10 Trusses You Need To Know! (and 1 Bonus!)

There are so many “types” of trusses and in this video I go through the differences between them, how they got their different names, and which aren’t actually trusses even though they say they are!
0:00 Introduction
0:29 HOWE TRUSS
0:41 COMPRESSION
1:07 PRATT TRUSS
1:40 WARREN TRUSS
2:15 TOWN LATTICE TRUSS
2:38 K-TRUSS
3:12 FINK TRUSS
3:36 KING POST TRUSS
4:05 QUEEN POST TRUSS
4:38 SCISSOR TRUSS
5:49 HAMMER BEAM "TRUSS"
6:44 VIERENDEEL "TRUSS"
An invaluable guide to trusses is the “Design Guide for Timber Trusses” by the Timber Frame Engineering Council and the Timber Framers Guild. It’s available here: www.tfguild.org/products/desi...
The music at most of the title stages is “Triangle Time Piece” by Jonathan Slatter. Yup, that’s right, a short bit of music played on the triangle which seemed super appropriate for this…and it’s only played on the title stage when the truss is a real truss!
I'm Paul Kassabian. I'm a structural engineer and a Principal at SGH in Boston, MA. I taught graduate students at MIT for nine years and currently teach on/off at Harvard's Graduate School of Design (GSD). These are videos based on my structural design projects and years of teaching structures to students.
MUSIC: Licensed from Pond5.com

[@meganw6007]

I appreciate the previous video I watched and this one, for explaining the pros and cons of each design, especially with regards to function, usage, weight requirements, and specific examples, both spoken by you and the real-life images you display. It really helps me understand that even tho something might seem like a terrible design conceptually, there's still going to be a time and a place where it's the optimum solution for design aesthetics or materials and labor available

[@petevb]

Really enjoying your series. I’m from a mechanical engineering/ physics background but I’m currently working through some structural problems (with a bunch of seismic specialist structural engineers) for a current project. The first principles you lay out so effectively really help frame the issues. Apparently even the “$1.50 in late fees at the public library” are no longer required. Much appreciated, please keep it up.

[@antrikshkhadgata3773]

thank you so much for the simplified explanations and making truss learning easy

[@bubbyisgod]

Thank you so much for your wonderful explanations and examples. Very helpful.

[@jotabr570]

Thanks a lot. I love the down to earth first principles approach that only comes after years of experience! I would love to see your take on the following topics -Joints (bolt preload, failures) - Composite (uniax, biax etc) - Case studies principal stresses - Stress concentration and fatigue Many thanks!!

[@Iwonttellyoumyhandle]

Very helpful explanations. Please continue this series as you find time. I have been watching since you first started and have found them all enjoyable and informative.

[@PaulKassabian]

Thanks - that's the plan!

[@zimmermanlandscape9287]

Thank you for posting such high level information. It occurred to me after seeing the Vermont bridge that if you keep adding diagonals what you eventually end up with is a sheet of osb.

[@PaulKassabian]

Yup!

[@jorgeojeda9338]

thanks for this, I really enjoyed this vid

[@PaulKassabian]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@bellaroba]

This is so cool. Thank you.

[@PaulKassabian]

Glad you liked it!

[@SystemsPlanet]

It would be helpful if you rated these some how to help people decide which one to use.

[@enotdetcelfer]

Would be helpful if you had the image of the truss up while you're talking about it. A short flash of the image then cutting back to you talking means a lot of jumping back or playing and pausing a second instance of the video on the side :P

[@colonynaut1627]

So, I'm trying to design a truss for the floor of my Tiny House on a trailer (THOWs). I think this is a place innovation would make a huge difference because of the weight constraint. Typically 2x6 are used with 16 or 24 oc. A subfloor normally rests on the metal trailer bed, hopefully on some insulation and bolted to the trailer's siderails. It seems like open web truses and i-joists are the most commonly used by engineers and then 100% of tiny housers use conventional timber/joist framing. Surely there is another alternative though. I was imagining - there is cross-members about 5-6 inches deep in the trailer bed, and then sheathing is going on the subfloor. I supposed then something like arches or diagonal members in some kind of truss. I notice herringbone blocking is often used to brace subfloors which led to the thought perhaps if the herringbones had special plates on the trailer's metal cross members and also a recess in the subfloor sheathing itself... tldr; how can I reduce weight in a Tiny House on Wheels subfloor? Also would be delighted to get any pointers on good simple books for this newb! Thanks Structural Engineers! You are heros!

[@prestonranger3082]

so I'm a young lad, and decided to watch a video that could better help me in the future :). So when you say structural sound,whats the life span of said trusses whats the expected life time of these truss,and what helps narrow down the different types of truss for building something? like a house

[@trungtrinhthanh804]

How can I calculation the force in each tube, tension and bend, any difference in calculation 2D truss and Triangle Truss and rectangular , Thank alot

[@MondayMorning-yv7nf]

If all the Trusses were of the same material, span and weight...... could you specify an order as to which was the best (i.e. be able to carry the most load) ?

[@AaronBrand]

Yes.

[@murraymadness4674]

Can I ask you a question..if you have a horizontal beam and then add angled struts at the ends, is this a truss? And does it increase the load capacity of the beam? If so, by how much? Google just tells me they are used to keep the beam in place (horizontal).

[@disqusrubbish5467]

OK, just a thought...less face time, and more time showing the diagram. Nothing wrong with your face but when you start listing advantages, disadvantages, differences, and so on, it would be helpful to be looking at the diagram. Thxs. Truss me on this...

[@kneolith]

Second this! Why not fill one background corner with a cartoon of the truss in question to help us keep it in mind.

[@dankingsbury9971]

Agree, other scientific content youtubers drop their "talking head" back to a corner of the frame and keep the static or animated graphics full frame

[@andrewrae8064]

nice

[@bryanlin2206]

Also Jawerth Truss!

[@andybrice2711]

You previously lamented the fact that there isn't more music inspired by civil engineering, like _Funiculì Funiculà._ So now I think you need to turn all the truss names into a song, like Jay Foreman did with Tube stations.

[@PaulKassabian]

Challenge accepted…

[@alancalvitti]

why are u flashing diagrams for a split second? How about more diagram, less host screen time

[@Osama-Anwar]

You missed Michelle's Truss

[@PaulKassabian]

Thank you...yes, Anthony Michell's optimized structures are fascinating. You can find an example of this in my earlier video here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gXvHepV5o5mBq6c Enjoy!

[@MikeAG333]

The Kingpost truss (mainly) is a northern thing in Britain. In the south we tended to use Crown Post rooves, which work in 3 dimensions with collar purlins. It's important to understand that all of these mediaeval roof types used principal trusses and then secondary infill construction such as purlins and common rafters...and they were all constrained by the sizes (particularly lengths) of the available timber. They were also all designed to be on show, so aesthetics were a major part of their design. Remember the buildings they spanned were almost exclusively open "Hall Houses" and public buildings.....with no intermediate floors, and no ceilings. So, I am going to feign offence that you chose to show the simple northern roof design (Kingpost), and failed to show the much more developed and intricate Crown Post roof.

[@PaulKassabian]

Correct. My entire video is actually a snub to the Crown Post. Glad it worked…

[@MikeAG333]

@@PaulKassabian Oooooh......them's fight'n words...Structural engineers against architects......the way the world has always been. :)

[@bubbyisgod]

Thank you so much for your wonderful explanations and examples. Very helpful.