JOURNAL OF TEKIRDAG AGRICULTURE FACULTY-TEKIRDAG ZIRAAT FAKULTESI DERGISI, vol.7, no.3, pp.147-153, 2010 (Journal Indexed in ESCI)
Greenhouses in Turkey are generally light frame structures that are mainly subject to wind and snow loads. Currently, there is no standard design procedure for pipe-framed greenhouse structures. The greenhouse contractors are usually pipe producers or plumbers who don't apply engineering calculations. They basically build the greenhouses based on their experiences. However, pipe-framed greenhouse building design procedures do include the calculation of forces such as dead, wind, and snow, moments, reaction forces, etc. There has been a need for a user-friendly design tool that can minimize the failure of pipe-framed greenhouse structures. A software program is developed using MS Visual Basic programming language. The program employs Kleinlogel equations in the calculations of moments and reaction forces. The simplicity of building pipe-framed system and Kleinlogel equations provide a unique opportunity to develop a simple program. This study gives a detailed explanation of the methods and the software.