MEMB123 Project Semester 1 15/16 (3 August 2015)

Project Description:
Design a simply supported wooden roof truss for residential construction. The roof truss
must have the span and height as shown in Figure 1 and will support the following loads
as listed below:

The bottom chord of the truss is unloaded.

The top chord of the truss is subjected to a dead load of 600 N/m of chord length
and a maximum life load of 1200 N/m of chord length (all loads are vertical).
All other loads can be neglected.

The members of the roof truss are to be wood with 50 x 100 mm and/or 50 x 150 mm
cross section (nominal dimension). For ease of fabrication, the top chord should be
entirely of one dimension of member, and similarly for the bottom chord. The wood
members have the allowable strength given in Table 1.
You are to specify the member size for both top and bottom chord, and specify the size
and placement of additional truss members between the top and bottom chord that you
determined are needed for rigidity in truss structure. Your design does not need to be
optimized in term of minimizing the amount of wood used. However, your design should
be reasonably economical (e.g., a truss constructed entirely of 50 x 150 mm wood is
probably not economical). If you determine that it is not possible to achieve the strength
needed using either 50 x 100 mm or 50 x 150 mm members, then you should specify the
number of identical trusses that should be attached to one another so that the specified
load can be supported.
Because of buckling, long compressive members are undesirable in trusses. To improve
strength of the truss and reduce length of compressive members, zero force members
should be used. Zero force members improve rigidity in truss.
Submit a report on the complete force analysis, the design of the truss along with the
scaled drawing, identifying on your drawing the tensile and compressive force in each
member. You are to specify the member size for both top and bottom chord, and specify
the size and placement of additional truss members between the top and bottom chord
that you determined are needed for rigidity based on Table 1 that is safe to be used from
your force analysis by either method of joint or method of section.

Figure 1 (roof truss design)

Note: Design of the truss must follow the given dimension as shown in Figure 1

Table 1

Project Goals:
The goals for this project are for students to:
Learn the design process.
See practical applications for trigonometry, physics, and statics.
Improve skills associated with collecting data and drawing meaningful conclusions.
Recognize the necessity of good communication skills for engineers by completing
memos, reports, and drawings.
Deliverables:
Formal written report. Submission of report is during lecture hour (10 am to 10.50 am)
on Thursday, 3 September 2015.
Project Grading:
This project will carry 10% of your final grade and be weighted as follows
30% Design model
students ability to identify and analyze a mechanical engineering design problem
70% Design report
students ability to communicate effectively through a written report
students ability to use resources as references for writing report