Abstract
ABSTRACT Timber application is viable in constructive systems because of its mechanical properties, suitable for structural applications in engineering. Timber is even more interesting to use since it is a renewable source. Among its several applications, timber is widely used in roofing structures, with several typologies of trusses. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the behavior of plane truss in different loading conditions, including dead load, service load, and wind suction load. The mechanical performance of two trusses (Pratt and Scissor) was analyzed and compared, according to the Brazilian standard of timber structures ABNT NBR 7190 (1997) (methods and calculus premises), with the finite element method, an algorithm of swarm intelligence optimization (structure weight minimization), and a parametric study. Based on minimum weight and maximum displacement as a function of span variation, Pratt typology presented lower weight (3-19%) when compared with Scissor, under the same span and loading conditions. Regarding maximum displacements, Pratt typology presented lower displacement values than the Scissor typology. The difference between these values ranged from two to seven times, indicating that Scissor typology can better distribute normal loads (maximum displacement closer to the normative limit displacement). Variance analysis (5% of significance) confirmed these results.
Highlights
Timber has been used as a structural material since ancient times, for it is renewable (Bita and Tannert, 2018), but it has good mechanical properties and is easy to handle with simple tools
Firefly Algorithm (FA) is a method of population characteristic, in which one particle walks through the sample space searching for the optimal viable solution
We created curves of the Objective Function (OF) (W minimum weight) as a function of the span (L) for conditions delimited in this study (Figure 3a)
Summary
Timber has been used as a structural material since ancient times, for it is renewable (Bita and Tannert, 2018), but it has good mechanical properties and is easy to handle with simple tools. This material has been widely used in Structural Engineering (Mam et al, 2020) and mainly in projects of rural buildings (roofing structures). Kumar et al (2016) claim that the truss structural system is widely used in roofs of residential and industrial buildings because it can overcome large spans. We must understand the behavior of typologies to use them in engineering projects
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