Long Span and High-rise

Steel Construction
C&S SEMINAR
20th April 2007
i-Connect room, 1st storey Surbana
One, 168 Jalan Bukit Merah
Singapore

J Y Richard Liew
Ph.D, P.Eng (S
( Spore
pore),
), CEng
CEng,, MIStructE
MIStructE,,
Associate Professor
Director, Hazard, Risk and Mitigation Programme
Department of Civil Engineering
National University of Singapore
Email:cveljy
Email:
cveljy@
@nus
nus..edu
edu..sg

2007-4-24

Sustainable and Buildable Steel

Construction
Quality
Steel is a high quality, dimensionally accurate material
Efficiency/speed
Steel components are pre-fabricated in efficient
factory processes,
and installed rapidly on site minimising
the use of site labour
Light Weight
Steel has a higher strength-to-weight ratio; less
requirement on foundation.
Aesthetics
Attractive appearance; long span floor beam system up to 20m
free span
Minimum waste
Steel construction is not wasteful in production, and
all waste can be recycled
Recycling
Steel can be recycled and reused at the end of life. 50% of
current steel use is from a recycled source
Re-use
Steel components can be dismantled and re-used

Buildability of Large Volume

Space Frame Structures
1. Single integrated elements or system
2. Simplified joint design to facilitate
construction
3. Speed of Construction

Minimise temporary works/ low-level working

Maximise off-site fabrication
Exploit high strength products to reduce weight
Minimise applied fire protection

Integrated Roof Systems

Integrated metal roof on steel trusses
Metal roof on steel trusses or beams

Single Integrated Element

Singapore Changi International Airport Hangar 5

- Before Lifting

Main Trusses (92m) are rigidly welded

Secondary trusses are bolted.

SIA Hangar 5

Singapore Changi International Airport Hangar 5

-85 m x72m Single Integrated Roof System
Minimise temporary works/ low-level working
Temporary
Walkways &
Working
Platforms

~27.0 M

Strand
Jack

Lattice
Column

0.0
M

A
11

21

Hydraulic
Hoses

Power
Pack

Singapore Changi International Airport Hangar 5

- Preparation of Heavy Lifting

Singapore Changi International Airport Hangar 5

- After Lifting

Sports Complex Roof

- Curved arches

3-Segment construction
Need Temporary
2 cranes forSupports
erection
Need

(16m, 27.67m)

10 ton x 12m webbing slings

10ton Chain Block to control &
adjust the level & displacement

(10m, 15.67m)
8m Overhang
Cantilever

9.5m Overhang Cantilever

60 Degree

60 Degree

(22m, 15.3m)
Temporary
Erection Plate

13m

2mm
3mm

1mm
2mm

15.8KN

Temporary Tower
Support 2mx2m

Temporary Tower
Support 2mx2m
7.5m

6m

31KN
(CG)

38.65m
38.59m
(0, 0)

3.9KN 2m 3.9KN

Lateral stability during installation

The Whampoa Footbridge use of tubular sections

The Whampoa Footbridge

60m

PROPOSED WHAMPOA FOOTBRIDGE

TTJ/ER/PROP-03

Lift footbridge to barge

Erection
completed in
the morning

Pull the bridge

to the other
end

Suntec City Convention Center

(120m x 160m)

Fabrication
done on the
floor slab

Keppel Distribution Park

Six warehouses: 120m x 90m each

(Ss = 0.95)

Preassembled
space frames

Industrial processes for systemizing

and prefabricating materials

Building services or part of the roof cladding can be pre-installed on the ground before lifting

Pre-assembled
space frames

Bolted Joints
Avoid site welding

Preinstalled on the ground using ball-jointed space frame system

Lifting of steel roof

Economy of Steel Joints

Rigid joints cost more than
nominally pinned joints
Joints that require a large amount
of stiffening are more expensive
Connections which require special
jigs to fabricate will be relatively
expensive.
Site welded joints cost more than
field bolted joints.

Rigid joints with many stiffeners

Congested node

Overlapping Joint

Non over-lapping joint

To avoid node congestions welded node

over-lapping joint

Bolted joint to avoid site

welding

Reinforced Rigid Joints

Non-reinforced Flexible Joint
D
brace

xl

La

ce
bra

90 -
A

chord

chord

xl

La

N
M

(a) Axial Displacement

(b) In-Plane Rotational Displacement

 Additional of connectors or nodes

adds weight and increases the cost by
10-15%.
Can be avoided if precision fabrication
methodology is adopted.

3-D detailing and joint modelling

Prefabrication &
Accuracy
CNC Drilling/Cutting Line

In-line production based on

Computerized Numerically
Controlled machinery.

CNC Hole Drilling/ Punching

Sea Front
Access

CNC Plate Profile Cutting Machine

FCAW Welding

CNC Pipe Profile Cutting Machine

CNC Pipe Profiling

Fire engineering of large span

structures
Fire Detection/
Alarm

fire safety design

Realistic Fire
Modeling,
CFD, Parametric fire, etc

Fire suppression

Heat Transfer
Analysis

Structural
Response
Calculation

FEM

NLFEA

Liew, J Y R, Tang, L K and Choo, Y S (2002), Advanced analysis for performancebased design of steel structures exposed to fires, J of Structural Engineering,
ASCE, USA, 128(12), 1584-1593

Degradation of steel
strength and stiffness
% of normal value
Strength and stiffness
reductions very similar
for S235, S275, S355
structural steels and
hot-rolled reinforcing
bars. (SS)

100

Effective yield strength

(at 2% strain)

80

SS

60
SS
40
20

Elastic modulus

300

600
900
Temperature (C)

1200

Minimise passive fire protection

Fire protection is not required!

Fire protection is not required!

MAJOR STEEL BUILDING

PROJETS IN SINGAPORE
Name

No. of Storey

OUB Centre
Treasury Building
Ocean Tower
John Hancock Tower
Hitachi Tower
The Concourse
UOB Plaza
Republic Plaza

67*
52
30
26
37
42
66*
66*

Weight (tons) Yr Completed

11,000
15,000
5,800
2,350
6,000
8,000
10,000
8,217
*Tallest in Singapore, 280m

1986
1986
1991
1992
1992
1992
1992
1995

STEEL BUILDING PROJETS IN SINGAPORE

(Cont)
Name

No. of Storey

UE Square
Suntec City
Bank of China
Singapore Post Centre
Springleaves Tower
Cuppage Centre
Capital Tower
One Raffles Link
ParkView Square
ORQ

18
NA
37
14
37
10
52
8
30
50

Weight (tons)
2,000
27,000
3,000
7,000
4,200
3,000
9,600
3,000
8000
8,000

Yr Completed
1996
1996
1997
1999
2000
2000
2000
2000
2002
2006

Buildability of Multi-storey Steel

Building
Standardization - repetition of grids, sizes of
components and connection details
Simplicity - simple building construction
systems and installation details.
Speed of Construction

Exploit long span advantage

Reduce no. of floor joints.
Integrate building services
Adopt composite construction

Typical commercial building

Long Span Construction reduce floor joints

Integration of building services

Composite Truss

Suntec City

Composite Truss System

>25m

OUB Building

950

20m

Hybrid
system of
steel
frames with
concrete
core

Shallow floor systems

A wide flat plate is
welded to the
underside of Hsection.
The wide plate supports
the precast concrete slab
reducing the overall
thickness of the floor.

Advantages of shallow floor

systems
Shallow floor depth reduces the overall
height of the building
Flexibility of service layout
One-hour fire resistance
because major parts of the
steel section is encased in
concrete.
Longer periods can be
achieved by protecting the
exposed bottom flange

Deep metal decking

Deep metal deck permits the use of in-situ concrete
acting compositely with the metal deck.
This reduces the dead load of the floor and removes
the need to manoeuvre heavy precast sections into
place.

Metal decking

Steelwork ready to receive

decking

Placing metal decking

Decking in place

Pumping concrete

Comparison of composite
flooring systems
Building A

Beam +
Overall floor
slab
zone
depth

Building
height

Floor slab
dead load

Total steel
weight per
floor area

STRUCTURAL FORM

mm

mm

KN/m2

Kg/m 2

Slimflor with pre-cast slab

237

550

13.0

3.0

43.4

305

650

13.4

2.8

51.7

295

650

13.4

2.7

42.2

Composite beams & composite slab

435

800

14.0

2.0

38.9

Cellular beams with composite slab

775

1100

15.2

2.0

46.6

Composite beams with web openings

725

1050

15.0

2.0

50.2

Slimflor with deep metaldeck

(unpropped)
Slimflor with deep metal deck (propped
deck, unpropped beam)

Summary on Composite Floor

System
Large column free spaces often require
deep beams
Service integration reduces overall depth
Shallow floor systems combine floor and
slab in the same vertical space reducing
the overall structural depth.

Composite Columns
Tube used as permanent form work

Advantages of CFSTs

2<1+1

>

High strength and fire resistance

High stiffness and ductility

Circular

Restraint to local buckling by

concrete
Omission of formwork, reducing
construction cost and time

>

OR

Square and rectangular

Concrete filled Tubular Column

Applications of CFTs

Steel Core CFT (SC-CFT)

Slim column size

No fire protection
Internal steel core can resist the service
load during fire.

Flat slab
construction

Ultra-high Strength
Concrete Filled Columns
(HSCF)
Latest Innovation

Ultra high strength

concrete; 200MPa

Tube-in-tube
composite
columns

Normal concrete,
35 MPa

Punching shear connector

(encased in slabs, protected from fire)

Tube in tube columns

D2

D1

t2

RC

CFT

Ultra high strength

concrete (180MPa)
Normal
concrete

HSCFT

Column Diameter (mm)

Number
of stories

RC

CFT

HSCFT

12

900

650

500

30

1500

1100

750

50

1800

1400

900

Save 1.9m2
per column

Column Size reduce by half

Speed of Construction

2 Steel columns &

Steel beams

1 Central Core wall

3 Metal decking

Composite beams

4 Casting of
concrete

Composite floor slab

5 Composite
unfilled columns

6 Fire protection &

Architectural

Column Free
Space

52-storey office
building with six
levels of basement
car park

Project
Architectural
Consultant
Structural Consultant
Main Contractor
Client
Construction cost
Construction Period
Gross Floor Area
Buildability Scores

Capital Tower
RSP Architects, Planners &
Engineers (Pte) Ltd
Maunsell Consultants
(Singapore) Ptd Ltd
Parsons Brinckerhoff
Consultant Pte Ltd
CapitaLand Commercial
Limited
US$152.0 million
29 months
95,5545 m2
81

Buildability Features

Standardised grids, beam spans and

symmetrical layout about central axis

Autoclimb Slip Form

Construction Sequence

Concrete filled Column

Composite column

Finplate connection

Through-plate connection

Reverse channel- and T-section

connections

ORQ 50 storey building

(b)

(a)

(c)

Typical Steel
Residential
Building

Top Track

Joints &
fasteners
finished with
Lafarge Joint
Compound

Integrated Dry Wall Panel

Steel Stud

Acoustic Insulation
(if required)
Fasteners on first
layer @ 400mm
centres
2 layers 15mm
Plasterboard on
both sides

Bottom Track

Fasteners @
200mm centres
max staggered on
edges

Fasteners
10mm-15mm
from edge of
sheet

Outlook for Structural Steel

in Singapore

Constructional steel usage (based on

floor area) presently lags behind UK,
US and Japan; Singapore being 12%
commercial, and 1% residential.
Indonesia bans sand export to
Singapore (6/2/07). Cost of
concrete increases by more than
double. Steel is one of the
alternatives being seriously
considered.
Construction demand up from
S$11.5B (2005) to S$16.1B (2006).
Year 2007 forecast is S$18B.
Government attracts offshore, oil
and gas industries. Strong demands
for rigs, ships and process facilities.
Accredited Structural Steel
Fabricators Scheme: elevate
specialist contractors to higher
platform in construction industry.
BCA/SSSS trains steel Supervisors
and engineers for the industry.
National steel codes with reference
to Europe and Hong Kong.
Demand for structural steel has
increased for the past 2 years. Next

Conclusions
Use reusable steel frame and percast concrete to
reduce site labor, increase productivity and quality
for sustainable construction.
Use composite design for long span beam, compact
floor, smaller column size, and better fire and
structural resistance.
Numerous projects provide illustration of the
benefits of buildable design using composite
construction.
Successful implementation requires close
collaboration and information sharing between
various parties.