Portal Frame Section Through A-A

Week 2 :Construction Technology - Bunnings Warehouse

Figure 1:the overall picture of Bunnings warehouse,Waurn Ponds.

This is a picture of a well constructed warehouse in Geelong. The Bunnings Warehouse is also known to be a great example of a well built portal frame construction which i will be discussing in this entry. Before i proceed on examining and describing the elements of the portal frames in this warehouse, i will give readers a clear idea about the construction of a portal frame.

Figure 1 :An example of a portal frame foundation detail
(image taken from http://http://www.ci.medford.or.us/images/imagemanager/portalfound.gif)

Figure 2: An example of a portal frame-connection
(image taken from http://www.kuleuven.ac.be)

Portal frame construction is a method of construction that is widely used in warehouses, barns or other places that require a large space at a reasonable cost.A pitched roof can also be used for this construction, because at most cases,pitched roofs are more desirable.Normally, materials like steel or steel with reinforced concrete are used in order to get rigid columns and rafters when the portal frame is connected. Generally, portal frames are used in single storey buildings,but it can also be used in a low rise buildings with a few floors.

Now,back to Bunning's.

The reason why I chose portal frames as an interesting element in this warehouse is because
of the connection of the rafters and columns. I may have not be too much aware of the construction designs when i shop in warehouses like these,but the first thing that caught my eye when i enter Bunnings was the construction of the portal frames.

In this case, strong and rigid joints are connected and the rafters and columns are designed in such a way so that they can carry the bending forces. In construction terminology, this would be called a ' bending resistant' situation. There is a reason why it is constructed like this. The joints that are strong could carry such forces from rafters and then transferred to the columns.
This also means that we could reduce the size of the rafters to suit the design of the wide span type of buildings. Hence, by building a large space like the warehouse, would save a lot of cost.

Figure 4 (a) -(c): An exemplary detail of the building

Fig:4(a)

Fig 4(b)

Fig 4(c)