The Design and Construction Process - Tensile Fabric Structures: Design, Analysis, and Construction - page 28

fabric roof in sufficient detail to allow review and approval by the owner and the
building official, and to allow construction to proceed.
The work product of the structural engineer during the contract document phase
should include the following:
Drawings:
1. Plan, elevation, and overall section views sufficient to show basic workpoint
geometry, final member and cable sizes, and membrane material.
2. Structural details for the membrane, including typical seaming and anchorage,
as well as general requirements for reinforcement at corners, bearing areas,
and areas of high stress.
3. Structural schedules and details for cables, including diameter, approximate
length, description of end fittings, construction (e.g. 6 x 19 wire rope), wire
grade, and galvanizing requirements. Cable connection details should be
provided that include definition of connecting plate geometry, thickness, and
edge radii at cable pin attachments.
4. If supporting members of structural steel or other materials are included in the
scope of the fabric roof design, these elements should be defined on the
drawings with the same standard of care used in more conventional forms of
construction. The design and detailing of these members must also reflect the
special requirements of fabric structures. These include provision for the
large deformations in membranes, cables, and pin connected supporting
elements; consideration of the means of erecting the fabric roof; and
avoidance of edges or corners to which the membrane might be exposed.
5. If foundation design is included in the scope of work of the fabric roof design,
these elements should be defined on the drawings with the same standard of
care used in other forms of construction.
Calculations:
1. All but the smallest and simplest of structures will be engineered on the basis
of a nonlinear finite element analysis. Methods of analysis are discussed in
detail in Chapter 6. The full output of such analysis may be voluminous, and
it is generally sufficient to include a summary of analysis input and output in
the calculation package submitted with the contract documents.
2. Calculations should include a check of the factor of safety of fabric strip
tensile strength in warp and fill/weft directions against calculated membrane
stresses under selected load.