Structural options

By far the most common structural material is steel due to its strength to weight ratio, ease of fabrication and cost.

Although it is possible to construct long span buildings of concrete, timber and aluminium, by far the most common structural material is steel due to its strength to weight ratio, ease of fabrication and cost. It is for this reason that this section concentrates on structural steel options, although the structural forms are common to other materials.

Large single volume sheds can be conveniently classified according to their structural forms

For simplicity, the main types of structural forms used for the design of large single volume sheds can be classified into the following headings:

Beam Structures

Portals and Arches

Masted Structures

 

 Space Frames

Umbrella Structures

When considering this classification of structural types it should be noted that many building structures are hybrid forms using a combination of different systems.