box truss, particularly if the members are supporting transverse loads, such as selfweight & ice?
3) Wind load pressures typically get fairly high (normally 50-65 psf for most applications that I deal with) for box trusses due to the force coefficient used. (I typically use figure 29.5-2 in ASCE 7-10.) I will simply apply this pressure to the first-exposed face of the truss as uniform loads on each member of that face. The load is obviously dependant on the members profile dimension. I've seen some engineers simply apply the wind load as nodal loads on the panel points. I guess I'm just looking for everybody's opinion on what's the most appropriate.
Thanks for taking the time..........please feel free to provide your thoughts!
1) When designing box trusses for an elevated conveyor system, it is my opinion that consideration of ice load (ASCE 7-10 Chapter 10) would be appropriate. I consider these trusses to be "ice-sensitive" structures due to the exposure and relatively small members used. In some cases, this ice load can be appreciable, depending on the location and member profiles used. Does anyone agree, or am I over-designing?
2) What's everyone's thoughts on using tension-only members within a box truss, particularly if the members are supporting transverse loads, such as selfweight & ice?
3) Wind load pressures typically get fairly high (normally 50-65 psf for most applications that I deal with) for box trusses due to the force coefficient used. (I typically use figure 29.5-2 in ASCE 7-10.) I will simply apply this pressure to the first-exposed face of the truss as uniform loads on each member of that face. The load is obviously dependant on the members profile dimension. I've seen some engineers simply apply the wind load as nodal loads on the panel points. I guess I'm just looking for everybody's opinion on what's the most appropriate.
Thanks for taking the time..........please feel free to provide your thoughts!






RE: Ice Load on Conveyor Box Truss & Tension-only Members
RE: Ice Load on Conveyor Box Truss & Tension-only Members
I'm not entirely sure what you are looking at. However I will tell you that in my 12+ year career I have rarely been concerned with ice loadings. Once when I was looking at the design of a clock tower with exposed steel framing and the other was when considering attaching a "green screen" to the side of a building I was EOR of. I said no to the "green screen" because it was being attached to the skin of a insulated metal panel system. I accommodated the loading in the design of the clock tower. This may be wrong, but I pretty much concluded that ice would become a concern if there were many densely packed items in a system (basically places for the ice to collect).
-If you feel it is a viable case then include ice loading in your analysis.
-I would be concerned about tension only members and how they distribute loading to their supports w/o failure..... I don't know how I would handle this though.... maybe take the safe way out and adjust the design accordingly. Distributing wind loads is up to you.
-Depending on the length of the members, only applying loads at panel points may create problems with the members driving the loads to the panel points. If you have a long member bending due to wind may be a controlling factor.
Just my $0.02
RE: Ice Load on Conveyor Box Truss & Tension-only Members
The project is located near Wheeling, WV. Not only is this a region where a higher ice load is called out in ASCE 7-10, but I've lived in southwest PA all my life........ice events aren't uncommon here. That's why I'm more inclined to consider ice in this region.
The tension-only members - I agree. I'm not a fan of them in this application, but the original designer HAD to make the assumption in order for the truss frame to be code-compliant. This truss is a 226' span gallery truss.....14' wide, 15' deep. There are L3x3x1/4 horizontal X-braces between the top chords. These L3x3x1/4 angles are 20.5' long......minimal compressive capacity at best.
On a side note - I'm not sure if any of you have heard about the recent truss collapse at the Bailey Mine in PA, but this is somewhat related. I've been evaluating an overland conveyor system on another project completed by the same contractor. Needless to say, it's astounding to see the level of negligence.
RE: Ice Load on Conveyor Box Truss & Tension-only Members
RE: Ice Load on Conveyor Box Truss & Tension-only Members
RE: Ice Load on Conveyor Box Truss & Tension-only Members
RE: Ice Load on Conveyor Box Truss & Tension-only Members
RE: Ice Load on Conveyor Box Truss & Tension-only Members
I assume there is a set of documents you are looking at. Is the code called out on those documents? It should be.
RE: Ice Load on Conveyor Box Truss & Tension-only Members
RE: Ice Load on Conveyor Box Truss & Tension-only Members
RE: Ice Load on Conveyor Box Truss & Tension-only Members
RE: Ice Load on Conveyor Box Truss & Tension-only Members
RE: Ice Load on Conveyor Box Truss & Tension-only Members
RE: Ice Load on Conveyor Box Truss & Tension-only Members
RE: Ice Load on Conveyor Box Truss & Tension-only Members
A case where cables have seemingly yielded but not broken ...
likely unsuitable for a conveyor belt...
RE: Ice Load on Conveyor Box Truss & Tension-only Members
more useful, it seems.
RE: Ice Load on Conveyor Box Truss & Tension-only Members
In regards to tension only members on long span box trusses. For a 226' span I am not sure I would be comfortable with tension only plan bracing, at least on the top chords. From a lateral load analysis I see no issue. From a top chord buckling perspective I am not as comfortable with it. It takes a certain stiffness and strength to brace the top chord. Certainly the L3x3x1/4 is probably strong enough in tension but you have to think about the compressive deflection of the top frame. The axial deflection of the top chord will cause the tension angles to go into compression and likely buckle based on your slenderness ratio. To brace the chords the frame would need to drift enough to remove the buckle (compressive stress) from the angle and force a tension load into it. This may be more movement than what you think. On the other hand the bottom chord will also have axial deflection. Remember that the diagonals are attached to the panel points and provide stiffness to the joint. The deflection of the chords due to axial load will induce tension in the diagonals as they try to restrain the joint from moving as well. You may find that the axial load on the diagonals is much higher than what you would anticipate if only accounting for the lateral load. The member may not fail but the connections could. This would all have to be analyzed. I have seen trusses like what you are describing and they seem to work. They may work for a lot of reasons other than what the designer was originally assuming. I do not use tension only bracing in the plan views for these type of structures. I am not personally comfortable with it based on quite of bit of research that I have reviewed. I would guess your chord forces are 400k - 500k based on what little information I have. If you model the truss in a 3D program with the tension only members it will likely give you instabilities on the P-delta analysis. This should get you thinking.
Wind loads are like ice loads and must be accounted for. Wind does not jump around and magically go to the panel point. It blows directly on the exposed members based on the angle of attack, shielding, wind speed, and shape factor. It may be reasonable to assume from an analysis standpoint that the truss is only loaded at the panel point and you may have a safe structure. The reality in the field is that the wind blows on the exposed members. From a practical standpoint we calculate the wind load and distribute it equally to all exposed members on windward and leeward faces of the box truss based on the individual exposed area of each member. It is under loading the windward face and overloading the leeward face. Our justification is that we do not know how much shielding will actually happen and at what level so no matter what we do it's a WAG at best. We just feel like we are in the ballpark on it.
From a code perspective it would not be unreasonable to assume that no code was followed and the structures were hopefully designed by an engineer that made good judgements. If the structures were not stamped by a PE it would not be uncommon that many important features would have been simple overlooked. We see this a lot. It is not uncommon to see companies using mechanical engineers to design these type of conveyors. This is not a statement to start a war about who is smarter in engineering. It is just an observation of mine that I have seen engineers designing structural engineering type structures that are not qualified to do so. It doesn't mean that a mechanical guy can't do it, but they may miss some important design issues from lack of knowledge. Don't ask me to design your huge crusher and I will not ask you to design my long span box truss. Bottom line, code or no code, you need to account for any foreseeable loads that the structure will be exposed to and have enough reserve in the structure to stay in the air and function. This is the requirement of any engineer in any field. It does not matter what you design for or what code is used. If the structure performs over it's life as expected without issues than you have done your job. If it does not then you will be dragged into depositions for three years and deal with whatever comes with a structural failure. IF you follow a code then at least you can argue that you met the standard of minimum care of the time the structure was designed. It may or may not be enough to keep you out of trouble.
RE: Ice Load on Conveyor Box Truss & Tension-only Members
1) Guidelines for Seismic Evaluation of Petrochemical Facilities - second edition
2) Wind Loads for Petrochemical and Other Industrial Structures
These are used pretty extensively in addition to the ASCE 7 and other ASCE publications in the design of bulk material handling structures.
RE: Ice Load on Conveyor Box Truss & Tension-only Members
I think we see things in a very similar light......
I agree 100% about the application of the ice & wind loads. I never understood the panel point load application when in reality, the load must first get there.
One thing that I'd like to hear more on is the distribution of the wind pressure to both windward & leeward faces. See, from my understanding, the force coefficients from ASCE 7-10 Figure 29.5-2 are higher than normal in order to account for the multiple surfaces. From reading the notes in Fig. 29.5-2, it almost sounds as if applying the wind pressure to the windward side only is what they intended.......but I'm not sure. I've debated this very thing in the past......so I like hearing other peoples opinion on it as well.
I'm not comfortable with tension-only bracing on a truss of this size.....but I need to have justification as to why. Technically, this is one of those "gray-areas" that would be hard to argue against due to the abstract nature of the topic.
By the way.....the chord forces are in the 350k range.....so you were close.
RE: Ice Load on Conveyor Box Truss & Tension-only Members
I can not tell you that tension only bracing will not work. The response of the structure is real irregardless what the input assumptions are. If your tension bracing is tied to a joint the stiffness of the joint is affected by that tension only bracing. The joint does not care about assumptions an engineer is making that may or may not matter. If a chord deforms between two panel points it will drag any and everything attached to those joints with it. When those members are moved they will also resist that movement and stress as such. To me it is not a "gray area". The code tells you what is required to adequately brace a chord. Look at the joint displacements and see what the loads are in all the members based on the joint stiffness, not your assumptions. It may very well be that by code standards the truss will not work, but in reality it does. This could simply be the difference in a code design and a working design. Think about the I-35W bridge failure. It stood for 50 years and was under designed from day one. I have reviewed failures that had components that were overstressed three times yield under dead load only yet the machinery operated for three years. Steel has a funny way of trying not to fail meaning that it will find other ways to carry the load if at all possible. One other thing is that you have a box truss. It does not respond the same as a roof truss or a floor truss, etc. Remember it does not have a diaphragm. This is a three dimensional structure and the load path will be as such.
My advice is that you do as much research as need be to prove to yourself why a structure is currently working and if it has a weakness or not. An engineers knowledge is their best tool. If you approach your client and tell them the structure is not adequate the first thing they are going to say is "well then why is it working today as is?" Saying because the code said it will fail will not give you much credibility. If you look at the real operational loads and try to determine the limits of the structure as currently designed you can discuss your thoughts about that to them. More than likely they will then respect your opinion and move forward with a solution. When you discuss design flaws you have to discuss input loadings as well. Just because a platform will fail with a 100 psf load on it does not necessarly mean it will be collapsing at any moment. That platform may never see the "design" loading. Remember they only see the loads that are applied in real life.
RE: Ice Load on Conveyor Box Truss & Tension-only Members
I'm certainly aware of the difference between being code-compliant and and labeling something unsafe. Probability of design loads, inherent safety factors built into the codes, minimum material strengths versus actual material strengths, etc.
In my particular case, it's unlikely that the customer will question what remedial measures I end up recommending, so I'm not so much concerned about proving my case.......I'm just looking to open up a helpful discussion on the topic. I appreciate your contributions so far.....