The benefit of a truss over older structural designs like coupled rafters is that it provides longitudinal support.
													
																	Open truss roof structure. 
									
	
		
	
																	A timber roof truss is a structural framework of timbers designed to bridge the space above a room and to provide support for a roof trusses usually occur at regular intervals linked by longitudinal timbers such as purlins the space between each truss is known as a bay. 
																	Trusses are gradually replacing the conventional rafters to the point that nowadays more than 80 percent of new residential construction uses trusses to support the roof. 
																	A roof truss is a structural unit designed to frame a roof and to support the roof material interior ceiling insulation and forces caused by snow rain and wind. 
																	Components of roof truss. 
															
													
									
	
		
	
																	A roof truss is supported by the exterior walls and span the width of the building. 
																	Rafters have a tendency to flatten under gravity thrusting outwards on the walls. 
																	This type of truss is seen in a framed roof consisting of rafters and a ceiling joist and in other mechanical structures such as bicycles and aircraft. 
																	Roof framing has undergone a quiet revolution over the past half century. 
															
													
									
	
		
	
																	Because of the stability of this shape and the methods of analysis used to calculate the forces within it a truss composed entirely of triangles is known as a simple truss. 
																	A roof truss is a structural framework of timbers designed to bridge the space above a room and to provide support for a roof. 
																	In most truss members only flexural buckling of the compressed members in the plane of the truss structure and out of the plane of the truss structure need be evaluated.