INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS

INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS

1.INTRODUCTION:

Industrial Buildings are low rise steel structures, housing workshops or industries and characterized by their low height and absence of interior walls and partitions.

Usually, the roofs system of industrial buildings consists of trusses with light roof coverings. Now-a-days, new materials for both cladding and roofing are available. These are lighter compared to conventional Asbestos  Cement Sheets and Galvanized Iron Sheets.

However, few industrial buildings may be multistoreyed (not more than four storeys) to house these industries which involve some processes predominantly in vertical plane. More commonly, industrial buildings have single storey or single storey with mezzanine floors. To provide more working space, interior columns are either all together avoided, or else are very widely spaced in big industrial buildings.

The industrial buildings are classified into two categories :

1. Normal or Simple Industrial Buildings
2. Special type of Industrial Buildings

Normal or simple industrial buildings :

• These are common for short span layouts. These consist of simple single storeyed industrial sheds, with or without gantry girders, to house workshops, warehouses or factories, and do not contain intermediate columns.
• These structures provide more protected areas. These buildings require large and clear areas unobstructed by the columns. The industrial buildings are provided with adequate head room for the use of an over head travelling cranes.

Special type of industrial buildings :

• These special type of industrial buildings are usually called steel mill buildings. These are used to house big industries in which some manufacturing processes need spaces with specific and controlled environmental conditions. These may contain mezzanine floors, and may be multi-storeyed also, in some portion of the total floor area.
• This type consists of trusses framed in the long dimensions of the bay with purlins framing between the trusses in the short dimensions. This system is used where long span required in one direction is more than 21 m, while much shorter span is acceptable in the other direction. Trusses are not likely to be economical for spans less than about 21 m.
• When the roof truss is attached to, and is supported on steel columns at both the ends, the assembly is known as a  bent or a mill bent or transverse bent. Bents are braced together at intervals depending on the character of the building, Its length, Width, covering, exposure etc. Two Bents braced together form a braced bay. The space between two column lines is called an aisle. 

2. PLANNING AND STRUCTURAL FRAMING :

The planning and design of industrial buildings requires the knowledge of the following areas :

1. Site information
2. Soil Conditions
3. Future expansion plans
4. Plant layout and work flow
5. Preferred bay sizes
6. Crane types and capacity.
7. Availability of raw materials
8. Roofing, side cladding and wall material preferences.
9. Heating, ventilation, air conditioning equipment loads.
10. Parking facilities
11. Preferred fabricators/contractors
12. Availability of waste disposal and sanitary facilities
13. Budget and project schedule, etc.

The planning of an industrial building is based on functional requirements, i.e. on the operations to be performed inside the building. In the planning of a particular type of industrial building, the following should be given due consideration :

• wide area free of columns
• large height
• large doors and windows
• large span of trusses
• minimum weight of trusses, purlins, beams, columns, etc
• lighting
• sanitary arrangements
• safety during fire

Factors Considered While Selecting Site For Industrial Building:

1. The Site should be located on an aerial road.
2. Local availability of raw materials.
3. Facilities like watersupply, electricity.
4. Topography of an area.
5. Soil conditions with respect to foundation design.
6. Waste disposal facilities.
7. Transport facilities.
8. Sufficient space for storage of raw materials.
9. Space for future expansion.