STRUCTURAL DESIGN

Timber
Timber Truss
Truss Roof
Roof
Design
Design [A
[A Structural
Structural
Guide]
Guide]
By Laurin Ernst Updated June 6, 2023

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 Designing a timber roof truss for a new building project can be
challenging.

You not only have to consider all loads acting on the roof (snow, wind,
dead and live load) and choose the type of truss.

But you also must know how to design timber elements and ensure the
structure is structurally sound.

In this post, we’ll go through, step-by-step, how to calculate the internal

forces like moment and axial forces.

We’ll also define a static system and dimension the elements of the truss
roof according to the Timber Eurocode EN 1995-1-1:2004.

Here is a quick overview of what we cover in this post

What is a timber truss roof?

Choose a Static system of the truss roof
Characteristic Loads of the Truss roof
Load combinations of the Truss roof
Define timber material properties
Assumption of width and height of truss beams and
diagonals
ULS Design
SLS Design – Truss roof
Timber Truss Roof FAQ

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 Not much more talk, let’s dive into it.

What
What is
is aa timber
timber truss
truss roof?
roof?
The truss roof is a structural roof system spanning between 2 supports
and carrying loads like wind, snow and live load. Compared to other
trusses, the truss roof is usually inclined from the supports towards the
midpoint. It consists of top chord, bottom chord, diagonals and
connections. Statically speaking are the top and bottom chords beams,
acting in normal forces, shear forces and bending moments, while the
diagonals, usually, act as bars and only take up normal forces.

But…
There are a lot of di!erent truss roofs and a lot of di!erent words
for the truss members.

Doing a little bit of research i found that the diagonals can also be called:

webs
tie (when in tension)
strut (when in compression)

the top chord is sometimes called

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 upper chord

and the bottom chord

lower chord
tie beam

Have you heard any other names for truss components. Let us all know in
the comments below in case you have

As already mentioned, there is di!erent types of the truss roof, meaning

that the di!erent elements can be built with di!erent materials and
systems.

One example of the truss roof type can be seen in the next picture, where
a whole timber beams are chosen as top and bottom chords.

The top chords have a little overhang.

The webs/diagonals are connecting top and bottom chords, which leads
to an “additional support” of those members because the span is reduced.

For the wind bracing system can be used either wind bracing steel straps,
wooden boards or another solution. This system is however not modelled
and shown in the picture.

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 One example of Truss roof system

.. and here is the 3D model because they are an even better visualisation
than 2D pictures, aren’t they?

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 We haven’t covered wind bracing systems yet, – how they work, why we
need them – but would you be interested in learning more? Let me know in
the comments below.

Choose
Choose aa Static
Static system
system of
of the
the truss
truss
roof
roof
The static system of the truss roof is built up by 2 inclined timber beams
and connected to each other at the top with a hinge.

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 Those beams are supported with a pinned and a roller support at its
lowest point or – in case of a cantilevered overhang of the roof – close to
the lowest point.

4 diagonals connect top and bottom chords with each other. Those
diagonals or webs take up only normal forces and are therefore modelled
as bar elements.

Question
Bar elements are only a static approximation. In “reality” those
elements also take up bending moments and shear forces due to
their self-weight. So I am interested in your opinion. Would you
model the diagonals as bars or beams? Let me know in the
comments .

The static system of the truss roof is visualized in the next picture.

Static system | Timber truss roof

To not loose context – the 2D static system represents the following

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 rafters. But it can also represent any other section of beams and bars. The
spacing between the rafters is set to 4m.

Truss roof | 2D static system representing beams and bars.

The truss roof can of course also have di!erent layouts with
smaller/wider spans or steeper inclination.

Characteristic
Characteristic Loads
Loads of
of the
the Truss
Truss
roof
roof
The loads will not be derived in this article. We explained the calculation of

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 dead, live, wind and snow loads for pitched roofs thoroughly in previous
articles.

The defined load values are estimations from the previous calculations.

gk 1.08 kN/m2 Characteristic value of dead load

qk 1.0 kN/m2 Characteristic value of live load

sk 0.53 kN/m2 Characteristic value of snow load

The characteristic values of loads depend on a lot of di!erent

factors like location, National Annex and geometry of the building
and roof to name just a few. Loads therefore need to be calculated
for every structure.

As we also discussed in the article about the characteristic snow load,

there are 3 di!erent load cases, where only half of the value is applied on
one pitched side but the full value on the other.

However, due to simplicity we only consider load case 1 in this tutorial

which applies s k = 0.53kN /m 2 on both rafters.

We split up the wind load from the above table due to the complexity of
the wind with its wind areas and directions.

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 In this calculation, we will only focus on the external wind pressure for
areas of 10 m2.

Wind direction front

w k.F -0.25(/0.35) kN/m2 Characteristic value of wind load Area F

w k.G -0.25(/0.35) kN/m2 Characteristic value of wind load Area G

w k.H -0.1(/0.2) kN/m2 Characteristic value of wind load Area H

w k.I -0.2(/0.0) kN/m2 Characteristic value of wind load Area I

w k.J -0.25(/0.0) kN/m2 Characteristic value of wind load Area J

Wind direction side

w k.F -0.55 kN/m2 Characteristic value of wind load Area F

w k.G -0.7 kN/m2 Characteristic value of wind load Area G

w k.H -0.4 kN/m2 Characteristic value of wind load Area H

w k.I -0.25 kN/m2 Characteristic value of wind load Area I

The following picture presents the static system of the truss roof with its
line loads applied.

The section that is presented in Figure: Truss roof | 2D static system

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 representing beams and bars is used for this example.

Due to simplicity, this tutorial looks only at the wind load from the side.
Therefore, the wind load w k.I = −0.25kN /m 2 is applied to both rafters.

Line loads…
Since the distance between the trusses is set to 4.0 m the line loads
are calculated by multiplying the area load with 4.0 m.

gk 1.08 kN/m2 * 4.0m = 4.32 kN/m

qk 1.0 kN/m2 * 4.0m = 4.0 kN/m

sk 0.53 kN/m2 * 4.0m = 2.12 kN/m

wk -0.25 kN/m2 * 4.0m = -1.0 kN/m

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 Characteristic line loads on top chords.

Load
Load combinations
combinations of
of the
the Truss
Truss roof
roof
Luckily we have already written an extensive article about what load
combinations are and how we use them. In case you need to brush up on it
you can read the blog post here.

We choose to include w k.I. = -0.25 kN/m2 as the wind load in the load
combinations, as this is the wind load that is applied to the section we look
at, and to keep the calculation clean.

In principle, you should consider all load cases.

However, with a bit more experience, you might be able to exclude some

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 of the values.

In modern FE programs, multiple values for the wind load can be applied
and load combinations automatically generated. So the computer is
helping us a lot.

Just keep in mind that you should include all wind loads, but because of
simplicity we do only consider 1 value in this article .

ULS Load combinations

Due to the fact that the load direction and distribution is not the
same, the loads can not simply be added up.

I know you might not understand what that means when you do load
combinations the first time, but we did a whole article about what loads
exist and how to apply them on a pitched roof .

LC1 1.35 ∗ 4.32 kN

m

LC2 1.35 ∗ 4.32 kN

m + 1.5 ∗ 4.0 m
kN

LC3 1.35 ∗ 4.32 kN

m + 1.5 ∗ 4.0 m + 0.7 ∗ 1.5 ∗ 2.12 m
kN kN

LC4 1.35 ∗ 4.32 kN

m + 0 ∗ 1.5 ∗ 4.0 m + 1.5 ∗ 2.12 m
kN kN

LC5 1.35 ∗ 4.32 kN

m + 1.5 ∗ 4.0 m + 0.7 ∗ 1.5 ∗ 2.12 m + 0.6 ∗ 1.5 ∗
kN kN

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 m + 0 ∗ 1.5 ∗ 4.0 m + 1.5 ∗ 2.12 m + 0.6 ∗ 1.5 ∗ (−
1.35 ∗ 4.32 kN
LC6 kN kN

m + 0 ∗ 1.5 ∗ 4.0 m + 0.7 ∗ 1.5 ∗ 2.12 m + 1.5 ∗ (−

1.35 ∗ 4.32 kN
LC7 kN kN

LC8 1.35 ∗ 4.32 kN

m + 1.5 ∗ 2.12 m
kN

m + 1.5 ∗ (−1.0 m )
1.35 ∗ 4.32 kN
LC9 kN

m + 1.5 ∗ 4.0 m + 0.6 ∗ 1.5 ∗ (−1.0 m )

1.35 ∗ 4.32 kN
LC10 kN kN

m + 1.5 ∗ (−1.0 m ) + 0.7 ∗ 1.5 ∗ 2.12 m

1.35 ∗ 4.32 kN
LC11 kN kN

m + 1.5 ∗ 2.12 m + 0.6 ∗ 1.5 ∗ (−1.0 m )

1.35 ∗ 4.32 kN
LC12 kN kN

Characteristic SLS Load combinations

LC1 4.32 kN
m

LC2 4.32 kN
m + 4.0 m
kN

m + 4.0 m + 0.7 ∗ 2.12 m

4.32 kN
LC3 kN kN

m + 4.0 m + 0.6 ∗ (−1.0 m )

4.32 kN
LC4 kN kN

m + 4.0 m + 0.7 ∗ 2.12 m + 0.6 ∗ (−1.0 m )

4.32 kN
LC5 kN kN kN

m + 0 ∗ 4.0 m + 2.12 m + 0.6 ∗ (−1.0 m )

4.32 kN
LC6 kN kN kN

m + 0 ∗ 4.0 m + 0.7 ∗ 2.12 m + (−1.0 m )

4.32 kN
LC7 kN kN kN

m + 2.12 m
4.32 kN
LC8 kN

m + (−1.0 m )
4.32 kN
LC9 kN

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 m + 4.0 m + 0.6 ∗ (−1.0 m )
4.32 kN
LC10 kN kN

m + (−1.0 m ) + 0.7 ∗ 2.12 m

4.32 kN
LC11 kN kN

m + 0 ∗ 4.0 m + 2.12 m
4.32 kN
LC12 kN kN

m + 0 ∗ 4.0 m + (−1.0 m )
4.32 kN
LC13 kN kN

Define
Define timber
timber material
material properties
properties
Truss timber material
For this blog post/tutorial we are choosing a Structural timber C24. More
comments on which timber material to pick and where to get the
properties from were made here.

The following characteristic strength and sti!ness parameters were found

online from a manufacturer.

N
Bending strength f m.k 24 mm 2

N
Tension strength parallel to grain f t.0.k 14 mm 2

N
Tension strength perpendicular to grain f t.90.k 0.4 mm 2

N
Compression strength parallel to grain f c.0.k 21 mm 2

N
Compression strength perpendicular to grain f c.90.k 2.5 mm 2

N
Shear strength f v.k 4.0 mm 2

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 E-modulus E 0.mean kN
11.0 mm 2

E-modulus E 0.g.05 kN
9.4 mm 2

Modification factor k mod

If you do not know what the modification factor k mod is, we wrote an
explanation to it in a previous article, which you can check out.

Since we want to keep everything as short as possible, we are not going to

repeat it in this article – we are only defining the values of k mod .

For a residential house which is classified as Service class 1 according to

EN 1995-1-1 2.3.1.3 we extract the following load durations for the di!erent
loads.

Self-weight/dead load Permanent

Live load, Snow load Medium-term

Wind load Instantaneous

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 The snow load can also be categorized as a short-term load. This
depends on the location and the National Annex.

From EN 1995-1-1 Table 3.1 we get the k mod values for the load durations
and a structural wood C24 (Solid timber).

k mod

Self-weight/dead load Permanent action Service class 1 0.6

Live load, Snow load Medium term action Service class 1 0.8

Wind load Instantaneous action Service class 1 1.1

Partial factor for material properties γ M

According to EN 1995-1-1 Table 2.3 the partial factor γ M is defined as

γ M = 1.3

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 Please be aware that those factors can vary from country to
country. So please make sure to check those values with your
National Annex.

Assumption
Assumption of
of width
width and
and height
height of
of
truss
truss beams
beams and
and diagonals
diagonals
We are defining the width w and height h of the C24 structural wood beam
top chord Cross-section as

Width w = 120 mm
Height h = 220 mm

.. the values for the compression diagonal are defined as

Width w = 60 mm
Height h = 120 mm

.. the cross-sectional dimensions of the tension diagonal are defined as

Width w = 60 mm
Height h = 100 mm

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 .. and lastly the dimensions of the tension bottom chord are

Width w = 100 mm
Height h = 160 mm

We highly recommend doing any calculation in a program where you

can always update values and not by hand on a piece of paper! I made
that mistake in my bachelor.

In any course and even in my bachelor thesis, I calculated everything

except the forces (FE program) on a piece of paper.

Now that we know the width and the height of the top chord Cross-
section, we can calculate the Moment of inertias I y and I z .

w⋅h 3 120mm⋅(220mm) 3
Iy = 12 = 12 = 1.065 ⋅ 10 8 mm 4

w 3 ⋅h (120mm) 3 ⋅220mm
Iz = 12 = 12 = 3.17 ⋅ 10 7 mm 4

.. for the compression diagonal

w⋅h 3 60mm⋅(120mm) 3
Iy = 12 = 12 = 8.64 ⋅ 10 6 mm 4

w 3 ⋅h (60mm) 3 ⋅120mm
Iz = 12 = 12 = 2.16 ⋅ 10 6 mm 4

.. and for the bottom chord

w⋅h 3 100mm⋅(160mm) 3
Iy = 12 = 12 = 3.413 ⋅ 10 7 mm 4

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 w 3 ⋅h (100mm) 3 ⋅160mm
Iz = 12 = 12 = 1.33 ⋅ 10 7 mm 4

ULS
ULS Design
Design
In the ULS (ultimate limit state) Design we verify the stresses in the timber
members due to bending, shear and normal forces.

In order to calculate the stresses of the rafters, we need to calculate the

Bending Moments, Normal and Shear forces due to di!erent loads. An FE
or beam program is used to execute this task.

Calculation of bending moment, normal and

shear forces
We use a FE programm to calculate the bending moments, normal and
shear forces. Load combination 3 with live load as leading and snow load
as reduced load leads to the highest results which we visualize.

Load combination 3

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 Load combination 3 | Dead load, Live load, Snow load | Truss roof

Load combination 3 – Bending moments

Hi friends! We are now live with our newsletter. Click here

Bending moments | Load combination 3 | Rafter roof

Does the moment distribution of the top chords remind you of

something…?

Maybe the one from a continuous beam?

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 Load combination 3 – Shear forces

Shear forces | Load combination 3 | Truss roof

Load combination 3 – Normal forces

Normal forces | Load combination 3 | Truss roof

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 Bending and Compression Verification
Top chords
chords
From the max. bending moment in the span (7.25 kNm) and the
compression force (117.2kN) in the same point we can calculate the stress
in the most critical cross section.

Bending stress:

Md 7.25kNm 0.22m
σm = Iy ⋅ h
2 = 1.065⋅10 −4
⋅ 2 = 7.49MP a

Compression stress:

Nd 117.2kN
σc = w⋅h = 0.12m⋅0.22m = 4.44MP a

Resistance stresses of the timber material:

fk
f d = k mod ⋅ γm

f m.k 24MP a
LC3 (M-action) k mod.M ⋅ γm 0.8 ⋅ 1.3 14.77MP a
f c.k 21MP a
LC3 (M-action) k mod.M ⋅ γm 0.8 ⋅ 1.3 12.92MP a

Utilization according to EN 1995-1-1 (6.19)

σ σm
η = ( fc.cd ) 2 + f m.d = 0.625 < 1.0

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 Bending and Compression is therefore verified for the top chords.

Diagonal –
– Compression
Compression only
Now let’s do the same for the compression diagonal/web, and let’s
remember that we modelled the elements as bars.

We have therefore only Normal forces. From the max. compression force
(37.04kN) in the diagonal, we can calculate the most critical stress.

Compression stress:

Nd 37.04kN
σc = w⋅h = 0.06m⋅0.12m = 5.14MP a

Utilization according to EN 1995-1-1 (6.19)

σc
η= f c.d = 0.4 < 1.0

Shear Verification – Top chords

From the max. shear force (midsupport: 18.55 kN) we can calculate the
shear stress in the most critical cross section.

Shear stress:

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 3V 3⋅18.55kN
τd = 2⋅w⋅h = 2⋅0.12m⋅0.22m = 1.05MP a

Resistance stresses of the timber material:

fv
f v = k mod.M ⋅ γm

4MP a
f v = 0.8 ⋅ 1.3 = 2.46MP a

Utilization according to EN 1995-1-1 (6.13)

τv
η= fv = 0.43 < 1.0

Shear is therefore verified.

Buckling Verification
Top chords
chords
We assume that buckling out of the plane (z-direction) can be neglected
because the rafters are held on the sides. Therefore we can define the
buckling length l y as

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 Buckling length l y = 2.57m

l y = 2.57m

Radius of inertia

i y = √ w⋅Iyh = 0.064m

Slenderness ratio

ly
λy = iy = 40.47

Relative slenderness ratio (EN 1995-1-1 (6.21))

⋅ √ Ef0c.0.
λy
λ rel.y = π
k
.g.05
= 0.61

β c factor for solid timber (EN 1995-1-1 (6.29))

β c = 0.2

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 Instability factor (EN 1995-1-1 (6.27))

k y = 0.5 ⋅ (1 + β c ⋅ (λ rel.y –0.3) + λ 2rel.y ) = 0.72

Buckling reduction coe#cient (EN 1995-1-1 (6.25))

1
k c.y = = 0.915
k y +√k 2y –λ 2rel.y

Utilization (EN 1995-1-1 (6.23))

σc σm
k c.y ⋅f c.d + f m.d = 0.88 < 1

Buckling of the top chords is verified.

Diagonal –
– Compression
Compression only
Buckling out of plane is assumed to have the same buckling length as in
plane. Therefore we can define the buckling lengths l y and l z as

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 Buckling lengths l y and l z = 1.5m

l y = 1.5m

l z = 1.5m

Radius of inertia

i y = √ w⋅Iyh = 0.035m

i z = √ w⋅Izh = 0.017m

Slenderness ratio

ly
λy = iy = 43.3

lz
λz = iz = 86.6

Relative slenderness ratio (EN 1995-1-1 (6.21))

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 ⋅ √ Ef0.g.05
λy
λ rel.y = π
c.0.k
= 0.651

λ rel.z = λz
π ⋅ √ Ef0.g.05
c.0.k
= 1.303

β c factor for solid timber (EN 1995-1-1 (6.29))

β c = 0.2

Instability factor (EN 1995-1-1 (6.27))

k y = 0.5 ⋅ (1 + β c ⋅ (λ rel.y –0.3) + λ 2rel.y ) = 0.747

k z = 0.5 ⋅ (1 + β c ⋅ (λ rel.z –0.3) + λ 2rel.z ) = 1.449

Buckling reduction coe#cient (EN 1995-1-1 (6.25))

1
k c.y = = 0.898
k y +√k 2y –λ 2rel.y

1
k c.z = = 0.48
k z +√k 2z –λ 2rel.z

Utilization (EN 1995-1-1 (6.23))

σc
k c.y ⋅f c.d = 0.443

σc
k c.z ⋅f c.d = 0.828

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 Buckling of the compression diagonal is verified.

Bending and Tension Verification

Bottom chord
chord
From the max. bending moment in the bottom chord beam (0.53 kNm)
and the tension force (101.47 kN) in the same point we can calculate the
stress in the most critical cross section.

Bending stress:

Md 0.53kN m 0.16m
σm = Iy ⋅ h
2 = 3.41⋅10 −5
⋅ 2 = 1.24MP a

Tension stress:

Nd 101.47kN
σt = w⋅h = 0.1m⋅0.16m = 6.34MP a

Resistance stresses of the timber material:

fk
f d = k mod ⋅ γm

f t.k 14MP a
LC3 (M-action) k mod.M ⋅ γm 0.8 ⋅ 1.3 8.62MP a

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 Utilization according to EN 1995-1-1 (6.17)

σt σm
η= f t.d + f m.d = 0.82 < 1.0

Bending and tension of the bottom chord is verified.

Diagonal –
– Tension only
The maximum tension force in the diagonals is 36.5 kN

Tension stress:

Nd 36.5kN
σt = w⋅h = 0.06m⋅0.1m = 6.05MP a

Utilization according to EN 1995-1-1 (6.17)

σt
η= f c.d = 0.7 < 1.0

Tension of the diagonals is verified.

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 SLS
SLS Design
Design –– Truss
Truss roof
roof
We also discussed the SLS design a bit more in detail in a previous article.
In this blog post we are not explaining too much but rather show the
calculations

Instantaneous deformation u inst

u inst (instantaneous deformation) of our beam can be calculated with the
load of the characteristic load combination.

As for the bending moments, shear and axial forces we are using a FE
program to calculate the deflections due to our Load combinations.

LC 3 of the characteristic SLS load combinations leads to the largest

deflection u.

u inst = 9.2 mm

Unfortunately EN 1995-1-1 Table 7.2 recommends values for w inst only for
“Beams on two supports” and “Cantilevering beams” and not for a truss
system like in this case.

However, the limits of the deflection can be agreed upon with the client
and the structure is not collapsing due to too large deflections if the rafter
is verified for all ULS calculations.

The moment and shear distribution of the top chord are similar to a
continuous beam, but because the “middle support” is a compression

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:
 member which is translating downwards because it’s connected to the
bottom chord which deflects downwards, the limits for a simply supported
beam for the whole top chord length is assumed in this tutorial (EN 1995-1-
1 Table 7.2).

But my question to you: What limit would you use in this case? Let me
know in the comments below.

w inst = l/300 = 5.15m/300 = 17.17 mm

Utilization

u inst 9.2mm
η= w inst = 17.17mm = 0.536 < 1

The Instantaneous deflection is verified for the top chords and the
truss.

Final deformation u fin

u fin (final deformation) of our beam/rafter can be calculated by adding
the creep deformation u creep to the instantaneous deflection u inst .

Therefore, we will calculate the creep deflection with a FE program.

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 This might be a bit quick, but we have already covered the basics in the
article about the timber beam dimensioning.

So check that out if you want to know exactly how to calculate u creep by
hand. Let me know in the comments below if you struggle with calculating
the creep deformation.

The creep deformation of LC3 is calculated as

u creep = 2.64mm

Adding the creep to the instantaneous deflection leads to the final

deflection.

u fin = u inst + u creep = 9.2mm + 2.64mm = 11.84mm

Limit of u fin according to EN 1995-1-1 Table 7.2

w fin = l/150 = 5.15m/150 = 34.3 mm

Utilization

u f in 11.84mm
η= w f in = 34.3mm = 0.35

The final deflection is verified for the top chord and the truss.

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:
 Now that the truss is verified for compression, bending, buckling, tension
and deflection we can finally say that the cross-section heights and widths
are verified – check .

After designing rafter, purlin, collar beam roof, it’s very interesting to see
the di!erence in cross-sectional areas for each of the roof, right?

I am curious to hear from you: Which is your favourite roof system? Which
truss layout have you already used in a design? Let me know in the
comments .

Timber
Timber Truss
Truss Roof
Roof FAQ
FAQ
What are 3 advantages of a timber truss roof?
– lightweight
– easy to build; local carpenter have the knowledge to build timber trusses
– structurally very e#cient; most elements act mainly in tension or
compression

What are 3 types of timber roof trusses?

– King post truss
– Fink truss
– Fan truss

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 #featured #Timber

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