Horizontal Applied Load for Raised Freestanding Timber Deck
Horizontal Applied Load for Raised Freestanding Timber Deck
(OP)
Please could anyone help to point me in the right direction of guidance for applied loadings to raised freestanding timber decks? The deck I have is 28ft out from the house and so should be classed as freestanding. There are intermediate beam strip limiting spans of joists etc, so no concerns on that front. I want to check the bracing and connection forces etc but cannot seem to find any definitive guidance for lateral loading.
As a light and open sided structure, Horizontal wind action is nominal (Obviously uplift will be considered). I believe the applied live loads may govern the bracing design and have read several quoted figures of applied Notional Horizontal forces ranging anywhere between 5 and 20% of the applied vertical loads. As a back up I would consider the Seismic approach to dynamic actions, but wondered if there are other reliable guidance texts available???
Another good analogy was a mezzanine floor inside a factory. Wind loads would not usually govern, but you could expect relatively high vertical imposed loading. What would the guidance be? I suspect it will be a similar answer but would love some firm confirmation if possible.
Many thanks for your assistance in advance.
Kind Regards,
Mark
As a light and open sided structure, Horizontal wind action is nominal (Obviously uplift will be considered). I believe the applied live loads may govern the bracing design and have read several quoted figures of applied Notional Horizontal forces ranging anywhere between 5 and 20% of the applied vertical loads. As a back up I would consider the Seismic approach to dynamic actions, but wondered if there are other reliable guidance texts available???
Another good analogy was a mezzanine floor inside a factory. Wind loads would not usually govern, but you could expect relatively high vertical imposed loading. What would the guidance be? I suspect it will be a similar answer but would love some firm confirmation if possible.
Many thanks for your assistance in advance.
Kind Regards,
Mark






RE: Horizontal Applied Load for Raised Freestanding Timber Deck
RE: Horizontal Applied Load for Raised Freestanding Timber Deck
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MAP
RE: Horizontal Applied Load for Raised Freestanding Timber Deck
RE: Horizontal Applied Load for Raised Freestanding Timber Deck
I always found making the handrails/guardrails work were a big problem, and I have seen way too many loose and poorly designed and built handrails in residences. Now it is pretty easy to imagine a scenario that would cause a handrail failure, like that large group from above all leaning against it at the same time.
RE: Horizontal Applied Load for Raised Freestanding Timber Deck
The testing done by Washington State did just this in fact (impact loading scenarios that is, not the college bit, as they ARE a college).
For cyclic loading they loaded up the deck to 30 and 40 psf with people and made them get into a groove.
For impulse loading that had 10 psf loading and make the people rush the deck. Imagine 3 300# college football players rushing the deck to catch a ball thrown by one of their buddies on the ground. How much is that? They were able to get an equivalent lateral load response of 9.4psf in a sideways direction and about 3psf in an outward (perpendicular to the building) direction.
The load response of the deck at the ledger was different depending on the decking direction (horizontal vs diagonal) and for cyclic vs impact loading.
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MAP