Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries
Agricultural Building Systems Handbook 305-12
STEEL ROOF DIAPHRAGM WIND
BRACING WITH STUD WALLS
DEVELOPED BY CANADA PLAN SERVICE
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305 – 10 Knee-bracing from truss-to-wall is one way to resist
these horizontal forces. Another way is to use pole-
frame wall construction, with oversized poles to handle
STEEL ROOF DIAPHRAGM WIND wind. A steel roof diaphragm is a third method, and
since many farm buildings have a steel roof anyway,
BRACING WITH STUD WALLS this is often the least expensive.
CPS For effective diaphragm action, each panel of roof and
PLAN M-9310 REVISED 85:10 wall cladding must be connected along all four edges to
adjacent framing and cladding (Figure 1). This makes
This plan is for stud-wall farm buildings having almost the entire building work like a rigid box to resist wind
no resistance to overturning at the stud-to-foundation forces. The plan gives details of the extra cladding and
connection. These specifications will be over-safe if framing connections necessary to make an effective
used with pole-frame walls because the poles add roof/endwall diaphragm wind-bracing system.
some overturning resistance. The tables and charts
included here will be equally applicable to a diaphragm
WORKING STRENGTH OF ROOFING STEEL AND
roof used to brace the top story of a two- or three-story
ROOFING SCREWS In Canada the customary steel
stud wall farm building.
roofing thickness for wood-framed farm buildings is
0.3 mm (30 gauge, before galvanizing), with ribs
Wind blowing across a typical gable-roof farm building spaced at 150 to 200 mm. The roofing shear strength
produces forces acting perpendicular to the surfaces. may be limited by either the buckling shear resistance
Wind tries to lift the roof and overturn the walls. The of the ribbed steel sheet, or by the shear resistance of
uplift forces on roofs can be, handled by secure the roofing screws driven around the perimeter of each
attachment of roofing to trusses, trusses to walls, and sheet. Roofing profiles with ribs screwed down to the
walls to foundations; the horizontal overturning forces purlins at 150 mm spacing are safe to about 3.7 kN/m
must be handled in other ways. of sheet length or width. However, some new high-rib
1 sidesway due to wind is exaggerated to illustrate 5 cladding-to-foundation shear connection
how the diaphragm roof works 6 uplift forces at windward foundation corners
2 stitch-screws at the roofing edge-laps carry the 7 leeward corner forces may be up or down,
wind shear forces to the ends of the roof
and are less critical than
3 roofing screws and blocking carry the forces into
8 roof bending causes compression at the
the gable truss
windward edges, and
4 endwall cladding carries the forces from the
9 tension at the leeward edges of the roof
gable trusses down the endwalls
planes
Figure 1 A steel roof diaphragm carries the overturning wind force into the endwalls and foundation
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Figure 2
Figure 3
roofing profiles are ribbed at a wider spacing, about
300 mm. Use these profiles for diaphragm roofs only if V = (1.0 + 0.8) qHL/4
a 300 mm screw spacing is safe at the side-laps and
around the roof perimeter. This is to make sure that and the stitch-screw spacing S to carry this shear force
these wide-rib profiles are not as highly stressed. is
Research gives a safe shear of 0.45 kN for a typical 4 x S = 0.45 W = (0.45) (4) W , therefore
25 mm (No. 8 x 1 in.) hex-head roofing screw when V (1.0+0.8) qHL
used as a stitch-screw (driven through the lapped
edges of two sheets of 30-gauge steel roofing). Screws S = 1.0 W metres.
hold better than nails, and they can be used as side lap qHL
stitch-screws even where there is no wood framing
under the steel. Solve the above equation for S in each case, or enter
the appropriate building and wind force dimensions into
Spacing of the perimeter screws along the ends of the Figures 6, 8, 10, 12, or 14.
roofing sheets is controlled by the rib spacing, and
along the side-laps by the purlin spacing (side-laps may DESIGN FOR BENDING Bending moment is the other
be shear-reinforced by driving one to three short stitch- item to consider when designing the roof diaphragm.
screws equally spaced between each pair of roof The two roof planes can be considered as flat beams
purlins). A stitch-screw spacing of 150 mm makes a lap loosely connected edge-to-edge at the ridge by the roof
joint that has shear strength at least equal to that of the trusses. This plan gives design information for splicing
30-gauge steel. the roof edge purlins (at eaves and ridge) into
continuous tension and compression members to resist
bending in the two roof diaphragms.
DESIGN Wind pressures for locations across Canada,
and the rules for determining design wind forces on
various shapes of buildings, are tabled in the Figure 4 shows the location and details for each type of
Supplement to the National Building Code of Canada, connection. The idea is to make very strong tension
1985. For low human occupancy farm buildings, the splices in the 38 x 140 mm edge purlins, at 4.8 m length
intervals. The splice is made by two strips of 0.91 mm
Canadian Farm Building Code 1983 permits the use of
(20 gauge) galvanized steel to sandwich the purlin
the 1/10 hourly wind pressures, as tabled in the
ends. These are nailed through with 4.5 x 75 mm (3-in.)
Supplement.
concrete nails. These hardened nails are capable of
penetrating both steel strips without predrilling, although
For rectangular farm buildings with stud walls and gable some builders may prefer to predrill undersized nail
truss roofs (Figures 2 and 3), the total horizontal wind holes, especially to help the nails penetrate the top
force on windward and leeward walls per metre of strip. Figure 4 also shows short 38 mm backing blocks
building length is approximately (1.0 + 0.8) qH, which
. These are held tightly under each half-joint with C-
includes the 2.0 gust factor in the pressure coefficients
clamps while driving the concrete nails. The blocks
1.0 and - 0.8 (a change in the 1980 code, as compared
remain to support the bottom steel strip and hold the
to previous codes). The roof-pressure coefficients - 1.3
nail points (easier and more effective than clinching).
and - 0.9 (Figure 3) also have horizontal components,
Each nail is estimated to hold 2.0 kN (after adjusting for
but they almost cancel and are neglected here.
wind load duration, two shear planes, steel-to-wood, low
human occupancy, etc.).
Since with stud walls about half of the total overturning
wind force goes directly to the long wall foundations, the The bending assumptions are shown in Figure 5. The
total shear force (V) where the two roof planes meet the maximum moment (M) occurs at mid-length and would
gable end truss is 2
be M = 0.1125 qHL . Assuming that the entire moment
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1 endwall roof truss 7 #8 x 38 mm roofing screws to each purlin at ribs
2 38 x 89 x 4800 mm roof purlins @ 600 mm oc, 8 #8 x 25 mm roofing screws (on flats at roofing) to
ends staggered 2400 mm same spacing as screws
3 38 x 140 x 4800 mm edge purlins, spliced 9 0.91 (20 ga.) x 100 mm galv. steel straps, 2 per joint
continuous
in , length to suit number of nails (N) per half-joint
4 splice detail for (see table)
5 38 x 140 mm blocking between at ; 10 38 x 140 mm blocking both sides of truss @
89 mm spiral nails to end truss at same 11 4.5 x 76 mm special concrete nails thru , &
spacing (S) as screws allow 2.0 kN/nail; N nails each half of joint (Figure 7,
6 #8 x 25 mm stitch-screws @ lapped edges of 9, 11, 13 or 15)
roofing, spaced according to Figure 6, 8, 10,
12 or 14
Figure 4 Diaphragm steel roof with special connections at roofing side-laps, roofing to endwalls, roofing to edge
purlins, and edge purlin splices
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For graphic solutions to nail number N, see Figure 7, 9,
2
11, 13 or 15. Calculate L /W (in metres) before entering
the graphs. Note that the safe tensile strength of
100 mm wide steel straps will be exceeded at over 12
nails (see*). Above this line, increase the straps to 140
mm wide. Use the following table to find the steel strap
length required.
Strap length (mm) for nail number (N) of
2 5 7 10 12 15 20
Straps
0.91 x 100mm 200 300 400 500 600
Straps
Figure 5 Roof plan with bending moment and 0.91 x 140 mm 600 700
shear diagrams
If the two roof planes can be connected to effectively
is resisted by tension and compression in the four edge transfer shear across the ridge, you can omit the ridge
purlins and that purlin connections shown at Figure 4. This makes the
roof diaphragm considerably stiffer; however it is often
Ft = Fc , then not practical because of roof-ridge ventilators, etc.
2
M = 0.1125 qHL = 2Ft (W/2), from which ENDWALLS The diaphragm roof is designed to carry
2 the horizontal wind force into the endwalls; there they
Ft = 0.1125 qHL must act as shear-walls at least as strong as the roof.
W Figure 4 shows how to fasten both ends of the roof
diaphragm to the endwall truss and framing. Screws
The number of 75 mm concrete nails in each edge
should be driven on the flats of the roofing, at the same
purlin half-joint (Figure 4) is therefore Ft /2.0, and the
spacing as the edge lap stitch-screws (Figures 6, 8, 10,
nail number (N) per half-joint is
12 or 14).
2 2
N = 0.1125 qHL = 0.056 qHL
2.0 W W *for 15 nails or more, increase straps to 140 mm wide
LENGTH / WIDTH (L /W), m /m
LENGTH/WIDTH (L/M), m/m
2
2
2
2
HOURLY WIND PRESSURE (q), kN/m HOURLY WIND PRESSURE (q), kN/m
2
Figure 6 Roofing stitch-screw spacing, wall height Figure 7 Edge-purlin splice nailing, wall height
H = 2.4 m H = 2.4
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LENGTH / WIDTH (L /W), m /m
LENGTH/WIDTH (L/W), m/m
2
2
2
2 2
HOURLY WIND PRESSURE (q), kN/m HOURLY WIND PRESSURE (q), kN/m
Figure 8 Roofing stitch-screw spacing, wall height Figure 9 Edge-purlin splice nailing, wall height
H = 3.0 m H = 3.0 m
*for 15 nails or more, increase straps to 140 mm wide
LENGTH / WIDTH (L /W), m /m
LENGTH/WIDTH (L/W), m/m
2
2
2
2 2
HOURLY WIND PRESSURE (q), kN/m HOURLY WIND PRESSURE (q), kN/m
Figure 10 Roofing stitch-screw spacing, wall height Figure 11 Edge-purlin splice nailing, wall height
H = 3.6 m H = 3.6 m
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LENGTH / WIDTH (L /W), m /m
LENGTH/WIDTH (L/W), m/m
2
2
2
2 2
HOURLY WIND PRESSURE (q), kN/m HOURLY WIND PRESSURE (q), kN/m
Figure 12 Roofing stitch-screw spacing, wall height Figure 13 Edge-purlin splice nailing, wall height
H = 4.2 m H = 4.2 m
*for 15 nails or more, increase straps to 140 mm wide
LENGTH / WIDTH (L /W), m /m
LENGTH/WIDTH (L/W), m/m
2
2
2
2 2
HOURLY WIND PRESSURE (q), kN/m HOURLY WIND PRESSURE (q), kN/m
Figure 14 Roofing stitch-screw spacing, wall height Figure 15 Edge-purlin splice nailing, wall height
H = 4.8 m H = 4.8 m
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as long as the rib spacing is not greater than 200 mm.
Similarly at the eaves and ridge where the roofing
sheets meet the edge purlins, one screw beside each
rib will transfer shear to the spliced edge purlins.
2
For the edge purlin connection (, Figure 4), L /W =
2 2
30 /15 = 60. Entering Figure 15 at L /W = 60 and q =
2
0.51kN/m , 10 concrete nails are required for each half-
joint. The steel straps will be 100 mm wide (under 12
nails, see*), and the straps will have to be long enough
to hold five rows of nails in each half-joint (alternating
two and three nails per row), plus endspaces, making
500 mm long. Or you can use the table on page 4.
Assuming doorways 4.8 m wide are centered in each
endwall (Figure 16), the effective width of the endwall
reduces to (15 - 4.8) = 10.2 m. This changes the stitch-
screw spacing to (10.2/15) x 200 mm = 136 mm. Since
Figure 16 Endwall with large doorway this spacing is closer than the 150 mm limit for no. 8
screws and 0.3 mm (30 gauge) steel, the endwalls need
If the endwalls have no big doors or other major some extra shear reinforcing such as plywood or aspen
openings, a steel cladding and fastening schedule flakeboard interior cladding. Criss-crossed wind bracing
similar to the roof will be safe enough. If however there is another alternative, but with this it is not easy to make
are large end doorways that reduce the effective width the end connections strong enough.
of the endwalls, special steps must be taken. Figure 16
shows where the endwall with doors may be weak. The In this example the vertical forces Fv need special
remaining parts of the endwall (beside the doorway) will consideration over and above the normal anchor bolts
probably need extra reinforcing for both shear and used to connect sill to foundation. The endwall bending
moment. A detailed analysis of the endwall design is moments resulting from the roof shear force V must be
beyond the scope of this plan because of the variety of balanced by the two hold-down forces Fv such that
openings and dimensions possible. However, in
principle the remaining endwall parts should be HV/2 = Fv (15 - 4.8)/2,
designed as short cantilever beams, for both shear and
moment. Extra shear stress due to reduced effective
therefore Fv = HV
width can be easily handled by adding interior cladding
such as plywood or flakeboard, well-nailed for shear. 10.2
The vertical forces F due to moment will probably
require special tension connections at the bottom but V = 1.0 x 0.8 qHL = (0.45)(0.51)(4.8)(30) = 33 kN
corners of the shortened endwalls. With pole-framed 4
endwalls these uplift forces can be handled by
anchoring the poles at the corners and door-jambs in therefore Fv = (4.8)(33)/10.2 = 15.5 kN
concrete backfill. With stud-framed endwalls, special
hold-down anchors will be needed to hold corner posts Tension connections to resist Fv = 15.5 kN are required
and doorjamb studs down to the concrete foundation. at four locations in the endwall with the doorway
(assuming the wind may blow from either side). These
EXAMPLE PROBLEM Design a roof-endwall steel connections will be in addition to the normal frame-to-
diaphragm system for wind-bracing a stud-frame foundation connections required to resist roof uplift and
implement shed 15 x 30 m, 4.8 m high from foundation horizontal shear.
to roof, for High River, Alberta (1/10 hourly wind
2
pressure, q = 0.51 kN/m ).
REFERENCES
For the roofing stitch-screw spacing (Figure 14), L/W =
30/15 = 2. Entering Figure 14 at L/W = 2 and q = 0.51,
Turnbull, J.E. 1983. A summary of diaphragm design
the maximum screw spacing is 200 mm o.c. With roof
for wind bracing in stud-wall farm buildings. ASAE
purlins spaced at 600 mm, this calls for two extra stitch-
Trans. Vol. 26, No. 2, pp 549-556, 561
screws between each pair of purlins. Similarly, screws
on the flats of the roofing will be required at 200 mm
Turnbull, J.E., J.A. Thompson and A.T Quaile. 1985.
o.c. where the roofing meets the blocking
at the Steel roof diaphragms for wind bracing in agricultural
endwall gable trusses (Figure 4). If there are any roofing buildings. Paper no. 85-405, CSAE annual meeting,
sheet end-laps, one screw at each rib will be adequate Charlottetown, PE, June (ESRI contr. no. 1-728)
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