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9 Truss Design
Report
Author:
OsricNagle
Team:
NicholasMaughan
ElizabethHoover
ElizabethPark
Class:
PrinciplesofEngineering,3rdBlock
Date:
December9,2015
ProblemStatement:
Designatrusswiththehighestpossibleefficiencythroughresearchandtestingthat
outperformsothertesttrusses.Thetrusswillbegradedbasedonitsefficiency,whichwillbe
calculatedusingthefollowingformula:Efficiency=Maximumforceloadheld/weightoftruss.
Thetrusscanonlybemadeoutofbalsawood,glue,andpaper,musthavegussetsnolargerthan
thoseusedinproject2.1.8.Thetrussmustfitwithinastructuralstressanalyzer,whichmeansthe
trusscanbenolargerthan4inchesandhaveaspanlargerthan7inches.Thetrussshould
haveatotaloflessthanorequalto36inchesofbalsawoodifitexceedsthis,pointswillbecut
fromthefinalgradeoftheproject.
TestTruss:
WhenmygrouptestedourtrussduringProject2.1.8,wefoundthatourtrusssupporteda
maximumof40lbs.beforebreaking.Itfirstbrokenearthebottomrightcornerofthetruss,and
thehorizontalmemberconnectingtothebottomrighttrussbroke.Thiswasodd,especially
becauseMDSolidshadpredictedtheloadonthatmembertobe0lbs.Theotherbreaksoccurred
onthebottomleftmember(with20lbs.oftension)andontheleftdiagonalmember(with28.28
lbs.ofcompression).
TherewasnoSSAgraphthatwasmadeforthisproject.Thestresstestanalyzers
softwaremalfunctionedwhenmygroupstrusswasbeingstresstested,andagraphwasnotever
initialized.
Fromthistesttruss,Ilearnedthatgettingcleancutsonthetrussmembersandassembling
thetrusscarefullywasveryimportanttokeepingthestructuralintegrityofthetruss.Thefirst
placethetrussbrokewasveryunusual,accordingtotheMDSolidsforcesimulation,andI
attributedthistoconstructionerrors.Onemajoronewashavingsplinteredwoodandjagged
edges(duetohackingawayatthebalsawoodwithaskinnybladedXActioKnife),andI
wantedtoavoidthisinthefinaltruss.
Theefficiencyofthetrusswas40lbs./0.0125lbs.=3200=320,000%.
ResearchResults:
WhenIbrieflyresearchedaboutrooftrusses,Ifoundoutaboutdifferenttypesofroof
trussescommonlyusedinmodernarchitecture.ThefirstsiteIwenttohadapictureof5trusses
(Kingposttruss,Finktruss,Howetruss,Scissorstruss,andAttictruss).Ilookedatthesedesigns
andthoughtabouttheeffectivenessofeachone.Outofallofthem,Ithoughttheonesthatwould
bethestrongestandmostefficientforourpurposeswouldbetheHowetruss.ThesecondsiteI
visitedsimilarlycontainedpicturesofdifferentkindsofrooftrusses(albeitalargerselection).
Afterlookingoverthesedesigns,IconfirmedmydecisionoftheHowetrussasthemost
effectiveoneforthisproject.
OnthefollowingpagearethepicturesIfoundinmyresearch:
DesignIdea:
Thetotallengthofthemembersinmydesignwasroughly49.46in.
DesignProcess:
ElizabethHosmer,ElizabethParkandIdraftedversionsoftheHowetruss(butwith
differentanglesperperson).Minewascomposedofonly45and90degreeangles,whilethe
othertwohadtrusseswithotheracuteangles.Nickdraftedagambreltruss,whichresemblesa
horizontallyenlargedversionofthehowetrussbuthasamuchmoregentleslopetoapointon
top.
Mydesignmadeuseofrightand45degreeangles,andwasthustheeasiesttoconstruct,
buthadalargepercentageofstress(outofa100lbload)placedontwomembers,andrequired
toomuchbalsawoodtobuild.ElizabethParksdesignwasonlysemicompleteanddidnot
containmeasurements,sowewerenotentirelysurehowherdesignwouldstackupinthegrand
schemeofthings.However,itseemedtobebigandhadalargepercentageofstressplacedona
member.Nicksdesignwasfairlysimpleandwasagoodsizehowever,itstillwasabittoo
largeandplacedthemoststressonanymemberthantherestofourdesigns.Elizabethsdesign
wasgoodonsizeandforcedistribution,butwasalittlelackinginsimplicity(becauseshe
employedunconventionalanglesinherdesign).
Thecriteriaweusedfordeterminingwhichtrusswereamountofwoodrequiredtobuild,
themaximumamountofstressplacedonanymember,thespanofthedesign,numberof
members,andsimplicity.Theamountofwoodrequiredtobuildwastoensurethatthedesign
chosenwouldnotgooverthe36inchlimitofbalsawood.Themaximumamountofstresson
anymemberwastogiveaboosttothedesignthathadthemostequaldistributionofforceand
couldthusreceivecomparativelymorestresswithoutbreakingthantheotherdesigns.Thespan
ofthedesignwaschosentomakesurethefinaltrussdesignwasnotexcessivelylargeortoo
smalltobesupportedbythestresstester.Thenumberofmemberswaslinkedtobothsimplicity
andamountofwoodrequiredtobuildthedesign,andthusgaveaheaviersupporttobothof
thosecriteria.Simplicitywasincludedtomakesurewecouldfinishconstructingthetrusson
time.
Weconstructedadecisionmatrixwiththesecriteria(eachonebeingratedonascaleof1
4)andgaveeachdesignitsappropriatenumber.Outofallofthedesigns,ElizabethHosmers
designhadthehighesttotalscore,andsoherswaspickedtobeourfinaldesign.Belowismy
dimensionedsketchofthefinaltrussdesign.
OfficialTest:
Whenourtrusswasbeingstresstested,therewerenoimmediatechangesatfirst.
However,astheforceloadbeganexceeding50lbs,thetrussbegantovisiblybendnearthe
bottom.Asthepressureincreasedandtheloadreached70lbs,thetrussbentevenmoreand
audiblybroke.Asthepressureslowlyrecededfromthetruss,thetrussbrokeafewmoretimes.
Themaximumloadhandledbythetrusswas70lbs.Theforcedeflectionscannotbe
calculatedwiththedatawehave,becausewedidnotgetachancetomeasurethetrussasitwas
bending.However,therewasavisiblebendinthebottomleftsectionofthetruss.
Theefficiencyofthetrusswas70lbs./0.01794lbs.=3901.8952=390,189.52%The
comparableefficiencyofthemostefficienttesttrussinourgroupwas320,000%.Thefinaltruss
designwas70,189.52%moreefficientthanthetesttruss.
Teamwork:
ElizabethParkwasveryquiet.Sheworkedoncuttingthegussets.Besidesthisandher
designidea,sheprovidedasmallbitofinputonthedecisionmakingprocess.
Nicholasprovidedideasforthetruss.Hewasinvolvedinthedecisionmakingprocess
andHealsohelpedmarkthewoodforthetruss.
ElizabethHosmerwasveryinvolvedinthisprocess,andwasleadingthegroupforward
ineverystepoftheprocess(includingthedecisionmakingprocess,whereshehelpedtodefine
scoresforeachpersonsdesignonthedecisionmatrix).Shewasveryactiveintheconstruction
ofthetrussshehelpedmarkthewood,cutthewood,didallofthewoodgluing,andhelped
applygussetstothetruss.
Ihelpedineverystepoftheprocessaswell,andItriedtocontributeasmuchasIcould
tomakingourtrusssuccessful.IbroughtthewholeclassbalsawoodcuttersandIdidallofthe
cuttingforourgroup.IalsohandledtheSSAgraph.Inaddition,Ihelpedtoassignscorestoeach
persononthedecisionmatrix.
Reflection:
Idobelievethetrussbrokepredictably,butnotnecessarilyinaccordancewiththeMD
Solidsstressanalysis.Thetrussbrokenearoneofthesupportsthatwaspredictedtohavea
weightloadhowever,thatmemberwasnottheonethathadthemoststressonit.However,Ido
thinkthiswasapredictableresult,becausetheforceofthesupportpushingbackuponthebalsa
woodcouldhaveeasilybrokenthepliablewoodmemberatthatpoint.Althoughwetriedtohave
straight,cleancuts,thebalsawoodhadatendencytosplinterapartwhenitwasbeingcut,which
weakenedtheendsofthewood.Thebreakhappenednearajoint,andsoIdothinkthatthebreak
canbe(atleastpartially)attributedtoaconstructionfailure.ThiswassomethingIhadthought
mighthappen(becauseofwhatIhadseenfromthetesttruss),andsoitwassomewhat
predictablethatthefirstbreakwouldoccurnearajoint.
Ifgivenachancetoredesignthetruss,Iwouldtrytomakethecutsevensmoother,and
possiblyuselessglue.Inaddition,Imighttrytoincorporateallofourwoodinthedesign,sothat
thereisalittlemoredistributionofforce.Thereappearstohavebeenwastedwood(according
toMDSolids),sowemayhavebeenabletouseadifferentdesignordifferentarrangementof
memberstoprovidemoresupporttothetruss.Also,justtoboostefficiency,Iwouldhavecutoff
allextraneouspartsofthepapergussets,becausethosepartsonlyaddedweighttothetrussand
didntprovideanysupporttothetruss.
Bibliography:
"Roof."
WhatAreRoofTrusses
.N.p.,28Apr.2015.Web.1Dec.2015.
<
http://roofkrupik.blogspot.com/2015/04/whatarerooftrusses.html
>.
"StevensonandKellyLtd|RoofTrusses|TimberFloorSolutions|TimberEngineers|
Airdrie,NorthLanarkshire."
StevensonandKellyLtd|RoofTrusses|TimberFloor
Solutions|TimberEngineers|Airdrie,NorthLanarkshire
.StevensonandKelly,n.d.
Web.09Dec.2015.
<http://www.stevensonandkelly.co.uk/stevensonandkellyrooftruss.html>.