Connection bridge effect on a DNA‐like two‐spiral‐up‐tower building

In the recent years, more and more great ideas about architectural design were inspired from bionics, that is, the China National Stadium, Taipei 101, and India Lotus Temple were first inspired from bird's nest, bamboo, and blooming lotus, respectively. However, being a feast to the eyes, those innovative architectures with complex structural behavior and unknown seismic performance are always being a challenge to structural engineers. Hereinafter, a DNA‐like high‐rise building with two separate spiral‐up towers was first outlined, in which each of the tower consist of an interior reinforced concrete core with inserted steel columns and an exterior composite frame made of steel beams and steel pipe–concrete columns. To study the influence of the connection bridges on the seismic performance under different level of earthquake excitation and torsional effect under gravity load, the load transfer mechanism of vertical force and lateral force was conducted, and a finite element model was built with parametrical studies. It can be concluded from the results from the parametrical studies that the drift angle was sharply decreased at the locations where the connection bridges combines two single towers, indicating that the lateral confinement effect of the connection bridges not only strengthen the whole structure but also leads to a discontinuity of the structural stiffness.     

Study on the seismic performance of a multi‐tower connected structure

Many reinforced concrete or steel reinforced concrete single‐tower buildings have been built in China. The structural performance of such one‐tower structural systems depends on that of the primary components that are structural walls or moment‐resistant frames. For multi‐tower connected structures, problems become more complex. A multi‐tower connected building, with large floor slab openings in plan and long‐span truss in elevation, was thus studied because of its structural complexity and irregularity. First, a 1/25 scaled model structure was tested on the shake table under minor, moderate, and major earthquake levels. Then, the dynamic responses of the model structure were interpreted to those of the prototype structure according to the similitude laws. The experimental results were also compared with the numerical analysis of a three‐dimensional finite element model for the irregular structure. Both experimental and analytical results demonstrate that, despite of the structural complexity, the overall responses of the building meet the requirements of the Chinese design code and the torsion of the structure is not remarkable. It is suggested that the strength and stiffness of the long‐span connecting truss should be improved due to the potentially large vertical acceleration under strong earthquakes. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Nonlinear time history analysis of China Pavilion for Expo 2010 Shanghai China

The peculiar building style and special structural system of the National Hall of China Pavilion for Expo 2010 Shanghai is a long‐span and large cantilevered steel–concrete hybrid structure with a shape of an inverted trapezoid in elevation and local discontinuity of floor slabs in plan for esthetic and functional considerations. Because of these characteristics, the building is classified as an irregular and complex structure. To investigate the seismic behavior of the structure, a refined finite element model was established by using NosaCAD. To simulate the nonlinear behavior of the members, the fiber section model was chosen for compression‐flexure frame members, and nonlinear flat shell element was chosen for tube wall. Nonlinear analysis was carried out to study the seismic behavior of the structure under the minor and major earthquakes at the level of intensity 7. With the analysis, the deformations, internal forces and damage states of the structure were investigated. Analysis results show that there is no damage on structure under minor earthquake, the structural system has sufficient capacity and ductility to resist major earthquake, and seismic performance objective of no damage under minor earthquake and no collapse under major earthquake can be reached. The deformation of the structure is less than the limit of the Chinese code. The order and distribution of damages on components of the tubes are reasonable, which can dissipate some dynamic energy. Finally, weak points were identified, and some corresponding suggestions were put forward to improve the overall seismic performance of this structure. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

上海世博会中国馆结构弹塑性时程分析

上海世博会中国馆东方之冠建筑造型和结构体系独特,结构为复杂大跨大悬挑钢-混凝土混合结构,主体结构为四个混凝土筒体,上部楼屋面采用混凝土梁板体系、型钢梁-混凝土板梁板体系和钢桁架梁-混凝土板梁板体系。由于上部结构悬挑较大,结构1阶振型为扭转振型,不满足现行建筑抗震设计规范的要求。采用NosaCAD2005有限元程序建立整体结构分析模型,压弯构件采用纤维截面模型,墙体采用非线性平板壳单元,以反映构件非线性复杂受力情况。通过7度多遇和7度罕遇烈度下的弹塑性时程分析,研究了该结构的变形、内力、破坏情况的发展历程。计算结果表明,小震情况下,结构构件未出现损坏;大震情况下,结构最大层间位移角满足1/100的限值要求,筒体构件损坏顺序和分布较为合理,能在一定程度上耗散地震输入能量。出现塑性铰的杆件未超过极限承载能力,结构可以满足"小震不坏"、"大震不倒"的抗震设防要求。最后根据构件的受力或损坏情况,给出了设计改进建议。     

Pseudodynamic test and numerical simulation of a large direct air‐cooling structure

In this study, pseudodynamic test was performed to evaluate the seismic performance of air‐cooling structures built in the high‐intensity earthquake fortification zones. The testing prototype was designed with the scale factor of 1/8, and the structural responses subjected to five peak ground accelerations (PGAs) were investigated followed by a cyclic test. Experimental results, including the lateral displacements, strains and crack patterns, were recorded and presented. The experimental load–displacement hysteretic loops subjected to the cyclic displacement history indicate that the direct air‐cooling structure exhibits a good seismic performance with a displacement ductility factor greater than 4. It is particularly noted that the structural integrity is well enhanced by the inter‐column connections, which are composed by using the steel truss and diagonal braces, and these steel members mainly remain elastic throughout the testing process. The natural period and the equivalent viscous damping ratio of the first‐order mode are also identified on the basis of the test results, which are utilized to calibrate the finite element model. In addition, the predicted lateral displacements based on a damaged plasticity model of concrete agree well with the experimental results. Both the lateral bearing capacity and ductility of the model demonstrate that the direct air‐cooling structure meets the seismic design requirement with respect to the high‐intensity earthquakes. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A comparative case study on seismic design of tall RC frame‐core‐tube structures in China and USA

To evaluate the major differences between the Chinese and the United States (US) seismic design codes from a structural system viewpoint, a comparative case study is conducted on a tall frame‐core‐tube building, a typical type of reinforced concrete system widely constructed in both countries. The building, originally designed using the US seismic design code, is firstly redesigned according to the Chinese seismic design code based on the information provided by the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center. Secondly, the member dimensions, the dynamic characteristics, the seismic design forces and the material consumptions of the two designs are compared in some detail. Subsequently, nonlinear finite element models of both designs are established to evaluate their seismic performances under different earthquake intensities. Results indicate that the seismic design forces determined by the Chinese response spectrum are larger than those determined by the US spectrum at the same seismic hazard level. In addition, the upper‐bound restriction for the inter‐story drift ratio is more rigorously specified by the Chinese code. These two aspects have led to a higher level of material consumption for a structure designed by the Chinese code. Despite of the above discussions, the two designs yield roughly similar structural performances under earthquakes. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cyclic loading test of T‐shaped mid‐rise shear wall

Shear wall systems are the most commonly used lateral load resisting systems in high‐rise buildings. Six 1:2 scale mid‐rise T‐shaped reinforced concrete shear wall specimens with aspect ratio of 1.75, 2.15 and 2.80 were respectively tested under reversed cyclic loading. The seismic behavior and displacement ductility were investigated. The effects of aspect ratio, axial load level and transverse steel ratio on the seismic behavior and displacement ductility were also analyzed. Test results were discussed and compared with T‐shaped steel–concrete composite shear wall. Results mainly showed that the T‐shaped shear wall specimens mainly presented bending–shear failure mode and were all destroyed because of the concrete crushing at the web (negative direction) and the longitudinal reinforcement of the web reaching the limited deformation (positive direction), showing that the web was the weakest part of T‐shape shear wall. The ductility of the specimens was decreased, and the ultimate load‐bearing capacity was increased by increasing the axial load. To specimens with smaller aspect ratio and higher axial load ratio, the special transverse steel ratio of the web should be increased to improve the crushing strain of the confined concrete of the web in order to satisfy the ductility of the walls. The seismic performance was obviously improved in the T‐shaped steel–concrete shear wall compared with that of the T‐shaped reinforced concrete shear wall. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Strength and post‐yield behavior of T‐section steel encased by structural concrete

In this study, the seismic performance of unsymmetrical steel–concrete composite precast beams with T‐shaped steel section were numerically explored and validated by their earlier experimental investigation. This design is based on the proposed calibrated finite element model in which key damage parameters for the evaluation of the nonlinear, post‐yield behavior of the precast composite steel beams were identified. The proposed nonlinear finite‐element‐based numerical model uses various parameters, including the dilatation angle and concrete‐damaged plasticity, to simulate the nonlinear behavior of unsymmetrical composite precast beams with T‐section steel. Greater seismic capacity with greater ductility, contributing to a maximized structural capacity within the composite precast beams was introduced by the effective use of the 2 materials, steel and concrete, and shown by the nonlinear hysteretic investigation of unsymmetrical steel–concrete composite precast beams that was validated experimentally. The post‐yield structural capacity found via the numerical analysis agrees with experimental results when the concrete‐damaged plasticity of the plastic‐damaged seismic model for concrete and the von Mises criteria of the steel section were introduced into the finite element model. Practical design parameters and recommendations were eventually suggested by examining the influence of precast composite beams with unsymmetrical steel sections on the concrete degradations and damage evolution.     

重庆高科太阳座大厦模型结构振动台试验研究

重庆高科太阳座大厦是一幢建筑外立面扭转,结构平面、竖向不规则超限的复杂超高层建筑结构,采用了钢管（型钢）混凝土框架-钢筋混凝土核心筒混合结构体系。外立面扭转导致外框架中竖向构件不连续,形成受力复杂的空间斜柱,进而造成结构各层平面形状、布置不断变化,以及结构扭转不规则。通过1∶25缩尺模型振动台试验,对模型结构在6度多遇、设防和罕遇地震作用下的加速度、位移等动力响应以及结构的损伤破坏情况进行观测,评价该结构体系的整体抗震性能。研究结果表明：通过增大竖向构件截面方式提高结构层高较大的楼层刚度引起了结构局部刚度突变、应力集中,致使薄弱部位转移;结构顶部塔楼的收进导致鞭梢效应明显,急剧增大了楼层变形;CFST柱-SRC梁框架的SRC梁端和节点周围加强环梁,以及RC核心筒连梁为主要损伤部位;模型在6度罕遇地震作用下能保证“大震不倒”,该结构体系具有良好的抗震性能,能够满足预设抗震性能目标。     

Seismic performance evaluation of tall and nonseismic‐designed wall‐type structures by shaking table tests

Two 1/5‐scaled models of a nonseismic‐designed wall‐type structures were constructed and tested on a shaking table to evaluate their seismic performances. The prototype structure had shear walls only along the short side of the structure, which was a typical structural plan of apartment buildings constructed by tunnel forms before the seismic design code was enforced in Korea in 1989. Of the two models, one model was reinforced by steel angle sections placed on the walls and under the slabs for seismic retrofit. They were tested on a shaking table to investigate performance for earthquake ground excitations with various intensities. The experimental results showed that the nonseismic‐designed wall‐type structure without seismic retrofit failed to satisfy the life‐safety and collapse‐prevention performance objectives, whereas the retrofitted structure satisfied all the performance objectives. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic behavior of tall buildings using steel–concrete composite columns and shear walls

For the seismic design of tall building structures, the behavior under severe earthquakes should be carefully considered and the upper limit of inter‐story deformations are often defined by the design codes. To improve the performance of structures under severe earthquakes, composite structural members, including steel reinforced column and steel plate reinforced shear wall, are often adopted. In the present work, the seismic behavior of tall buildings using steel–concrete composite columns and shear walls is investigated numerically. Fiber beam–column element models and multilayer shell models are adopted to establish the finite element model of structure, and the material nonlinearities are described by the plasticity and damage models. The accuracy of the developed models is verified by the experimental results of a single shear wall. Systematic numerical simulations are performed for the tall building structures subjected to different earthquakes. The comparative study indicates that the nonlinear redistribution of internal forces plays a very important role for the performance of tall buildings under severe earthquakes.     

高层建筑钢-混凝土混合结构设计实例

钢-混凝土混合结构兼有钢结构及钢筋混凝土结构的一些优点,是一种符合中国国情、具有较好综合经济指标的高层建筑形式.沪东造船厂技术中心大楼就是一幢典型的高层钢-混凝土混合结构.本文简要介绍了这一工程的结构设计情况,包括结构布置,结构分析和计算,以及主要的计算结果,并主要介绍了典型的节点构造,包括柱脚构造,梁柱连接,梁墙连接和梁梁连接等.此外,本文还介绍了以沪东造船厂技术中心大楼为模型,进行的振动台试验的概况.     

Life‐cycle cost assessment of mid‐rise and high‐rise steel and steel–reinforced concrete composite minimum cost building designs

The traditional trial‐and‐error design approach is inefficient to determine an economical design satisfying also the safety criteria. Structural design optimization, on the other hand, provides a numerical procedure that can replace the traditional design approach with an automated one. The objective of this work is to propose a performance‐based seismic design procedure, formulated as a structural design optimization problem, for designing steel and steel–reinforced concrete composite buildings subject to interstorey drift limitations. For this purpose, eight test examples are considered, in particular four steel and four steel–reinforced concrete composite buildings are optimally designed with minimum initial cost. Life‐cycle cost analysis (LCCA) is considered as a reliable tool for measuring the damage cost due to future earthquakes that will occur during the design life of a structure. In this study, LCCA is employed for assessing the optimum designs obtained for steel and steel–reinforced concrete composite design practices. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Nonlinear time history analysis of a super‐tall building with setbacks in elevation

Standing 260 m above the ground, the super‐tall building employs steel reinforced concrete frame and reinforced concrete core wall system strengthened by a belt truss story to resist lateral and vertical loads. It has two setbacks in elevation. One is structurally designed by direct termination of vertical members, and the other is realized by inclining columns. Because of these characteristics, the building is classified as an irregular and complex structure. To investigate the seismic behavior of the structure under rare earthquake action, a refined finite element model was developed by using ABAQUS (Dassault Systèmes Simulia Corp., Providence, RI, USA). Nonlinear time history analyses were conducted using explicit integration method. The results show that the structural system has sufficient seismic capacity and ductility to resist rare earthquake. The plastic deformation capacity of this building can meet the requirement of Chinese code, and seismic performance objective of no collapse under rare earthquake can be reached. However, deformations were found concentrated in members within and adjacent to setback stories, at the bottom strengthening portion of core walls and its upper story where lateral stiffness suddenly changed. It was suggested that transfer stories should be placed above or below these stories to improve the concentration of strain and deformation. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

北京新保利大厦结构模型振动台试验研究

对北京新保利大厦这一不规则的高层钢框架-型钢混凝土核心筒混合结构进行了1∶20缩尺比的结构模型模拟地震振动台试验研究。分析了模型结构的动力特性和不同强度模拟地震作用下模型结构的加速度、位移和应变反应,对结构特殊部位的地震反应进行了分析。最后对结构整体的抗震性能进行了评价。     

Shaking table test on hybrid structure with SRC frame and steel frame strengthened concrete core tube

针对工程中采用的钢梁SRC柱框架-型钢混凝土核心筒混合结构的抗震性能进行了试验研究。设计并完成了一幢17层的1∶10模型结构,并对其进行了不同地震工况下振动台试验。分析了该结构体系固有动力特性以及在不同类型、不同强度水准的地震动输入下位移、速度、加速度响应及破坏机理;研究了布置于钢筋混凝土核心筒内的型钢框架对结构整体抗侧能力及变形性能的影响。结果表明：在不同类型、不同强度的地震动作用下,该结构体系的破坏始于型钢混凝土核心筒与外部钢梁SRC柱框架连接节点处,而后向核心筒体内部连梁发展,最终扩展到核心筒体。在核心筒体混凝土局部出现严重开裂破坏后,内置的型钢框架及外部的SRC钢梁框架仍处于弹性工作状态,表明该结构体系可实现多道防线的抗震设计目的且传力途径明确,抗震性能良好。     

Experimental study on seismic performance of concrete‐filled steel tabular frame‐shear wall structure with buckling‐resistant braces

Three specimens of concrete‐filled steel tubular (CFST) frame‐shear wall structures with a scaling ratio of 1:4 were designed and tested in the present study. Two of them were installed with triple‐steel tube buckling‐resistant braces (BRBs). The seismic performances of the specimens were evaluated by testing them under lateral cyclic loading with constant axially compressive load being applied on the tops of the columns and the shear wall. The structural performances, such as failure characteristics, hysteretic behaviour, skeleton curve, strength degradation, stiffness degradation, energy dissipation capacity and strains at different locations of the three specimens, were measured and analysed in detail. The results showed that the load‐bearing capacity, the deformation capacity and the energy dissipation of the CFST frame‐shear wall structure were significantly improved due to the dissipation capacity of the BRBs, with the strength and stiffness degradation being obviously reduced. The results also showed that the CFST frame‐shear wall structure with BRBs has preferable mechanical behaviour and more reasonable failure mode. It was verified that the BRB can be used to improve the seismic performance of the CFST frame‐shear wall structure. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analytical investigation of pre‐stressed,pre‐cast beams with steel pipe sleeves

This paper presents an analytical investigation of the structural performance of a pre‐stressed, pre‐cast concrete beam with steel pipe sleeves. The hybrid pre‐cast beam consists of reinforcing steel, a pre‐stressing tendon, pre‐cast concrete and cast‐in‐place concrete. Steel sections are installed at both ends of the beam, and steel pipe sleeves are installed at the locations of pipes. The steel pipe sleeves in the pre‐cast, pre‐stressed beam allow the installation of piping and facility equipment. A strain‐compatibility approach was used to predict the influence of the sleeves and pre‐stressing on the structural behavior of the hybrid pre‐cast beams. It was found that reinforcing rebar, used to reinforce the sleeve openings for circular steel pipes with a diameter of 125 mm, contribute 20% to the flexural load resisting capacity, suggesting that rebar reinforcement can be considered one of the structural components of the beam. The pre‐stressed, pre‐cast beam with steel pipe sleeve openings exhibited performance similar to that of beams without openings when the reinforcements placed for the sleeve opening were considered part of the flexural stiffness of the beam.     

Design optimization of steel–concrete hybrid wind turbine tower based on improved genetic algorithm

The steel–concrete hybrid wind turbine tower is characterized by the lower part of the traditional steel tubular tower replaced with the concrete segment. The lateral stiffness will be improved obviously, and then, the excessive vibration of the steel tower can be solved effectively. Based on the improved genetic algorithm, an optimization program is built to consider the influence of materials, labor, machinery, and transportation on the construction cost of a steel–concrete hybrid tower for a 2.0‐MW wind turbine with a hub height of 120 m, in which the initial height of the concrete segment is 32 m. During the optimization process, design requirements of relevant specifications and industry standards are used as the constraints. The optimization variables include the bottom and top diameters of the tower, the wall thickness of each segment, the height of the concrete segment, and the area of the prestressed steel strand. By comparing the results of construction cost and structural capacity before and after optimization, it can be found that the steel–concrete hybrid wind turbine tower after optimization has the better structural stiffness and lower construction cost. The proposed optimization program can meet the design requirements and significantly improve the economic performance of the tower.     

Seismic performance of pentagonal concrete‐filled steel tube megacolumns with different bottom constructions

The seismic performance of irregular pentagonal concrete‐filled steel tube (CFT) megacolumns is very different from that of circular or square CFT columns. Six irregular pentagonal CFT megacolumn specimens, with multiple cavities each, derived from a tall building are tested under constant axial compression and low lateral cyclic loading. The main studied parameters are the lateral loading directions and bottom cross‐section constructions. The types of constructions investigated are normal, corner‐steel‐angle strengthened and simplified discontinuous partial steel plate fabrications. The influence of the parameters on the failure mode, bearing capacity, elastic–plastic deformability, and energy dissipation is analysed. The failure features are fractures of the bottom steel plates caused by the bending force. Both the normal and the strengthened CFT columns exhibit better seismic performance than the simplified columns and have a 8.9%–34.7% greater bearing capacity and a 24.5%–42.2% stronger elastic deformability. Therefore, utilisation of the simplified CFT columns should be limited due to its weakened ductility and energy dissipation ability when using a steel ratio similar to those used for the other column types. Finally, a simplified strength model for an irregular pentagonal CFT megacolumn is proposed, and the resultant prediction is conservative but matches the test result well.