Tutorial 4 - Portal Frame Section #2

Here's the next section of the Portal Frame which looks at it from the other side to last weeks.

Tutorial 3 - Portal Frame Section

Well heres my crack at the section for the Portal Frame. No doubt some parts are wrong, had a little trouble getting my head around some of the parts...

Site # 1 Visit

The building i took these photos of is a building in North Geelong under several stages of construction. Because of this, i could take photos that showed the construction of the building clearly and the order in which various supports are built.


This first image shows the later stage of construction. The steel framework is clearly seen in both the columns and the rafters and shows the level of support that steel gives as there are very few members in this large span.



Shown here is the joining method employed for steel members. This method of connection is a knee joint, different to the Portal Frames that we are looking at this semester. A Portal Frame consists of two seperate members: the rafter and column, welded together accompanied by such supports as haunchings and girts, to span large distances. A knee joint follows similar principles but the steel is often slimmer so less strength and the joint is not as rigid so the spanning capabilities are less. The steel plates and bolts used provide excellent support under the weight of the roof. The trusses are also shown clearer in this photo and how effective steel is over large spans.


The final photo shows what is most likely to be the office space. Again steel is used for support as can be seen between the two levels. These three images together show how steel can be used in a wide range of applications due to its incredible strength under various forces both in lateral and compression.

First Post!

Finally got around to setting it up so here's a random post to start it off.