FUNDAMENTAL OF TALL BUILDINGS

Dr. Henry LUK

Why tall buildings?

What is tall buildings?

How to design a tall buildings?
Source: en.wikipedia.org

Ancient Tall Structures

Ancient pyramids of Egypt

El Castillo, Mayan pyramid

The ancient tall structures, which can be considered as prototypes of

present-day high-rise buildings, were protective or symbolic in nature and

were infrequently used as human habitats.
Ancient structures such as the Egyptian pyramids and the Mayan temples
primarily served more as monuments than as space enclosures.

The Pyramid of Cheops was built by piling huge masonry blocks

one on top of another to a peak of 146.7 m, equivalent to a

modern 40-story office building.
Ancient structures were constructed using masonry or timber
owing to limitation on available building materials.
Limitations:
The spans that timber and stone could bridge, either as beams, lintels, or

arches, were limited.

Wood was neither strong enough for large structures, nor did it possess
fire-resisting characteristics.
Brick and stone masonry, in spite of their excellent strength and fire
resistance, suffered from the drawback of weight.

Monadnock Building
Location: Chicago, USA

Completion: 1893
Number of storeys: 17
Height: 60 m

Status: Completed
Materials: Masonry
Architect: Holabird & Roche; Burnham & Root

Main Contractor: George A. Fuller Co.

o Around 2 m thick load-bearing masonry
walls at the ground floor were used.
o Low net usable area was achieved owing
to the excess dead loads and wide crosssections.

Tall Buildings Development

Technological developments
1.
2.
3.
4.

5.

Home Insurance Building

10+2 storey (55 m)
Steel frame
Chicago, USA
1885 / 1890
First skyscraper
Demolished

Empire State Building

102 storey (381 m)
Braced steel frame
New York
1931
Tallest in the world from 1931 to 1970

Construction materials
Vertical transportation
system - elevator
Construction technique
Structural form
Computer simulation

Why Tall Buildings

The growth in modern tall building constructions has been

largely for commercial and residential purposes.

Tall commercial buildings are primarily a response to the
demand by business activities to be as close as possible.
They form distinctive landmarks so that they are frequently
developed in city centres as prestige symbols for corporate
organisation.
The rapid growth of the urban population and the consequent
pressure on limited space have considerably influenced city
residential development.

What is Tall Buildings

Tall building / High-rise building / Skyscraper

Height

Construction technology

Number of storey
Wind effect

Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH)

http://www.ctbuh.org/

a) Height relative to context

A tall building is not just about the height, but
about the context in which it exists.

b) Proportion
A tall building is not just about height but also
about proportion (aspect ratio).
c) Tall building technologies
If a building contains technologies which may
attributed as being a product of tall (e.g., specific
vertical transport technologies, structural wind
bracing, etc.), then this building can be classified as
a tall building.
A building of perhaps 14 or more stories, or more
than 50 metres in height, could perhaps be used as
a threshold for considering its a tall building.
CTBUH, Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, Illinois Institute of Technology,
http://www.ctbuh.org/TallBuildings/HeightStatistics/Criteria/tabid/446/language/en-US/Default.aspx

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CTBUH
Tall buildings

Buildings of 14 storeys or 50 metres height

Super-tall buildings

Buildings of 300 metres height

Mega-tall buildings

Building of 600 metres height

Emporis Standards
High-rise buildings

Buildings of 12 storeys or 35 metres height

Skyscrapers

Buildings of 100 metres height

Ali and Armstrong (Architecture of Tall Buildings, 1995)

The tall building can be described as a multi-storey buildings generally
constructed using a structural frame, provided with high-speed elevators,
and combining extraordinary height with ordinary room spaces such as
could be found in low-building. In aggregate, it is a physical, economic, and
technological expression of the citys power base, representing its private
and public investments.

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Tall Buildings in the World

10 tallest completed buildings in the world (Skyscrapercenter, Jan 2016)

http://skyscrapercenter.com

12

Tall Buildings in the World

10 tallest completed buildings/buildings under construction in the world

(Skyscrapercenter, Jan 2016)

http://skyscrapercenter.com

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Name: Burj Khalifa

Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Completion: 2010
Number of storeys: 163
Height: 828 m
Status: Completed
Materials: Steel/Concrete

http://skyscrapercenter.com

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Name: Shanghai Tower

Location: China

Completion: 2015
Number of storeys: 128
Height: 632 m

Status: Completed
Materials: Composite

http://skyscrapercenter.com

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Name: Makkah Royal Clock Tower

Location: Mecca, Saudi Arabia

Completion: 2012
Number of storeys: 120
Height: 601 m

Status: Completed
Materials: Steel/Concrete
http://skyscrapercenter.com

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One World Trade Center

New York, 2014
541.3 m
94 storey

Taipei 101
Taipei, 2004
508 m
101 storey

http://skyscrapercenter.com

International Commerce
Centre
Hong Kong, 2010
484 m
108 storey

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Height of Buildings
CTBUH recognises to measure tall building height in three

categories:
1. Height to architectural top
2. Highest occupied floor
3. Height to tip

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1. Height to Architectural Top (widely used)

Height is measured from the level of the lowest, significant, open-air,

pedestrian entrance to the architectural top of the building, including

spires, but not including antennae, signage, flag poles or other
functional-technical equipment.

CTBUH, Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, Illinois Institute of Technology

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2. Highest Occupied Floor

Height is measured from the level of the lowest, significant, open-air,

pedestrian entrance to the finished floor level of the highest occupied

floor within the building.

CTBUH, Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, Illinois Institute of Technology

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3. Height of tip
Height is measured from the level of the lowest, significant, open-air,

pedestrian entrance to the highest point of the building, irrespective of

material or function of the highest element (i.e., including antennae,
flagpoles, signage, and other functional-technical equipment).

CTBUH, Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, Illinois Institute of Technology

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Tall Buildings in Hong Kong

http://skyscrapercenter.com

22

10 tallest completed buildings in the HK (Skyscrapercenter, Jan 2015)

http://skyscrapercenter.com

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Central Plaza
Wan Chai, 1992
373.9 m

Bank of China Tower

Central, 1990
367.4 m

International Commerce Centre

Kowloon, 2010
484 m

http://skyscrapercenter.com

HSBC Main
Building
Central, 1985
178.8 m

BEHAVIOUR OF TALL BUILDINGS

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Tall Buildings
A tall building may be defined as one that, because of its

height, is affected by lateral forces due to wind or earthquake

actions to an extent that they play an important role in the
structural design.
The influence of these actions must therefore be considered
from the very beginning of the design process.
High-rise behaviour:
G

A high-rise building behaves as a

vertical cantilever

Subjected to
1. Vertical loading by gravity
2. Transverse loading by wind or
earthquake

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The key idea in conceptualising the structural system for a

narrow tall building is to think it as a beam cantilevering from

the earth.
The laterally directed force generated

either due to wind or seismic actions

tends both to snap it (shear), and
push it over (bending).
Therefore, the building must have a

structural system to resist shear as

well as bending.

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Tall building under lateral loads (UDL)

w
L/3

At i-th storey
= /3

= 2 /18

At the base
=
= 2 /2

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Point load at the top

Point loads at every storey

Triangular loading

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Effects of Gravity Loading

Loading transfer: Slab -> Vertical walls and columns -> Foundations

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Effects of Horizontal Loading

Single storey frame

Shear

Moment

Deflection

Ph

Multi-storey frame
P

P
P

3P

6Ph

 For an n-storey building:

Axial load n
Lateral shear n
Overturning moment n2/2
Lateral drift n2

Force / Displacement

31

Drift
Moment

Force

Storey

This is why the emphasis of tall building analysis and design

should be placed on the structural behaviour of the systems

under lateral loading.

STRUCTURAL FORM AND FLOOR

SYSTEMS

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Common Structural Forms

Frame structures
Rigid frames
Braced frames
Infilled frames
Shear wall structures
Linked shear walls
Coupled shear walls

Core wall structures

Tubular structures
Framed-tube structures
Tube-in-tube structures
Exterior diagonal tube
Bundled tube
Mega-braced framed systems

Wall-frame structures

Transfer structures

Outrigger-braced systems

Hybrid systems

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Rigid Frames
A rigid frame structure consist of columns and girders joined by

moment-resisting connections.
The lateral stiffness is governed mainly by the bending stiffness
of columns, girders and connections in the plane of the bent.
Rigid framing is generally economic
Beam/girder
for buildings of up to about 25
storeys.
Column

Beam-column
joints

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Braced Frames
Braced frames may be considered as vertical trusses resisting

lateral loads primarily through the axial stiffness of columns

and braces.
Chord members
Web members
The columns act as the
chords in resisting the Single diagonal
bracing
overturning moment.
Double diagonal
The diagonals work as
web members resisting
the horizontal shear in
Chevron
axial compression or
tension.
Storey-height
knee

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Shear Walls
Concrete

continuous vertical walls may serve both

architecturally as partitions and structurally to carry gravity and
lateral loads.
Shear walls
Their very high in-plane stiffness
and strength make them ideally
suited for tall building structures.
A shear wall structure may be
economically up to about 35
storeys.

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Wall-frame Structures
A wall-frame structure consists of shear wall structure and rigid

frame structures.
The walls and the frames are

constrained to adopted a common

deflected shape by the horizontal
rigidity of the girders and slabs.
It Is appropriate for building in the
40 to 60-storey range.

Shear walls
Rigid frames

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Outrigger-braced Structures
An outrigger structure consists of a central core (braced frames

or shear walls), with horizontal cantilever outrigger trusses or

girders connecting the core and the outer columns.
The outriggers are made

one or often two stories

deep.
It have been used for
buildings from 40 to 70
storeys height.

Outrigger
trusses

Braced
core

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Framed-tube Structures
The lateral resistance is provided by very stiff moment-resisting

frames that form a tube around the perimeter of building.

It has been used for buildings ranging from 40 to 100-storeys.
Core (inner tube)
Columns to carry
gravity loads

Hull (outer tube)

Framed-tube to
carry gravity and
lateral loading

Framed-tube

Tube-in-tube

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Mega Frame/Trussed Systems

Mega frame/trussed systems consist of RC or composite

columns, braces, and/or shear walls with much larger crosssections than normal, running continuously throughout the
height of the building.

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Common Floor Systems

Reinforced concrete floor systems:
One-way slabs
Two-way slabs
Flat slabs
Waffle flat slabs
Steel framing floor system
One-way beam system
Two-way beam system
Three-way beam system
Concrete-steel composite floor systems

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Reinforced Concrete Floor Systems

One-way slab

Two-way slab

Flat slab

Waffle flat slab

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Steel Floor Systems

One-way beam system

Two-way beam system

Three-way beam system

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Concrete-Steel Composite Floor Systems

Steel decking composite slab

Composite frame system

Composite frame and steel decking

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Typical Structural Form

Plan of office block

Residential block

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Foundations
Shallow foundations
Pad footing
Strip footing
Raft footing
Deep foundations/Pile foundations
Steel H-piles/Steel tubular piles
Socketed steel H-piles
Precast prestressed spun concrete piles
Driven cast-in-place concrete piles
Bored piles
Mini-piles

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Weight of Materials in Tall Building

The materials weight (and thus
cost) increases non-linearly with
increasing building height due to
the influence of lateral loads.
Appropriate structural form should
be selected to reduce the cost.

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Construction Materials
Common construction materials
Concrete
Steel
Composite
Timber
Masonry

http://en.wikipedia.org

DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS

50

Aims of Structural Design

Safety and Serviceability
Not only must a structure safely support the loads to which it is
subjected, but is must support them in such a manner that serviceability
issues are not so great as to frighten the occupants or cause structural
damages.
Cost
The designer must always bear in mind to lower cost without sacrifice of
strength. Savings can be achieved by minimising material weight,
construction time, maintenance cost and maximising structural
performance.
The structural cost typically accounts for 20%30% of the overall building
cost.

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Practicality
The designed structure must be fabricated and erected without great
problems arising both in construction and in future maintenance. The
engineer should understand fully the method of construction and the
availability of manpower and construction facilities.
Probability
Uncertainties in loading conditions, material properties and structural
behaviour do exist in constructed facilities. Whilst it is certainly the
desire of the engineer to provide a safe and serviceable structure, there
is always a risk element in the design decision making process that does
not guarantee 100% safety resulting in risk free structures.

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Design for structural systems

Difficult task which requires
creativity, originality and
experience of the engineer

Member level design

Design for structural members
Routine and time consuming
task which often an iterative
process.

Overall Design process

System level design

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Structural System Design

A structural system is an assemblage of structural members.
These members are interconnected to each other to transfer

forces from top to the foundation.

Decision of making a
structural system depends on

1. understanding of the
system level behaviours;
2. limitations of all possible
alternatives; and
3. design requirements.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Skyscraper_structure.png

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Factors of Consideration
Function of the building
Number of storey / Height of building
The spans involved
Special consideration is necessary if there is a requirement for long spans
or large, clear floor areas.
The vertical loading
The presence of heavy point loads on floors or the need to accommodate
cranes.
The horizontal loading
Attention must be given to the way in which horizontal loading is to be
resisted. This aspect of design is of particular importance for very tall
building.

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The service required

These include water, electricity and gas and often nowadays significant
computing facilities, and are usually accommodated under the floors.
In situations where large volume of services are needed (e.g. hospitals),
special forms of flooring permitting easy incorporation of the necessary
pipework and ducting may be necessary.

The ground condition

Clearly the type of ground on which the building is to be erected will
dictate the form of foundation that must be used and this in turn must be
taken into consideration when selecting the super-structure.
The structural performance, practicality and cost.

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Structural Member Design

Once a structural system is defined, the detailed design is then

performed on the member level.

Given the geometric layout of a structural framework, a
structural analysis is then carried out to obtained its structural
responses.
Depending on the internal force action on each individual
member, a specific size of each member is then estimated and
designed in according with a design standard.

Beam member

Beam-column
member

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Structural Analysis
Internal forces (axial, shear, moment, torsion) in each structural

members can be obtained via structural analysis.

1.
2.
3.

Classical analytical approach

Approximate approach
Computer simulation (Finite element method / FEM)

Braced frame structure

Rigid frame structure

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Design Standards in HK

59

Structural Elements
Reinforced Concrete Design

Steel Design

Beams

Tension members

Slabs

Compression members

Short columns

Beams

Walls

Beam-columns

Footings

Steel connections

Pilecaps

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Limit State Design

A structural engineer has to design structures that are both

safe and economic.

It is difficult to assess at the design stage how safe and
economic a proposed design will actually be in practice since
there are too many uncertainties.
Uncertainties fall roughly into groups:
Loading;
Material strength; and
Structural behaviour.

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Limit state design is a modern approach for structural design

based on the concept of probability.

It aims to ensure an acceptable probability that a structure will
perform satisfactorily during its design life.
Two main limit states
Ultimate limit state (ULS)
Ultimate limit states concern the safety of the whole or part of the
structure at ultimate loading conditions.

Serviceability limit state (SLS)

Serviceability limit states correspond to limits beyond which the
whole or part of the structure becomes unserviceable under working
loads.

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It requires that a member be designed such that

( Load) Capacity/

Design Load

Design Capacity

where f and m reflect the degree of uncertainties in the

various loads and the resistance.
The above approach is for ULS checking. On the other hands,

SLS checking in principle uses mean values instead of

characteristic values and almost always does not apply partial
factor of safety.

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Design Load

Characteristic load = magnitude of load that is

sufficiently larger than the average load so that
only a very low probability it will be exceeded
during the design life.
Design load = Characteristic Load x f

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Design Capacity

Characteristic strength = value of the strength

of the material that is sufficiently lower than
the mean value so that only a small portion of
the materials in the structure is expected to
fall below it.
Design strength = Characteristic Strength / m

65

References
Bryan Stafford Smith, Alex Coull (1991). Tall Building Structures: Analysis and Design. John

Wiley & Soons, Inc.

Bungale S. Taranath (2004). Wind and Earthquake Resistant Buildings: Structural Analysis and
Design. CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group.
Bungale S. Taranath (2010). Reinforced Concrete Design of Tall Buildings. CRC Press, Taylor &
Francis Group.
Bungale S. Taranath (2012). Structural Analysis and Design of Tall Buildings, Steel and
Composite Construction. CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group.
Lin, T.Y. and Stotesbury Sidney D. (1981). Structural Concepts and Systems for Architects and
Engineering, 2nd ed. Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Mark Sarkisian (2012). Designing Tall Buildings, Structure as Architecture. Routledge, Taylor &
Francis Group.
Mehmet Halis Gnel and Hseyin Emre Ilgin (2014). Tall Buildings Structural Systems and
Aerodynamic Form. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Dave Parker and Antony Wood (2013). The Tall Buildings Reference Book. Routledge, Taylor &
Francis Group.