Physical Tests of Alternative Connections of Different High Roof Purlins Regarding Upward Loading

Abstract

Thin-walled cold-rolled sections are used in the construction industry, especially in the roofing of large-span halls. The load-bearing capacity of a thin-walled structure depends to a large extent on the load-bearing capacity of the details at the point of attachment to the structure and the interconnection of the individual thin-walled elements. Therefore, in the case of thin-walled structures, it is necessary to use additional structural elements such as local reinforcement, stabilising elements, supports, and other structural measures such as the doubling of profiles. This paper focused on the behaviour of tall Z300 and Z350 mm thin-walled trusses at the connection to the superstructure regarding upward loading (e.g., wind suction and so on). Two section thicknesses, 1.89 mm and 2.85 mm, were experimentally analysed. Furthermore, two types of connections were prepared, more precisely without and with a reinforced buckle. The experiments aimed to investigate the behaviour and load-carrying capacity of the detail of the roof truss connections to the supporting structure. The resulting load capacity values were compared with normative approaches. Analyses of the details of the bolt in the connection are also presented. The paper presents a practical evaluation of the physical test on real structural members.