Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
upon its strength. Solid structures of brick and concrete are highly intensive in
their use of material, whereas timber and steel are usually more economical, but
each material can have different structural methods using different amounts of
material.
Figure 13.48 shows structural alternatives to columns and beams. This exam-
ple shows steel components, but the same principles apply for timber. The lattice
beam is the most effective use of material, and the most economical is the lattice
beam with radial lattice work.
One aspect of material-economical structures is that they are often more
labour intensive than simple structures. The lattice beam with many joints costs
more to produce than the equivalent laminated timber beam, even if the use of
material is twenty times less. In some cases, the extra cost of transport and more
Figure 13.48: Structural alternatives to columns and beams.
Source: Reitzel and Mathiasen, 1975
