Car Port Design Project - Assignment Example

Car Port Design Submitted By (Please enter the list here) Due Submitted Name of the Lecturer: Dr. Xiaodong Huang Table of contents 1.0 Introduction 4 1.1 Parameters in the design of car ports. 4 2.0 A comparison of different design concepts. 5 2.1 Three columns concept 6 2.2 Four column concept. 7 3.0 Design Process. 8 4.0 Detailed design 8 5.0 Conclusion 11 References 11 Summary The car ports though simple in structural context involves intricate decision making its planning and material selection exercise. The process involved in the planning and material selection is explained here with the advantages a carport would have in selecting any specific approaches. Also, the different, material combinations that exist in the selection of a car port is also included here. Finally the engineering of the car port system and the inputs required for this exercise like preparing a bending moment and shear force diagrams are also presently. Thus the essay could give comprehensive information on the carport planning and design exercise. 1.0 Introduction Car ports are units designed for the parking the cars to protect it from the environmental influences and dust. The ports need to be very cost effective and at the same time must be able to satisfy the requirement of the customer. Normally, these units are designed using the simple structural components like beam and columns. The roofing materials shall be lightweight and weather resistant. The columns shall be fixed firmly to the ground using suitable foundation units. The roof material is fixed on the purlins, which are connected to the beam. Thus the purlins are thin section beams that must be able to take the roofing component load while beams carry the weight of both purlins and roof cover. The columns are designed to carry the load transferred by the beams. The challenge in the design process is to select the most economical cross section that had least weight with maximum strength. 1.1 Parameters in the design of carports. Besides being very safe for the people and securing the vehicles, it must also be aesthetically very appealing and capable of creating very good visual impact. The most important parameters to be considered for the design of car ports are easy access, personal safety, vehicular safety and selection of materials and landscaping and aminity of adjacent area (SPG Note 16. The importance of first three parameters are self-explanatory. On the materials, the chosen ones shall be of good quality with most preferred being tarmac. Being very durable and attractive the cobbles or the block pavements too could be used. An effective landscaping could improve the overall appearance of the unit. This could be achieved by low boundary walls or fencing but should be very judicious in the selection of such systems as it must not give any opportunity for the outsiders to have a closer view of the vehicles parked in the car port. Also, the layouts shall incorporate the easiness in the maneuvering the vehicle by the drivers or any constrains imposed by disabled people (SPG Note 16). Also, in the case of multiple car ports. the design process shall also look into the easy access, visual clarity for the road users and pedestrians while locating the access points. In addition, detailed signboards or signages that give an indication about the entrance, exist, lift and any other important facility shall also be incorporated. 2.0 A comparison of different design concepts In the case of independent carport design for homes requires a detailed evaluation of the design proposals as the factors like variation in the type of materials or the roof overhangs could lead to considerable variation in the expected life and the initial cost required. The different carport designs that are normally adopted are usually based on different configuration of the spaces earmarked or selection of the materials. The stoned alone type carport or an attached one are the two broad classifications based on the parking options required. The attached types, though have the advantage of having an easy access to the main building even when the weather is not very favorable the standalone one is more acceptable when the conditions demand more flexibility. The design classifications into like three column and four column concepts are based on this thinking. 2.1 Three column concept The three column type carports are most preferred for the attached type car parks where the access to the car parks needs to be very wide and easy. The one side of the part shall be supported by two columns with the edges of the park having an additional support along its edges provided by the fixed structure to which the car port is attached. The third column is given on the opposite side thus giving a wider access to vehicles into the park area of the port. The details of such ports are illustrated in the figure 1. The figure gives the illustration of columns and slab necessary for the car ports. The dotted lines shows the boundary of the slab which is supported by three columns, shown as square blocks. Also shown in the figure is the side support given on the two-column side of the port slab. This support gives a additional stability to the port slab from by acting as prop along its entire length. Figure 1 : Three column concept of car ports 2.2 Four column concept On the other hand the four columns gives the most optimum support systems for both attached and separated car parks. Though three columns are adequate for a stable car park designed as a separate unit, the additional column would give additional stability thus ensuring the stability of the system. The location of four columns shall be to the corner most location giving necessary allowances for the over hangs. A symmetric positioning of the columns would give the designs of the beams that are identical which results in less cost of design and installation/construction. An illustration for four columns concepts for the car parks is given in the Figure 2. Figure 2 : Illustration of four column car ports 3.0 Design process The architectural designers have proposed that the carports need to be ideally designed as smaller and multipurpose shelters for cars (MetalcarportsInc.com, n.d.). Among them the canopy carports are the most common, which could be erected fairly easily and quickly. Another major advantage of such units are their advantage of being assembled and disassembled in a very short time. Steel based carports are structures that look more like barns, and where the wind velocities and other natural influences would have enclosures on two sides. While, the aluminium carport designs are more popular with the houses that are constructed with modern facilities in cities and urban areas. The elegance in the aluminium carport often eliminates the dull ness caused from the concrete and being very malleable the designs in various shapes are also possible using this metal. The wooden carports on the other hand are very expensive and also demand extensive maintenance requirements. As the restrictions imposed by various building laws are minimal in the case of carports, erecting a separate car park would have high flexibility in its design and implementation (MetalcarportsInc.com. n.d.). Design of Purlins 4. Detailed Design Typical cross section of the beam, purlin and roof cover are as given in the figure 3. In the figure given the lower most layer is the main beam that runs from one to the other column. Purlins are smaller beams or lintels that are connected across the two main beams with the purpose of supporting the roof cover the covers the entire carport space. L Figure 3 : Purlin, Beams and roof cover The clear span of the purlin shown in the figure is L m. The length of the beam shall be considered as the clear distance between the beam support. If the Purlins Figure 4 : Purlin configuration in a typical car port weight of the beams are given as W units per unit length and its length is Lb and if N number of purlins are provided then the distance between one purlin to the other shall be given as Lb / N. Thus the load of the slab across the space Lb / N is the design input for the purlin design. The figure given below gives the total representation of purloins on a plan of the carport unit. The loads that are coming on the purlins shown in the figure are in the space Lb / N caused by the roof materials. The mechanics involved in the analysis is the determining the shear force that acts on the beam as well as the bending moment details. The detailed results of the bending moment and shear force are shown in figures 5 and 6. Figure 5 - Distribution of shear force between the supports Figure 6 - Distribution of bending moment between supports 5.0 Conclusions The essay explains in detail the design perspective in the design of a car port. The different concepts in of design have been discussed along with the configuration of space. The design of components like purllins is also added. The important inputs of the design the shear force and bending moment have also been illustrated using the figures. It s clear from the figures that the maximum shear force occurs at the supports while the bending moments would be at the centre. References Build a Covered Carport, [Online] Available from [Accessed on 7 November 2009] Carport Cover-up, [Online] Available from [Accessed on 7 November 2009] http://hubpages.com/hub/Carport-Plans-and-Designs Free-standing flat roof carport, [Online] Available from [Accessed on 6 November 2009] Metalcarportinc.com (n.d.), [Online] Available from [Accessed on 6 November 2009] SPG Notes 16 (n.d.), Designing a car park, [Online] Available from [Accessed on 7 November 2009] Read More