Structural design of high‐rise buildings using steel‐framed modules: A case study in Hong Kong

Steel‐framed modular buildings afford certain advantages, such as rapid and high‐quality construction. However, although steel‐framed modules have been adopted in several countries, most of them are limited to low‐to‐medium‐rise structures; modular high‐rise buildings are rare. This study proposes a feasible structural design solution for high‐rise buildings using a steel‐framed modular system. A 31‐story student hostel building in Hong Kong is redesigned as a steel‐framed modular building and used as a case study. The finite element models of the building are formulated, and the structural behaviors under wind and earthquake load scenarios are compared. Moreover, the structural design process used for the 31‐story building is applied to design a hypothetical 40‐story modular building to further examine the proposed design solution. The numerical analysis results indicate that the roof lateral displacements and interstory drift ratios of the redesigned modular building are within the allowable limits of design codes; moreover, the modular connections behave elastically under the most adverse loading scenarios. Accordingly, the proposed solution can be used to design steel‐framed modular buildings of up to 40 stories, while complying with relevant wind and seismic codes.     

Combination model for conventional pushover analysis considering higher mode vibration effects

This paper aims to propose a combination model for conventional pushover analysis with invariant lateral load patterns to consider the effects of higher mode vibrations on the seismic responses of high‐rise buildings. Rectangular concrete‐filled steel tubular (RCFT) structures having two types of deformation, namely, shear type RCFT frame structures and shear‐flexural type RCFT frame‐shear wall structures, are selected and investigated. Finite element models are created using Perform‐3D. Both pushover analysis with three conventional lateral loading patterns, namely, uniformly distributed loading, first‐mode vibration loading, and concentrated loading at the vertex, and time‐history analysis with 15–21 earthquake records chosen for each RCFT structure are performed. Regression analysis is used to fit the interstory drift ratios obtained by the pushover analysis with those from the time‐history analysis. Further, the relations between the partial regression coefficients and the structural fundamental periods under certain lateral loading patterns are analyzed. On this basis, using these conventional lateral loading patterns, combination models for high‐rise buildings with two types of deformation are proposed and verified. The results demonstrate that the proposed method can estimate the seismic responses of high‐rise buildings with a high accuracy and has the advantages of ease of implementation and operation.     

Shear wall with outrigger trusses on wall and column foundations

A graphical method of analysis is presented for preliminary design of outrigger truss‐braced high‐rise shear wall structures with non‐fixed foundation conditions subject to horizontal loading. The method requires the calculation of six structural parameters: bending stiffness for the shear wall, bending and racking shear stiffnesses for the outrigger, an overall bending stiffness contribution from the exterior columns, and rotational stiffnesses for the shear wall and column foundations. The method of analysis employs a simple procedure for obtaining the optimum location of the outrigger up the height of the structure and a rapid assessment of the influence of the individual structural elements on the lateral deflections and bending moments of the high‐rise structure. It is concluded that all six stiffnesses should be included in the preliminary analysis of a proposed tall building structure as the optimum location of the outrigger as well as the reductions in horizontal deformations and internal forces in the structure can be significantly influenced by all the structural components. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Elastic analysis of asymmetric tall building structures

A simplified elastic hand method for estimating forces in asymmetric multi‐bent structures subjected to horizontal loading is presented. The structures may consist of combinations of coupled walls, rigid frames, braced frames and wall‐frames with shear walls. Results for structures that are uniform in height compare closely with results from stiffness matrix analysis. The method is developed from coupled‐wall deflection theory, which is expressed in nondimensional structural parameters. It accounts for bending deformations in all individual members as well as for axial deformations in the vertical members and is, therefore, more accurate for very tall structures. A closed solution of coupled differential equations for deflection and rotation gives the deflected shape along the height of the building. The proposed method of analysis offers a relatively simple and rapid means of comparing the shear forces and bending moments of different stability systems for a proposed tall building. The derivation of equations for analysis shown in this paper are for unisymmetric stability systems only, but the method is also applicable to general asymmetric structures. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Nonlinear seismic assessment of irregular coupled wall systems using high‐performance fiber‐reinforced cement composites

Reinforced concrete coupled wall systems that consist of multiple shear walls linked by coupling beams are known to be very effective for resisting lateral loads in high‐rise buildings. As to improving the seismic capacity of coupled wall systems, high‐performance fiber‐reinforced cement composites (HPFRCCs) have been recently considered. These materials are characterized by tension strain‐hardening behavior that can improve the ductility and toughness of structures subjected to reversed cyclic loading. In this study, nonlinear finite element analyses were conducted to investigate the effects of HPFRCCs on the seismic behavior of irregular tall buildings with coupled wall systems. The coupling beams were modeled using moment hinge elements, and the structural walls were modeled using fiber elements. Comparisons between analysis and test results of coupled wall specimens with and without HPFRCCs indicate that the modeling methods used well predict both the overall and local behaviors. The responses of a 56‐story irregular tall building with coupled walls are discussed with focus on the effects of HPFRCCs. It is noted that the use of HPFRCCs in coupling beams and structural walls of one‐fourth height from the base greatly affects the failure mode. For irregular tall buildings, nonlinear response history analysis indicates higher mode effects are critical.     

A generalized method for estimating drifts and drift components of tall buildings under lateral loading

A generalized method for estimating the drifts of tall buildings composed of planar moment‐resisting frames and coupled shear walls under lateral loading is presented. This method establishes the stiffness equations at the story levels by assuming that all the nodes in the same floor of a planar lateral‐force‐resisting unit have an identical lateral displacement, an identical rotation component due to the axial deformations of the columns, and an identical rotation component due to the flexural and shear deformations of the beams. By adopting this simplification, the story drifts contributed by different types of deformations, namely, the axial deformations of the columns or wall piers, the flexural and shear deformations of the beams, and the double‐curvature bending and shear deformations of the columns or wall piers, can be identified. In the formulation of the stiffness matrix, the P‐Delta effects were also incorporated. Through comparisons between the lateral displacements and story drifts computed using the proposed method and those computed using the structural analysis software Midas/Gen, the proposed method is proved to have high accuracy in estimating the drifts of tall building structures.     

Coupled vibration of tall building structures

Free vibration analysis is presented for general tall building structures, which may consist of any combination of frames, shear walls, structural cores and coupled walls. Emphasis of the analysis is placed on the coupled lateral–torsional vibration characteristic of the structures. Based on the continuum technique and D'Alembert's principle, the governing equation of free vibration and corresponding eigenvalue problem are derived. By applying the Galerkin technique, a generalized method of solution is proposed for the analysis of coupled vibration of general tall building structures. Based on the proposed method, a computation procedure is presented for predicting the natural frequencies and associated mode shapes of the structures in coupled vibration. Numerical investigation is conducted to validate the simplicity and accuracy of the proposed method. It has been shown that the proposed analysis provides an effective way, particularly at the preliminary design stage, for evaluating the vibration behaviour of tall buildings. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simplified analysis of asymmetric high‐rise structures with cores

A simplified elastic hand‐method of analysis for asymmetric multi‐bent structures with cores subjected to horizontal loading is presented. The structures may consist of combinations of framed structures such as coupled walls, rigid frames and braced frames with planar and non‐planar shear walls. Results for structures that are uniform with height compare closely with results from stiffness matrix analyses. The method is developed from coupled‐wall deflection theory which is expressed in non‐dimensional structural parameters. It accounts for bending deformations in all individual members, axial deformations in the vertical members as well as torsion and warping in nonplanar walls. A closed solution of coupled differential equations for deflection and rotation gives the deflected shape along the height of the building from which all internal forces can be obtained. The proposed method of analysis offers a relatively simple and rapid means of comparing the deformations and internal forces of different stability systems for a proposed tall building in the preliminary stages of the design. The derivation of equations for analysis shown in this paper are for unisymmetric stability systems only, but the method is also applicable to general asymmetric structures with cores. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Approximate analysis of symmetrical structures consisting of different types of bents

An approximate analysis is presented for calculating the deflections of individual cantilever bents, under lateral loading, as a sum of deflections of two complementary subsystems: a flexural and a shear–flexure subsystem. The analysis accounts for axial deformations in the vertical members of bents, since it is based on the continuum approach as is used in the coupled wall theory, and is also applicable to other types of cantilever bents used in concrete structures, such as rigid frames and wall frame assemblies. The fact that the deflection equation of a cantilever bent may be decomposed into two components makes possible the development of an approximate method for estimating the deflections of uniform plan‐symmetrical buildings composed of different structural bents. The method provides a rapid estimate of deflections and load distribution in such multi‐bent structures and therefore it is appropriate for preliminary structural design. At this stage, it is desirable for the practising engineer to have a quick estimate of the maximum response, even if the actual sizes of the structural elements are not yet known and only assumptions can be made about the relative stiffnesses of the major structural elements. The proposed analysis, as based on distributed parameter formulations, has the advantage of providing a deep insight into the structural behaviour of high‐rise structures. Its accuracy is evaluated by comparing the approximate results with those obtained by stiffness matrix analyses. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic evaluation of a 56‐storey residential reinforced concrete high‐rise building based on nonlinear dynamic time‐history analyses

In recent decades, shear walls and tube structures have been the most appropriate structural forms for the construction of high‐rise concrete buildings. Thus, recent Reinforced Concrete (RC) tall buildings have more complicated structural behaviour than before. Therefore, studying the structural systems and associated behaviour of these types of structures is very important. The main objective of this paper is to study the linear and nonlinear behaviour of one of the tallest RC buildings, a 56‐storey structure, located in a high seismic zone in Iran. In this tower, shear wall systems with irregular openings are utilized under both gravity and lateral loads and may result in some especial issues in the behaviour of structural elements such as shear walls and coupling beams. The analytical methodologies and the results obtained in the evaluation of life‐safety and collapse prevention of the building are also discussed. The weak zones of the structure based on the results are introduced, and a detailed discussion of some important structural aspects of the high‐rise shear wall system with consideration of the concrete time dependency and constructional sequence effects is also included. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Shaking table model tests on a complex high‐rise building with two towers of different height connected by trusses

The past decades have witnessed a flourish of novel high‐rise structures throughout the world under the requirement of a ceaselessly progressing architectural aesthetics, resulting in a complex plan and elevation of a building. Shanghai International Design Center is such a high‐rise building with two towers of different heights connected by trusses, and the structural system is composed of steel frame, reinforced concrete (RC) core wall and shear walls. The great irregularity in plan and elevation, according to Chinese code, necessitates a detailed study, which usually includes refined structural analysis, scaled structural model test and large size member or joint test. As recommended by the peer review committee, the shaking table tests of the 1:15‐scale structural model were performed. Based on the analysis and shaking table model testing, it was found that the stiffness of the connecting trusses is capable of coordinating the two towers to resist lateral forces jointly even under strong earthquakes. As a result of stiffening action brought by the connecting trusses, whipping‐lash effect in longitudinal direction develops sharply on top storeys. Structural responses at storeys around the connecting trusses vary remarkably due to sudden change in lateral stiffness. Through comparison between tests and numerical analysis, weak positions of the structure are identified, and some corresponding measures for improving the design of this structure are also put forward. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simplified torsion analysis for high-rise structures

A simple approximate hand method of analysis is presented for determining the internal forces in multi-storey structures subject to torsional loading. The buildings may include plan-symmetric combinations of coupled walls, rigid frames, wall-frames, single shear walls, rigid frames with central shear walls and braced frames. The bending deformations in all individual structural members are taken into account as well as the axial shortening and lengthening of the columns. The method is based on the continuous medium analogy which enables the analysis to be reduced to simple closed formulae. It is restricted to structures with uniform geometry up the height and linear elastic behaviour of the structural members. It provides a simple and rapid means of estimating the internal forces in each individual structural element and it is appropriate to the preliminary stages of the design of proposed tall building structure.     

Behavior of coupled shear walls with buckling‐restrained steel plates in high‐rise buildings under lateral actions

Traditional coupling beams in coupled shear walls (CSWs) may be lack of required ductility or inconvenient to be fully repaired or replaceable after earthquake damage. To improve the CSW seismic performance, a type of new structural system, which is referred to as coupled shear walls with buckling‐restrained steel plates (CSW–BRSP), is proposed and thoroughly studied. In the system, a pair of individual concrete wall is coupled through buckling‐restrained steel plates instead of traditional concrete coupling beams. Based on the continuous medium method (CMM), stiffness and strength design formulas are developed for the seismic design of this system. Intensive investigations have been conducted to assess the undesirable axial forces in the buckling‐restrained steel plates induced by lateral loads. In order to facilitate the application of this system, a detailed design procedure is also explicitly stated. Finally, an example of typical high‐rise building is presented to illustrate the design procedure as well as demonstrate the excellent seismic performance of the proposed system by means of nonlinear time‐history analysis. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fuzzy‐Valued Intensity Measures for Near‐Fault Pulse‐Like Ground Motions

Two fuzzy‐valued (FV) structure‐specific intensity measures (IMs), one based on squared spectral velocity and the other on inelastic spectral displacement, are presented to characterize near‐fault pulse‐like ground motions for performance‐based seismic design and assessment of concrete frame structures. The first IM is designed through fuzzying structural fundamental period to account for the period shift effect due to stiffness degradation, whereas the second IM is developed to take into account higher mode contribution in high‐rise buildings by employing a fuzzy combination of the first two or three modes for the lateral loading pattern in pushover analysis. A benchmark study of three example reinforced concrete frame structures shows that for moderate‐ to medium‐period structures, both of the proposed IMs improve prediction accuracy in comparison with the existing IMs. For short‐period structures, the FV inelastic spectral displacement is the best.     

A quick method for estimating the lateral stiffness of building systems

This paper presents a quick method for estimating the lateral stiffness of building structures, including regular and irregular moment frames, braced frames as well as frames with shear walls, which can be used for preliminary analysis and especially final check purposes. The method can be utilized for the calculation of the building displacement at different levels under lateral loads, the contribution of various lateral resisting systems to carrying the lateral loads, and finally the natural frequencies of the system. The basic idea of the method is based on some facts about the lateral deformation and stiffness of building structures, which make it possible to consider an equivalent single‐bay single‐story frame module for every story of the real multi‐bay multi‐story frame. This leads to a 3‐diagonal or banded stiffness matrix in most cases. Even in the cases resulting in a full stiffness matrix the proposed method does not require solving a system of simultaneous equations for obtaining the lateral displacements. Several numerical examples show the higher efficiency and precision of the proposed method in comparison with the Kan method. The use of the main concepts of the proposed method for preliminary design purposes is also possible as a secondary application. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optimal compensation of differential column shortening in high‐rise buildings

To avoid unexpected damage in structural and nonstructural elements, differential shortening between vertical members resulting from differing stress levels, loading histories, volume‐to‐surface ratios and other factors in a high‐rise building must be properly considered in the design process. While research activity has been reported in the literature on the development of estimation algorithms or prediction procedures for the elastic and inelastic shortenings of vertical members, no algorithms or systematic methods for the compensation of the differential shortenings have been reported. In this paper, a compensation method for the differential column shortening in a high‐rise building is formulated into an optimization problem. A simulated annealing algorithm is used to find optimal solutions. The proposed method is applied to the compensation of the differential shortening of the vertical members in two high‐rise buildings, including one verifying example of a 70‐storey building and a practical example of a 63‐storey building. As demonstrated in the examples, the differential shortenings of the examples are effectively controlled by the optimal compensation method. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Tall building with steel plate shear walls subject to load reversal

This paper presents a state‐of‐the‐art review of research on thin unstiffened steel plate shear walls including recent research advances, in addition to a case study building that used them as the primary lateral‐force‐resisting system. Thin unstiffened steel plate shear walls are becoming an attractive alternative to traditional lateral‐force‐resistance systems because they exhibit desirable structural properties. A properly designed steel plate shear wall will have considerable energy dissipation capacity, ductility, initial stiffness and ultimate strength. Furthermore, the said walls are efficient in terms of cost and space due to their light weight, ease of construction and small footprint. The case study building is a 55‐story high‐rise system that took advantage of these properties. Details are presented regarding the design process and tools that were used to ensure a safe and efficient structure. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optimum structural modelling for tall buildings

It is a common practice to model multi‐storey tall buildings as frame structures where the loads for structural design are supported by beams and columns. Intrinsically, the structural strength provided by the walls and slabs are neglected. As the building height increases, the effect of lateral loads on multi‐storey structures increases considerably. The consideration of walls and slabs in addition to the frame structure modelling shall theoretically lead to improved lateral stiffness. Thus, a more economic structural design of multi‐storey buildings can be achieved. In this research, modelling and structural analysis of a 61‐storey building have been performed to investigate the effect of considering the walls, slabs and wall openings in addition to frame structure modelling. Sophisticated finite element approach has been adopted to configure the models, and various analyses have been performed. Parameters, such as maximum roof displacement and natural frequencies, are chosen to evaluate the structural performance. It has been observed that the consideration of slabs alone with the frame modelling may have negligible improvement on structural performance. However, when the slabs are combined with walls in addition to frame modelling, significant improvement in structural performance can be achieved. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimental study on seismic performance of T‐shaped partly precast reinforced concrete shear wall with grouting sleeves

Prefabricated structure has prominent advantages such as easy control of construction quality, saving fabricating time and natural resources, and reducing environmental pollution and construction noise. The mostly used structural system in high‐rise buildings is reinforced concrete shear wall structure, which has high load capacity and lateral stiffness. Focusing on the connection of reinforcements, three T‐shaped partly prefabricated reinforced concrete shear walls and one cast‐in situ specimen in same dimensions as a control group are tested under low‐frequency cyclic loading to analyze their seismic performances in this paper. During the experiment, the axial compression ratio of specimens is fixed at 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5. Through the observation of phenomena and data analysis, hysteretic curve, skeleton curve, stiffness degradation, ductility, and load bearing capacity are compared and analyzed. The results show that partly prefabricated reinforced concrete shear wall has similar load bearing capacity with the cast in situ specimen, and it also has excellent ductility, stiffness, and energy‐dissipating capacity. The experimental results and analysis indicate that partly prefabricated reinforced concrete shear wall has outstanding seismic performances; under effective and reliable design, it can be used in building structures to play the same role as cast in situ components.     

Optimized design procedure for coupling panels in steel plate shear walls

Coupling beams have had a widespread application as performance enhancing devices within concrete structures and more recently also in steel structures. However, the conventional coupling beams are not so efficient in coupling distant walls. In this paper, a novel form of coupling members, namely, coupling panels is proposed and, then, the application for a nine‐story building is investigated. Coupling panels are steel plates which are exerted in the intermediate spans between adjacent shear walls and act as a mega‐coupling beam. First, a verified finite element model is constructed to demonstrate coupling panel behavior along with its global structural mechanism. Subsequently, a nine story building is designed and retrofitted as a new and existing building, using coupling panels. Moreover, an innovative optimization algorithm is proposed in order to achieve the best plate configuration to improve the structural performance using Nonlinear Static Analysis, Modal Pushover Analysis and Time History Analysis and the corresponding results are compared. In summary, it is shown that coupling panels can considerably control structural deformation demands toward a uniform pattern and reduce demands of main shear walls. The optimized design method also leads to a more economical design in comparison with force‐based design approaches. In addition, the proposed coupling panels are shown to be significantly effective, regarding to energy dissipation during earthquakes, and can enhance the structural resiliency. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.