Introduction

Most of the existing buildings are multi- storeyed, in the sense that multi-storey means more than one storey. Single storey buildings may comprise of workshops, factory sheds, cinema halls, auditorium etc. Even ordinary residences can be thought of as multi storeyed buildings as presently ordinary residences are allowed to be built of two and a half storeys. With increasing pressure of population, commerce and trade, land costs in cities have risen very high.

DESIGN PROCESS
Engineering is a professional art of applying science to the efficient conversion of natural resources for the benefit of man. Engineering, therefore requires above all creative imagination to innovate useful application for natural phenomenon. The entire process of structural planning and design requires not only imagination and conceptual thinking but also sound knowledge of science of structural engineering besides knowledge of practical aspects, such as recent design codes and bye-laws, backed up by ample experience, intuition and judgment. The purpose of standards is to ensure and enhance the safety, keeping careful balance between economy and safety. The process of design commences with planning of the structure, primarily to meet its functional requirement. Initially, the requirements proposed by the client are taken into consideration. It is emphasized that any structure to be constructed must satisfy the need efficiently for which it is intended and shall be durable for its desired life span. Thus, the design of any structure is categorized into the following two main types: Functional design Structural design

FUNCTIONAL DESGIN:
The structure to be constructed should primarily serve the basic purpose for which it is to be used and must have a pleasing look. The building should provide happy environment inside as well as outside. The functional planning of a building must take into account the arrangement of rooms/halls, good ventilation, lighting , acoustics, unobstructed view ,sufficient head room, proper water supply and drainage arrangements, planting of trees etc, to satisfy the need of the client. All these aspects in mind, the architect/engineer has to decide whether it should be load bearing structure or RCC framed structure or a steel structure.

 He should also decide the system of covering the structure, whether the roof shall consist of steel roof trusses and girders or RCC folded plates or RC shell or a beam-slab construction or a grid system or a prestressed concrete hanging roof or combination of above. After deciding the tentative form of the structure the designer should select appropriate material for its construction. Sometimes some material may be required to be imported due to which the cost may go high and may require change in the form selected. All these aspects are interlinked and final decision has to be taken considering requirements of the user, functional aspect, aesthetics and cost.

STRUCTURAL DESIGN:
Once the form of the structure is selected the structural design process starts. Structural design is an art and sequence of understanding the behavior of structural members subjected to loads and designing them with economy and elegance to give a safe, serviceable and durable structure. The principal elements of R.C building frame consists of: Slabs to cover large. Beams to support slabs and walls. Columns to support beams. Footings to distribute concentrated column loads over a large area of the supporting soil such that the bearing capacity of soil is not exceeded. In a frame structure the load is transferred from slab to beam, from beam to column and then to the foundation and soil below it.

STAGES IN STRUCTURAL DESIGN:

The process of structural design involves the following stages: i. ii. iii. iv. v. Structural planning. Action of forces and computation of loads. Methods of analysis. Member design. Detailing, drawing and preparation of schedules.

STRUCTURAL PLANNING:
After getting an architectural plan of the buildings, the structural planning of the building frame is done. This involves determination of the following:

a) b) c) d) e)

Positioning and orientation of columns. Positioning of beams. Spanning of slabs. Layout of slabs. Selecting proper type of footing.

The basic principle in deciding the layout of component members is that the loads should be transferred to the foundation along the shortest path.

POSITIONING AND ORIENTATION OF COLUMNS

Following are some of the guiding principle which helps in deciding the column positions. 1. Columns should preferably be located at or near the corners of a building, and at the intersection of beams/walls Since the basic function of the columns is to support beams which are normally placed under the walls to support them, their position automatically gets fixed. 2. Select the position of columns so as to reduce bending moments in beams. When the locations of two columns are very near, then one column should be provided instead of two at such a position so as to reduce the beam moment. 3. Avoid larger spans of beams When the centre to centre distance between the intersection of walls is large or where there are no cross walls, the spacing between two columns is governed by limitations on spans of supported beams, because spacing of columns decides the span of beam. NOTE: - In general, the maximum spans of beams carrying live load up to 4 kn/m2 may be limited to the following values. BEAM TYPE CANTILEVERS SIMPLY FIXED/CONTINUOUS SUPPORTED Rectangular 3 meters 6 meters 8 meters Flanged 5 meters 10 meters 12 meters The upper limit shall be reduced by judgement for heavy loads (live load greater than 4 KN/m2). 4. Avoid larger centre to centre distance between columns. Larger spacing of columns not only increases the span and the cost of beams but it increases the load on the column at each floor posing problem of stocky columns in lower storeys of a multistoreyed building. 5. Columns on property line. Since column footing requires certain area beyond the column, difficulties are encountered in providing footing for such column. In such cases, the column may be

shifted inside along a cross wall to make room for accommodating the footing within the property line.

ORIENTATION OF COLUMNS
1. Avoid projection of column outside wall According to requirements of aesthetics and utility, projections of columns outside the wall in the room should be avoided as they not only give bad appearance but also obstruct the use of floor space, and create problems in placing furniture flush with the wall. The problem of projection of column normally occurs in the internal walls since they are usually thinner. NOTE: The axis of bending is a transverse axis perpendicular to the plane of bending. The plane of bending is a plane of the frame or a member in which loads and longitudinal axis lie and in which deflection profile can be seen. The unsupported length of the member is the length of the member contained in the plane of bending. The effective length of the column is a function of unsupported length. The major axis of bending x-x is taken as an axis bisecting the depth of the column or in other words the depth of the column is contained in the plane of bending. The properties viz. moment of inertia, deflection, stiffness are calculated about the axis of bending. 2. Orient the column so that the depth of the column is contained in the major plane of bending or is perpendicular to the major axis of bending. When a column is rigidly connected to beams at right angles, it is subjected to moments in addition to the axial load. In such cases, the column should be so oriented that the depth of the column is perpendicular to major axis of bending. It will reduce Leff/D ratio resulting in increase in the load carrying capacity of the column. It should be borne in mind that the increasing the depth in the plane of bending not only increases the moment carrying capacity but also increases its stiffness, thereby more moment is transferred to the column at the beam column junction.

POSITIONING OF BEAMS

Following are the some of the guiding principles for positioning of beams 1. Beams shall, normally, be provided under the walls or below a heavy concentrated load to avoid these loads directly coming on slabs. Since beams are primarily to support slabs, its spacing shall be decided by the maximum spans of slabs. Therefore, the thickness of slab is required to be kept minimum. The maximum practical thickness for residential/office/public buildings is 200mm while the minimum is 100mm. NOTE: - The maximum spacing of beams may be limited to the values of maximum spans of slabs given below SUPPORT CONDITION CANTILEVERS SIMPLY SUPPORTED FIXED/CONTINOUS Slab type One way Two way One way Two way One way Two way Maximum recommended span of slabs 1.5m 2.0m 3.5m 4.5m 4.5m 6.0m

2. Avoid larger spacing of beams from deflection and cracking criteria. Larger spans of beams shall also be avoided from the considerations of controlling the deflection and cracking. This is because it is well known that the deflection varies directly with the cube of the span and inversely with the cube of the depth ie; L 3/D3. Therefore, spans of beams which require the depth of beam greater than one meter should as far as possible be avoided.

SPANNING OF SLABS
This is decided by supporting arrangements. When the supports are only on opposite edges or only in one direction, then the slab acts as a one-way supported slab. When the rectangular slab is supported along its four edges, it acts as one way slab when Ly / Lx > 2 and as two way slab for Ly / Lx < 2 . The two way action of slab not only depends on the aspect ratio L y / Lx and but also on the ratio of reinforcement in the two directions. This decision may be taken considering the following points. 1. A slab normally acts as a one way slab when the aspect ratio Ly / Lx > 2. A slab with Ly / Lx > 2 is designed as one way, since in that case one way action is predominant. In one way slab, main steel is provided along span just acts as distribution steel and is not designed for transferring the load.

2. A two way slab having aspect ratio Ly / Lx < 2 is general economical compared to oneway slab because steel along both the spans acts as main steel and transfers the load to all its four supports. The two-way action is advantageous essentially for large spans(greater than 3m) and for live loads greater than 3 KN/m2. For short span and light loads, steel required for two-way slab does not differ appreciably as compared to steel for one-way slab because of the requirement of minimum steel. 3. Spanning of slab is also decided by the necessity of continuity to adjacent slab. If the slab is designed as a slab continuous over the support beam, then it is necessary that another slab also spans across the beam. If it is designed as one-way slab spanning only in the direction parallel to beam then the slab will get the desired fixity or structural continuity over beam. 4. Decide type of slab. While deciding the type of slab, whether a cantilever or a simply supported or a continuous slab, loaded by UDL. It should be borne in mind that the maximum bending moment in a cantilever (M= WL2/2) is four times that of a simply supported slab (M= WL2/8). While it is five to six times that of a continuous or fixed slab (M= WL2/10 to WL2/12) for the same span length. Similarly, deflection of a cantilever loaded by a uniformly distributed load is given by = (WL4/8EI) = (48/5) x (5WL4/384EI) Which is 9.6 times that of simply supported slab = (=5WL4/384EI).