Design for Steel Structure of Heavy Load and Large

Span Roof
SHUANGLING WEN

HAIJUN ZHANG

SHENGHUA ZHANG

(Central Research Institute of Building and Construction, Beijing, PRC, 100088)

XONG YING
(Jiuyuan Construction Design Ltd. Co., Beijing, PRC, 100031)

Shuangling Wen is a Professor of Civil Engineering at Central Research

Institute of Building and Construction, PRC. She has undertaken designing work
and fabricating management on steel structure for over 15 years. She has designed
several large-spans steel structures for example Xian International Exhibition
Center, Century Hall of Renmin University of China and so on.

Shuangling Wen

Calculation of Steel Structures

book.

Design and

has being used widely .She is one of authors on the

She received Master degree of Engineering from Xi'an University of

Architecture & Technology in 1989. She is Class A Registered Structural Engineer from 1999.
ABSTRACT
A roof garden is a round shape with diameter of 42.2m and with the total loads of 20kN/m2. After
comprehensive comparison, decision was made to use steel cross-grid beam structure of large span which the
section was H shape being welded. The paper has introduced the comparison of steel structure proposals, support
and assembling joints structures, which could be as a reference to designers.

The roof area of roof garden of a science and technology center is 1,400 m2 (see photo 1:bird view of roof
garden), in the center is a square shape swimming pool surrounded by flowers, grass, bushes, and also stone
tables and seats are arranged for people to rest, recreation and barbecue. The space under the roof is a large
conference center for international seminars, equipped with simultaneous interpretation room. The structure span

of roof garden is 36.8m, the normal value of permanent loads is

20kN/m2, cross-grid beam structure with solid H section beam is
used in the roof design. See Fig. 1.
STRUCTURE PROPOSAL
Construction Requirement
Since the center part of the roof garden is a swimming pool, so, the

Photo 1, Bird View of Roof Garden

roof is designed as the forms of flat at center and slop at its

surroundings. Roof is structurally slopping method. First, the support structure design of roof panel was to begin
the slop at upper surface, and the same thickness insulation layer and waterproof layer was laid on the 150mm
thick reinforced concrete slab, which did not only avoiding the heavy loads caused by normal roof insulation slop
structure, and also meeting the basic requirement of heat insulation, drainage and waterproof. Furthermore, both
the roof structure height and loads bearing capacity had been improved, the allowable clear height under the roof
slab structure is 2.2m.
1

L L

Fig. 1, Steel Structure Plane Arrangement

Fig.2, Vertical Section Drawing of Steel Beam

Proposals Comparison
The larger space structure under the roof garden was reinforced concrete frame, the reinforced concrete column
position is shown in Fig. 1. The roof is polygon (nearly as a round shape), which is suitable for the arrangement
of space structure system. Considering the facts of heavy loads on roof, larger impact from earthquake, the
requirement of construction functions and clear space, two proposals of steel cross-grid girder structure with
solid-section beam and space truss were compared.
A, Steel cross-grid beam structure
Steel cross-grid beam structure normally has been used for large space concrete structure, but, steel cross-grid

beam structure with solid-section girder has been hardly used for large span roof. In China, the first steel
cross-grid girder structure with solid-section beam of large span under heavy load was used in the lobby roof
garden of Building B, Beijing Xiyuan Hotel. Its structure span is 28m28m, the internal distance between beams
is 4m, steel beam cross section is H18004502030. The preliminary proposal of this project was 36.8m span,
double directions orthogonal, steel cross-grid beam structure with H welded solid-section girder. Calculation
results had shown that if the steel used was grade Q345, height of steel beam was 2.2m, pre-arching measure was
taken for the large span beam during construction, both its structure strength and deformation met the demands
of application.
B, Space network structure
At present, most of the large span space structure still is space network structure, the advantage is lower steel
consumption and easy passing through the pipeline facilities, but, when the span is larger, it takes up more space.
Calculation indicated that when space truss was applied, the height of central line of upper and lower chords
required 3.0m; meanwhile, the joint ball required more than 0.8m in diameter. The roof panel support beams of
space frame upper chord were H300300106, unfortunately, the space height of steel structure under
concrete panel was as high as 4.7m, which was too large and exceeded the construction allowable space
requirement.
C, Comparison on the two proposals
Table 1 shows the comparison calculations and analysis on these two proposals. These two proposals had
similar steel consumptions. Since steel cross-grid beam structure with solid-section girder could meet the
requirement of construction space and also had the properties of quick and easy construction, so, at last, the steel
cross-grid beam structure with variable cross-section H girder hade been applied (Cross- Section see Fig. 2).
DESIGN AND CALCULATION OF CROSS-GRID BEAM STRUCTURE
Roof garden was supported on reinforced concrete frame, which was un-equilateral octagon, top 800mm
concrete ring beam was supported on 12 reinforced concrete columns, the plane position of columns was shown
in Fig. 1.

Loads
Considering comprehensively the function requirement of roof garden and garden design proposal, the loads
selection and effective combination were done according to Load Code for the Design Structure (GBJ 9-87)

and Code for Seismic Design of Building (GBJ 11-89). Standard value of roof loads were:
A, Standard value of permanent loads: 20kN/m2, including the weight of concrete slab, covering soil of roof,
pebbles, swimming pool, ventilation ducts, water supply and heating pipes and structures.
B, Standard value of active loads: 2.0 kN/m2;
C, Snow loads: 0.5 kN/m2;
There were three kinds of loads combination had been considered in this project:
A, 1.2 permanent loads + 1.4 active loads;
B, 1.2 permanent loads + 1.4 active loads for half roof span and
C, 1.2 permanent loads + 1.3 vertical seismic loads

Table 1, Comparison on Two Structural Proposals

Proposal
Property
Steel

Cross-grid beam structure

Beam: Q345 B.F.

Member: Q345 B.F.

Truss: Q235 B.F.

Roof Support Beam: Q235 B.F.

300mm

Height of main loads support structure

2400 mm

Max. cross-section member

H24005003018

Max. height of space taken by structure

Space truss

(central

Ball: 120060
4650mm

Slab support beam

No.

H300X300X10X6

Vertical deformation

133mm

Steel consumption
Structure space application
Construction requirement
Construction Schedule

distance

Member: 32516

2400mm

(support beam under roof panel included)

line

between upper and lower chords)

135mm
2

200kg/m

192kg/m2

Small holes can made,

Pipes can pass through the space

cannot directly use

between members

Height

requirement

of

Height requirement of 2.6m can

2.4m can be met

not be met

Site erection is quick

Site erection is slow

Structure Arrangement
Steel structure plane arrangement for roof garden is shown in Fig. 1. Maximum structure span was 36.8mm;
internal distances between beams were 4.5m or 4.9m. Steel beams inside the square area of 19.2m19.2m in the
center part of roof (shadow area in Fig. 1) are equal cross-section girders. The height of roof beam middle parts
was 2.4m; height of support base was 2.2m, which meeting the requirement of 2.2m clear height of construction.
Beams were become variable cross-section members, and rest of the beams were equal cross-section; its cross

section was symmetrical along the longitudinal. Fig. 2 shows the half beam cross-section.

Structure Calculation
First to presume the calculation model:
A, Steel beam support base was ideal splice connection, turning around the main axis of steel beam
cross-section and no lateral displacement outside the plane;
B, Main load bearing steel beams of roof structure were all double direction continuous beams, the
connection between main load bearing steel beams and the end of two ring beams outside (LL) was hinge joint.
SAP93 finite element program was used in the calculation. After the space calculation model was established,
based on the Grade Q345B steel and the different loads to calculate out the internal force and deformation of
structures. According to the result analysis, the vertical seismic combination (1.2 permanent loads + 1.3 vertical
seismic loads) played the key role, which showed that for heavy load roof structure, the working condition of
vertical seismic effect should be considered carefully (since the RE value was 1.0 in this case). After repeatedly
calculation and optimization, the largest steel beam cross-section at last was H(2200 2400) 5001830 (see
Fig. 2). Under the permanent loads effect, the maximum deflection of steel beam was 118.4mm; under the basic
combination effect controlled by permanent load effect, the maximum deflection of steel beam was 130.1mm.
Considering the center part of garden proposal was a 6.4m6.4m square and 600mm deep swimming pool,
actual loads could not reach the calculation value, and also the maximum vertical deformation of beams could
not reach the calculation value, the design arching value could be less than the deflection brought by permanent
load, the arching value finally selected was 100mm.

Structure Connection
A, Support
Support (connection between steel and RC beams)
was important parts to guarantee the actual loads
situation to meet the requirement of calculation
model. Since each piece of steel beam on the concrete
structure support joint was single direction splice and
turning

around

the

main

axis

of

steel

beam

Fig. 3, Support (Joint A)

cross-section, there was no lateral displacement outside the plane. 60mm thick single side arc supporting panel

was selected, 4 pieces of M36 anchor bolts were installed, and pressure springs were added on the upper of
anchor bolts to allow the support having little turning and linear displacement, so that to guarantee the supporting
loads property of large span steel beams caused by deflection and temperature stress impact. The joints structure
are shown in Fig. 3
B, Beam-to-beam moment connection
To guarantee the beam to beam rigid connection in the double direction of H shape steel beam structure
proposal, the assembly joints were put at the position far away from the intersection (1500mm or 500 from the
axis intersection) by the design, which making the assembly position as the moment connection joints with beam.
The joints were connected by bolt and weld structure method, that is, welding the wing edge, and bolts
connecting the web plate (see Fig. 4). The high strength bolts connection of web plate benefited the construction,

Fig. 4, Welded H Shape Steel Beam Connection Joints (Joint B)

and also could guarantee erection precision. The fully melted welding on wing edge could guarantee the
continuity of upper and lower edge plates. Beam and web plate assembly structure applied the double plates
connection form. According to precise calculation, high strength bolts could resist part of the bending moment,
so that, the last decision was to use 120 sets of M24 high strength bolts for the maximum bolts on beam and web
plate assembly.
CONCLUSION
Steel Structure members were fabricated precisely based on the design drawings, and during the installation of
high strength bolts, no hole-enlarged phenomenon was found. The erection of 280 tons steel structure took only
20 days, the construction was quick. Excellent quality standard has been rewarded in the project acceptance.