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Advantages and Disadvantages

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Disadvantages

  1. The main disadvantage is the cost, which in some cases can be high compared with other structural systems. Commonly, the major cost is for the on-site manual assembly of the structure. Generally, spatial structures may not be the most cost efficient options for short spans.
  2. Even though the geometric regularity of such systems is generally an appealing feature to most designers, to some people it may seem too busy. Obviously, since numerous patterns can be generated, the designer may be able to select a configuration that is not as dense to him or her.
  3. Both aluminum and steel spatial structures have low fire resistance as compared to other building construction materials such as concrete and masonry.
  4. The relative cost of the joints to the members connected to them is generally higher than typical planar structures.
  5. Spatial structures made of aluminum are susceptible to permanent deformations under sustained load or 'creep'. This phenomenon depends on the working stress, time, and temperature, as higher stress and temperature, and longer load duration result in more creep. However, aluminum can resist high stresses at low temperatures. For this reason aluminum spatial structures are quite suitable for the regions where the temperature can drop far below freezing.

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