SPACE FRAMES Submitted By:-AkshayRishabh

WHAT ARE SPACEFRAMES?• Space frames are essentially three dimensional trusses able to span in

two directions. They may be flat for use as roofs, walls or inclined walls, or may be curved to form continuous barrel type roof geometries. Flat frames used as roofs sometimes have slight cambers to direct water to appropriate roof outlets. Space frames allow for easy service distribution within their depth and can provide light elegant structural solutions.• Depth: Span/40• Typical maximum length: 100 m

HISTORY OF SPACEFRAMES• Space frames were independently developed by Alexander Graham Bell around 1900 and Buckminster Fuller

in the 1950s. Bell's interest was primarily in using them to make rigid frames for nautical and aeronautical engineering, with the tetrahedral truss being one of his inventions.

• Buckminster Fuller's focus was architectural structures; his work had greater influence. Introduction of the first space grid system called MERO in 1943 in Germany initiated the use of space trusses in architecture.

DESIGN METHOD• The simplest form of space frame is a horizontal slab Of interlocking square pyramids and tetrahedral built from Aluminium or tubular steel struts.• In many ways this looks like the horizontal object of a tower crane repeated many times to make it wider. A stronger form is composed of interlocking tetrahedral in which

all the struts have unit length . • More technically this is referred to as an isotropic vector matrix or in a single unit width an octet truss .• Space frames are typically designed using a rigidity matrix. The special characteristic of the stiffness matrix in an architectural space frame is the independence of the

angular factors. If the joints are sufficiently rigid, the angular deflections can be neglected, simplifying the calculations.

SPACE FRAME COMPONENTS

TYPE OF SPACEFRAMES• According to Curvature• Flat covers• Spherical domes• Barrel vaults

(a)(b) (c)

Fig (a) Flat cover ; (b) Spherical dome ; (c) Barrel vault

• According to grid layers• Single Layer• Double layer

(a) (b)

Fig (a) Single layer ; (b) Double layer