Continue to Site

Eng-Tips is the largest engineering community on the Internet

Intelligent Work Forums for Engineering Professionals

  • Congratulations pierreick on being selected by the Eng-Tips community for having the most helpful posts in the forums last week. Way to Go!

Truss Joint

Status
Not open for further replies.

hungrydinosaur

Marine/Ocean
Sep 25, 2013
41
Hi All,

I am designing a truss structure which will see an equipment of 60 Tonnes sitting on it. I have done the analysis and everything is fine. While modeling the truss structure, I am not being able to make a proper joint for the diagonal brace. Please see attached picture. The joint is made where the the axis of the beams meet, but is there any other way to make a "clean joint"? Thanks in advance.

Regards,

HD
 
Replies continue below

Recommended for you

Why use a flanged beam for diagonals? Angles and rectangular sections are easier.
 
you could reinforce with joint fittings.

looking at the diagonals on the long face (hiding behind the vertical in your pic), personally i'd have the two diagonals intersect at the top flange (rather than at the mid-depth of the horizontal) so that you're connected the two diagonal webs directly, and don't have two welds beside each other.

Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati
 
I had a similar question a few weeks back. Is there any calculated load in the diagonal or is it just a brace?

I have seen this done by coping the flange of the diagonal and bolting it to a plate that is welded to the top if the bottom cross beam.

I'm having trouble finding a good example but this link from Structure Mag shows how the plate is used to stay out of the corner.

 
Hungrydinosaur:
Why don’t you enlist the help of a Structural Engineer familiar with this kind of steel framing. Now that we have FEA and CAD programs which almost anyone can pretend to use, everyone can be a Structural Engineer, for a day. A good share of the cost and final performance of these types of structures has to do with good clean detailing and fabrication which still meets the needs of the situation. Why is your truss unsymmetrical? Why don’t you show a plan and side view of your system, with loads, dimensions, other important design info. and to reasonably accurate proportions. This will allow us to see what you are actually dealing with. Two engineers can most often sit at a table and discuss an engineering problem and do some rough sketches and come to a meeting of the minds. But, that discussion starts from the basics, not from a CAD drawing of an overly complexified structural detail, or truss, because nobody know any better, but the computer dictates. You will get better help if you start from the beginning.
 
What dhengr said, I can't see where the loads go to or from, is there any load in that diagonal? Do you intend all of those connections fixed as they appear?



Michael.
"Science adjusts its views based on what's observed. Faith is the denial of observation so that belief can be preserved." ~ Tim Minchin
 
Have to agree with dhengr, so little info provided, so many ways to mis-support so much weight. You say "everything is fine" except for a "clean joint".... What, precisely, do you mean by a clean joint?
 
Also, is this exposed to sea water, etc?
 
Is SolidWorks a structural engineering program?

I thought it was more for machine designers working on pieces parts.
 
@JLNJ ? why would a CAD program be limited to machine tools ? what extra would you expect to see in an "structural engineering program" ?

Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati
 
yes ... does "structural engineering program" imply an analysis component ? i've worked with full size airplane mods drawn in SW, i don't understand the "machine parts" limitiation ?? and i'm sure there are analysis programs that'll take geometry defined in SW and create FEM.

Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Part and Inventory Search

Sponsor