Load Paths and

Tributary Area Examples

T. Bartlett Quimby, 2007
A Beginners Guide to Structural
Mechanics/Analysis
Alaska State Fairgrounds
Farm Exhibits Building
Palmer, Alaska
A large open exhibit building with long
span truss girders.
Long Span Roof Truss Girders Mezzanine Area Awning Roof
Awning Roof with
Hip Beam
Long Span Roof Load Path
Load rests on roof deck
Roof deck transfers load
to supporting joists.
Each joist supports
an area equal to its
span times half the
distance to the joist
on either side.
The joists transfer
their loads to the
supporting truss
girders.
Each truss girder supports an
area equal to its span times
half the distance to the girder
on either side.
The truss girders
transfer their loads
to the supporting
piers and columns.
The pier supports half the
area supported by the truss
girder plus area from other
structural elements that it
supports.
Mezzanine Floor System
Metal Deck/Slab System
Supports Floor Loads Above
Joists Support Floor Deck
Girders Support Joists
Columns Support Girders
The area tributary to a
joist equals the length of
the joist times the sum of
half the distance to each
adjacent joist.
The area tributary to a girder
equals the length of the
girder times the sum of half
the distance to each adjacent
girder.
The girders are not
single span so the
tributary area for the
columns cannot be
graphically determined
Cantilever Loads
Deck carries load to edge
joist and wall.
Exterior joist carried load to
the supporting cantilever
beam ends
The load diagram for the
cantilever (excluding self wt)
consists of a single point
load at the end of the
cantilever.
The point load consists of
the reaction from the two
supported joists which
equals the tributary area (1/2
the cantilever span times the
spacing of the cantilevers)
times the pressure load on
the floor plus the self weight
of the joist.
End Wall
Framing
For lateral pressures, the
siding spans between the
horizontal girts (yet
another fancy word for a
beam!)
The girts support half the
siding to the adjacent girts.
This is the tributary area
for one girt.
The girts transfer their
lateral load to the
supporting beam-
columns.
The beam-columns do
not support any roof
load, they are here to
resist lateral forces that
they receive from the
girts. They support an
area that extends from
locations half way to the
adjacent beam-columns
on each side and from
floor to roof as shown.
The beam-columns
transfer their lateral
loads equally to the roof
and foundation.
Hip Beam
This beam picks up load from
joists of varying lengths. In
this case the resulting load
distribution would have a
linearly varying component.
The illustrated area is part of
the tributary area at the roof
deck level.
The hip beam also picks up a
point load reaction from a pair
of the roof girders.