It seems as though the king post truss is always used in conjunction with the ridge beam. Is it necessary to have a ridge beam in the design to use the king post or can it still be used when the design is without a ridge beam?(for instance, using the queen post truss on the other bents, with a principal purlin plate supporting common rafters. I was trying to design a 24 x 48 frame with 5 bents spaced at 12 feet using queen posts on 4 of the bents with intermediate support below, but the 4th bent being a clear span of the full 24 foot width. I thought the king post seemed the best, but it may not be possible? Perhaps the hammerbeam may be the only option?
