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Tensile Structures

Engineering

Design is an Art - Engineering is a Science

All building systems are intended to serve specific purposes for defined periods of time. This intent requires that a structure must be built to manage the "dead load" - the weight of the structure itself - and "live loads" - a changing weight that is added to the structure as the result of use or environment. The combination of loads, dead and live, stresses all buildings. The inability to handle the stress will result in failure and even collapse. Tension cable structures tend to exhibit their failure through "racking" (the distortion of the structure vertically).

Tension cable structures are subject to live vertical and lateral loads; the former from snow accumulation while the latter is primarily wind forces. As snow becomes compacted, it gets heavier. For example, water content may range from 3% for a very dry snow to 20% for compacted snow to nearly 100% for ice. Water per inch of depth weighs 5.2 pounds per square foot. Thus, a modern roof designed to carry a snow load of 20 pounds per horizontal square foot is designed to support an equivalent of approximately 1' 7" of compacted snow.

These forces vary according to the season and the location of the structure. A structure in Oklahoma City, for example, may be subject to several snowfalls a year ranging from 1" to 8" with winds from North in December, January and February and from the South South East the other nine months of the year. The variation in snow occurrences, wind speed, and wind direction is substantially different between Phoenix, Arizona and Kansas City, Missouri. Check your location for weather conditions.

The Value of a Licensed Engineer

Structural engineers design frameworks, including the design of the beams, columns, walls, floors, roof, and foundations of a structure. The engineer also spends time working out the details of how it all fits and the connections that hold it all together. He recognizes the forces that will impact a proposed structure and calculates their impact. As a result of those calculations, the engineer approves the building plans including the anchor system, the size and configuration of structural members, the connections used to combine components, etc and "seals" the drawing by signing his name to the plans. In reality, he puts his professional integrity and financial worth behind the validity of his calculations.

Engineering

See examples

A badly designed, engineered or constructed shade cover will endanger people and

The Wall Of Shame
property.

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