Before attempting to add wall girder loading, there are some important things you must first know. First and foremost, when using the "Add Wall Girder Load" option, it is necessary to remain in the same dialog box, without closing or clicking "Done", while entering the necessary wall, floor, and roof loads which must be concurrently added. Prematurely closing the dialog will add subsequent loads only to an entirely new loadcase, and will produce different than desired results.
Furthermore, you will want to be aware that there are a multitude of possible options available, due to the variety of types and settings. You will need to know what factors apply to your situation so that you can set up your loads correctly. Below is a list of questions to consider to help plan the application of your loads.
- Does girder support floor loads?
- Do all floor loads frame to same face or to the top of the girder?
- Clear span of floor
- Standard loading of floor
- Is the floor load framing to the top chord or the bottom chord?
- Do additional floor loads frame to opposite face of girder?
- Add as required
- Do all floor loads frame to same face or to the top of the girder?
- Does girder support any wall load?
- Wall can
- Sit on top of supported floor framing
- Sit on top of wall girder truss
- Not be supported at all (wall girder itself acts as the wall)
- No wall at all
- Weight/height of wall
- Wall can
- Does the girder support roof loads?
- Do all roof loads frame to same face or to the top of the girder or sit on a wall?
- Clear span of roof
- Standard loading of roof
- Is the roof load framing to the top chord or the bottom chord or sit on a wall?
- Do additional roof loads frame to opposite face of girder?
- Add as required
- Do all roof loads frame to same face or to the top of the girder or sit on a wall?
That being stated, let us proceed.
To add the wall girder loading, we will need to add a loadcase. For this, in iDesign, you can go into Loading to bring up the loading toolbar, and then click "Add Loadcase", or alternatively you can click the loads menu at the top and click "Add Loadcase" there instead. Either way, we will be presented with the Add Loads dialog.
From here, click on the Wall Girder tab to add that sort of load.
Here, you will enter the relevant information, including the span of the supported truss and the overhang and cantilever of that truss, the location of the load, the load type and wall situation, and the live and dead load info. Depending on the wall selection, the height and weight of the relevant wall will also be needed.
See the below guide for a more in-depth explanation of the options available.
- Clear span of supported roof or floor truss
- OH + Cantilever distance for any supported roof truss
- Load starts at
- Load ends at
- Floor or Roof option
- Defines where wall is supported (if wall is present)
- “No wall truss supported by TC of girder”
- Select if there is no wall -and-
- The floor or roof is supported directly on the TC of the girder
- “No wall truss supported by BC of girder”
- Select if there is no wall -and-
- The floor or roof is framing directly to the BC of the girder
- “Wall frames to TC of girder”
- Select if there is a wall -and-
- Option is present only when “Load Type” is set to “Roof”
- “Wall sits on floor framing”
- Select if there is a wall -and-
- Option is present only when “Load Type” is set to “Roof”
- Jack load is split on TC and BC of girder
- Splits load so that TC live and dead load frame to the TC -and-
- BC dead loads frame to the BC
- “No wall truss supported by TC of girder”
- Total live load (psf) supported by truss, including both TC live and BC live loads
- Dead load (psf) supported by the TC
- Dead load (psf) supported by the BC
- Duration factor of the defined load
- 0.90 or 1.00 for floor loads
- 1.15 or 1.25 for roof loads
- Height of wall
- Option present only when load type is “Roof” -and-
- “Wall” is set to “Wall frames on top chord of girder” or “Wall frames to supported floor member.
- Wall weight (pdf)
- Option present only when load type is “Roof” -and-
- “Wall” is set to “Wall frames on top chord of girder” or “Wall frames to supported floor member
So, we will proceed to add our loads. As stated above, for all loads that are to be analyzed concurrently, they will need to be added prior to exiting the dialog or clicking "Done". Clicking done prematurely will require the process to be started again from the beginning.
The order of operations can be summarized as follows.
1. Set "Load Type" to "Floor"
2. Add any floor truss clear spans which are present on the front face of the girder. To do this, set the appropriate location, clear span of the floor, and the load options, and click "Apply". Repeat as needed, clicking apply with each new entry.
3. Repeat for any floor truss clear spans which are present on the back of the girder, once again appropriately setting the location, span and load options. Click apply again and then repeat as needed.
4. Set load type to "Roof"
5. Add any roof truss clear spans present on the front face of the girder. To do this, as with the floor truss clear spans, set the appropriate location, clear span of roof, load options, and now also the overhang and cantilever lengths. Click apply, and repeat with other needed spans.
6. Repeat once more for the roof truss clear spans present on the back face of the girder. Click apply and once again repeat as needed.
7. Finally, after all required concurrent loads have been added, click "Done" or "Ok"
We should now see in our drop-down of load cases, two new load cases. The Wall Girder TOT Ld, and Wall Girder FLR Ld. These will be analyzed using the roof and floor durations factors, respectively.
And with that, be sure to re-run your truss and save it so that the added loads are not lost.
Please feel free to reach out if any further assistance is required.
The information above was compiled in cooperation with our engineers.
For further engineering assistance, Alpine Structural Engineers are available at
(800) 521-9790 or structuralengineeringsupport@alpineitw.com.
You may also contact your local engineers directly for questions regarding a job sent in for seals, truss repairs, you have technical questions about truss design/plating (i.e. how to get a truss to pass), or you are not sure how to properly load a truss in IntelliVIEW.
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Email Support: helpdesk@alpineitw.com