custom steel truss design

huangyhg

custom steel truss design
i am designing a custom steel roof truss supporting bar joists. the span is about 70ft, i am using wt's for the chords, and double angles for the webs.  i am doing this for the first time.  i have found design criteria in the 2005 aisc 13ed, and in the design guide #7 for the design of the truss members connections, etc. however, i have not seen anything on the out of plane bracing requirements.  does anyone know where to find or what design criteria i should use to specify the top and botton chord out-of-plane bracing.  i assume the bar joists will be bracing the top chord, so it more for the bottom chord, especially at the panel points.
another question that i just thought of, if i have to design for lateral loads, wind/seismic, would i just model the truss with the lateral and gravity loads and design the members and connections based on the   
technically, the bottom chord is in tension unless there is a uplift load that overcomes the dead load.  but i would still brace it such that l/r<300.
if i understand your second question, yes, you could model it for the reactions from your   
the bottom chord bracing seems to be an issue that hasn't been resolved on this forum yet.  it's been discussed, but i don't think there's been any consensus yet.  while i have gone through some examples using energy methods for stability and (somewhat) convinced myself that bottom chord bracing isn't required (unless it's subject to uplift forces) just for gravity to brace compression diagonals i still don't feel comfortable with that.
you can use the bracing provisions in app. 6 to check the bottom chord for strength and stiffness to brace compression diagonals.
as far as lateral loads, you seem to have it right.  i would suggest modeling the columns (the actual height and size) and the actual connection conditions because this will influence the behavior of the truss.
yes, the bottom chord is mostly in tension, except for uplift.  but if it is just in tension, how are the panel points supported laterally, by weak axis bending of the bottom chord.
as far as the lateral load question, i don't have all of the info for this job yet.  i do have a roof plan of the building.  it currently has joist girders and they would like to fabricate the trusses themselves.  i see x-bracing perpendicular to the trusses, but none in the direction of the trusses.  so if the truss girders shown on the drawings were designed to take moment, i would then have to design the custom trusses to take the moment also.  i wonder if the truss can take the moment with the member connection still being pinned connected, tension/compression   
arlord:
if the bottom chord is fully in concentric axial tension, there is no weak axis (side sway) bending from itself, rather, the diagonal (web   
yes kslee1000,
i was thinking that any local instability caused by the compression member could be resisted by weak axis bending of the bottom chord   
you might consider using a joist girder in lieu of a fabricated truss. it should lower your overall construction cost. the joist girder supplier can pretty much handle anything that you can throw at them: non-uniform loads, end moments, uplift, etc. as long as the chords are not larger than 6 x 6 angles, using grade 50 steel.
arlord:
yes. it is prudent approach. add bridgings/braces may help in   
just for thought, many bar joists have slotted holes to allow for girder placement tolerances.  do the use of slotted holes preclude use of the joist as a brace for the girder?
bobber-
don't they typically get welded after adjustment?