Roof diaphragm design

[xez]

Hi all,

What are some methods used to decrease the diaphragm requirement on a roof?

Some that come to mind is reducing seismic weight (e.g. using steel frame rather than concrete tilt), using a wall system with a high response modification coefficient.

Thanks

 

[Dowels93]

Reducing the size of your diaphgrams may also help reduce the demand in the diaphragm itself. You could do that by providing more supporting lines (walls/frames) or using collectors in clever ways (highly dependent on geometry to be effective). If your diaphragm is wind governed and partially sheltered (such as in an expansion), you can also try to provide a deeper diaphragm in the dominant wind direction (e.g. providing a 2:1 rectangle oriented long side parallel to the dominant wind direction(s) ).