3. Darwin Area Building Manual (DABM)
Northern territory implemented the DABM in 1975
Consists of 10000 cycles of permissible load to 1.8 times of that load until it
fails.
4. TR440
DABM has considered to be too conservative and TR440 been introduced at
1978
Consists of simple loading sequence programme of
Load Cycles
62.5% of design load (DL) 8000
75% of DL 2000
100% 200
gxDL (g= no of tests) overload
5. Low High Low (LHL)
Since the actual imitation of cyclones have not been considered by TR440,
the more likely (similar to cyclones) loading sequence have been proposed by
Mahen Mahendran on 1994, also listed in NCC.
Sequence Number of cycles
A 4500
B 600
C 80
D 1
E 80
F 600
G 4500
6. Basic failure modes
Two basic types of failure mechanism found on roof battens to the rafter
connection.
Pull-out failure
Pull-through failure
7. Research Problem Definition
Accurate prediction on capacity of the battens are necessary.
The current equation listed in the AS4600 overestimates the pull through
capacity and gives a lot higher values than the actual experiments.
Static tests (slow rate loading) has been done in previous tests to accurately
predict the actual pull through capacity.
Same capacity have been applied to the LHL tests to predict the cyclic
capacity.
Some researches found that the cyclic capacity is actually higher than static
capacity which gives a very unusual results.
Static capacity is taken when the crack initiates and load starts to drop,
however cyclic capacity is taken when the member disengage due to
complete pull through.
8. Research Aim
Identify past research and testing relating to the low-cycle fatigue effect on
roof batten connections
Test not only 0.75mm roof battens but also 0.55mm to further enhance results
and explore the possible effect of thickness on roof batten fatigue capacity
Results to provide complete pull through failure capacities of the 0.75mm and
0.55mm battens for multilevel-level cyclic tests
If results confirm static capacity is still lower than cyclic capacity, provide
recommendations.
Assess the impact of loading rate on the static capacity of roof battens
13. Test plan
Test 0.55mm Batten 0.75mm Batten
High Speed Pull-Through
Cantilever (Static)
3 tests 3 tests
Slow Speed Pull-Through
Cantilever (Static)
1 test 1 test
Two-Span Test (Static) 3 tests 2 tests
Multi-Level Cyclic Test 1 tests 2 tests
14. Results
Two span slow loading rate
0.55mm static test (slow loading rate) 0.75mm static test (slow loading rate)
15. High loading rate cantilever
0.55mm static test (high loading rate) 0.75mm static test (high loading rate)
16. Two span static (slow rate loading)
Batten Type Static Capacity
(kN)
Mean COV
0.55mm (TS4055) 2.39, 2.29, 2.27 2.32 0.02
0.75mm (TS4075) 3.10, 3.10, 3.12 3.11 0.00
20. Discussions and analysis
Effect of Loading Rate on Static Capacity of Roof Battens
Test Batten
Size
High Load
Rate Static
Capacity (kN)
Slow Load
Rate Static
Capacity
(kN)
Cantilever 0.75 3.83 3.25
0.55 2.37 2.07
21. Discussions and analysis
LHL loading sequence seems to be too soft due to possible underestimation of
the higher loads in the middle cycles and the minimum holding criteria
defined by NCC at the peak cycle.
Just the initiation of crack for static failure criteria compared to complete
pull through for cyclic failure has not been equally accounted.
Results shows that the thinner members are more vulnerable to the cyclic
loading than thicker members, furthermore thinner members have lesser
effect due to faster loading rate.