Chapter 3

Structural systems
Introduction
 Any structure is made up of structural elements
(load-carrying, such as beams and columns) and
non-structural elements (such as partitions, false
ceilings, doors, finishing etc).
 The structural elements, put together, constitute
the ‘structural system’.
Cont’d
 Its function is to resist effectively the action of
gravitational and environmental loads (such as wind
and earth quake) and to transmit the resulting forces
to the supporting ground, without significantly
disturbing the geometry, integrity and serviceability
of the structure.
Cont’d
For convenience, we may separate the structural system into
two loads transmission mechanisms, i.e
 Gravity or vertical load resisting and
 Lateral load resisting,
 These two systems are complementary and interactive.
 As an integrated system, the structure must resist and
transmit all the effects of gravity loads and lateral loads
acting on it to the foundation and the ground below.
Vertical Load Resisting Systems

 The purpose of vertical load resisting systems is to

transfer Gravity Loads Applied at the Floor Levels
down to the Foundation Level and then to the soil
layer beneath the foundation.
Gravity or Vertical load transfer path

The gravity or vertical load transfer path can be direct path or

indirect multi path system.
Direct Path Systems (Single path)
 Slab Supported on Load Bearing Walls
 Slab Supported on Columns(Flat slab)

Indirect Multi Path Systems (Dual path, mixed path,

Complex path, etc.)
 Slab Supported on Beams
 Beams Supported on Other Beams
 Beams Supported on Walls or Columns
Cont’d
 Structural members in the vertical load resisting
systems can be divided into two types,
i. Floor system -those that form horizontal (or sloped
roof) planes and
ii. Vertical framing -those that provide the vertical
support for these planes(floor system)
Floor Systems

Floor Systems One way slab

Solid Slab Two way beam

supported slab

Flat plate

Flat slab

One way
Ribbed slab
Ribbed
slab
Two way ribbed
slab/waffle
9
Cont’d

Flat Slab Two-Way Slab

Cont’d

Flat Plate Waffle Slab

Lateral Force Resisting Systems
 The basic function of a lateral force-resisting system is to
transfer the lateral forces acting on the structure to the
foundation.
 Vertical and horizontal resisting components are used to provide
a continuous and competent load path from the top of the
structure to the foundation.
 The primary lateral loads are caused by wind pressure and
seismic excitation.
 However, lateral loads may also be generated by lateral soil
pressure and liquid pressure as well as by gravity loads in
cantilevering structures and irregular structures
 Cont’d
The most commonly used concrete structural systems
have been classified by Khan, Iyengar and Colaco
(1972, 74)
 Rigid Frames
 Shear Wall Systems
 Shear Wall-Frame Systems (Dual-system)
 Framed-Tubes
 Tube-in-Tube Systems
 Modular Tubes

The selection of structural systems for buildings is influenced

primarily by the intended function, architectural considerations,
internal traffic flow, height and aspect ratio, and to a lesser extent,
the intensity of loading.
Cont’d
Steel Structural Systems
Rigid Frame
 The most basic type of framing systems.
 Consists of horizontal beams (girders) and
vertical (columns) members that are
connected through rigid connections at the
joint
 Efficient structural system for buildings under
15 stories
 Shear Wall Structure
 Continuous Vertical concrete
walls/vertical cantilevers
 Serve architecturally as partition walls
and structurally carry gravity and
lateral loading
 High in plane stiffness makes ideally
suitable to resist lateral loading
 Because of added stiffness they are
economical up to 35 stories
 Suited for hotel/residential because of
repetitive planning of floor by floor and
excellent sound and fire insulators b/n
rooms
 They restrict planning where open
internal spaces are required
Ethiopian Airlines Hotel
 Wall-Frame Structure (Dual)
 The walls and frames interact horizontally to
produce stiffer and stronger structure
 It is appropriate for buildings in the 40 to 60
story
 Framed Tube
 the exterior perimeter of the
structure consists of closely
spaced columns that are tied
together with deep spandrel
beams through moment
connections

The different tubular systems are-

 1)Framed tube
 2)Braced tube
 3)Bundled tube
 4)Tube in tube
20
Tube in Tube
 This structural system consists of an outer tube
in the perimeter and a core tube inside the
structure.
 The core tube holds elevators and other services.
 Has the benefit of increased lateral
stiffness.
 Current designs of high-rise buildings combine
concrete shear wall core with outer steel framed
tube, which is an efficient system in resisting of
different types of loads and has been widely
implemented.
Cont’d

Fig. (a) Framed tube (b) Braced framed tube (c)Tube-in-

Tube frame
Bundled system
 The bundled tube structural systems in a
combination of several individual tubes
connected together to act as a single unit. The
structural stiffness of the building is notably
increased.
 The bundled tube system also allows wider
column spacing in the tubular walls, and the
stress in columns is distributed more evenly than
that in a single tube system.
 Such structural system provides the high-rise
building with new possible appearance instead of
the simple boxlike shape.
Alemayehu D. 24
Cont’d
Cont’d
 The current architectural design trend has
produced various complex-shaped tall
buildings, such as
 twisted,
 tilted and
 freeform towers
Examples:
 The twisted Shanghai Tower in Shanghai,
 Tilted Veer Towers in Las Vegas and
 Freeform Phare Tower in Paris
Cont’d

27
Cont’d

28
The towers have a height of 114 m and have 26
floors

29
Cont’d Veer tower in Las Vegas (courtesy of the author)
 List of tallest buildings in Ethiopia by number of
floors
1. Commercial Bank of Ethiopia Headquarters, Addis Ababa –
46 Floors ( Under Construction)
2. Nib Insurance and Nib international Bank Building, Addis
Ababa – 35 Floors (Under Construction)
3. Midroc City Center, Addis Ababa – 35 Floors
4. Mexico Square Towers, Addis Ababa – 35 Floors
5. United Bank, Addis Ababa – 30/31 Floors (Under
construction)
6. Zemen Bank, Addis Ababa – 30 Floors (under construction)
7. Wegagen Bank, Addis Ababa – 23 Floors (Operational)
8. NANI Building Addis Ababa – 23 Floors (Operational)
9. KK-Towers, Addis Ababa – 22 Floors (Finishing work
remaining)
10.Grand Hotel and Spa, Bahir Dar – 19 Floors (Operational)
(Also the tallest hotel in Ethiopia)
Centers of Mass and Rigidity
 The structural system may consist of a number of
frames, walls, or a combination of these
 The position of the story shear V in the horizontal
j

plane will depend on the plan distribution of

vertical elements.
Center of Mass
 During an earthquake, acceleration-induced inertia forces
will be generated at each floor level, where the mass of an
entire story may be assumed to be concentrated.
 Hence the location of a force at a particular level will be
determined by the center of the accelerated mass at that
level.
 In regular buildings, the positions of the centers of floor
masses will differ very little from level to level.
 However, irregular mass distribution over the height of a
building may result in variations in centers of masses,
which will need to be evaluated.
Center of Rigidity
 If, as a result of lateral forces, one floor of the building in
Fig. 2.1 translates horizontally as a rigid body relative to
the floor below, as shown in Fig. 2.2(a), a constant inter
story displacement Δx’ will be imposed on all frames and
walls in that story. Therefore, the induced forces in these
elastic frames and walls, in the relevant east-west planes,
will be proportional to the respective stiffness's.
 The resultant total force, Vj = Vx , induced by the
translational displacements Δx', will pass through the
center of rigidity (CR) in Fig. 2.2(d).
 This point, defined as the center of rigidity or center of
stiffness, locates the position of a story shear force Vj,
which will cause only relative floor translations.
 Cont’d
 Since the story shear force acts through point the mass
center rather than the center of rigidity, it will cause floor
rotation as well as relative floor translation.
 Thus it induces pure translation, and a torsional moment
leading to rigid floor rotation
 It is important to minimize the magnitude of story torsion by
a deliberate assignment of stiffness's to lateral force-resisting
components, such as frames or walls
 To achieve this in terms of floor forces, the distance between
the center of rigidity and the center of mass should be
minimized.
Moment resisting frames
 These are generally composed of columns and
beams.
 Their ability to resist lateral loads is entirely due
to the rigidities of the beam-column connections
and the moment-resisting capacities of the
individual members.
 It may be used economically to provide lateral
load resistance for low-rise buildings.
 Generally, it is less stiff than other systems.
 A uniform distribution of stiffness, strength, and mass
is required over the height of the frame in order to
prevent P-delta instability.
 A strong-column/weak beam design approach is
required to ensure that column flexural strength
exceeds the beam flexural strength at each joint.
 The system has considerable flexibility and high
inelastic deformation capacity, which may result in
significant damage to architectural features and
nonstructural elements in the event of an earthquake.
 Cont’d

Fig. Strong-Column/Weak-Beam Frame

Collapse Mechanism Fig. Story Mechanism
Shear wall systems
The distribution of the total seismic load, Fx or Fy among all cantilever walls may be
approximated by the following expressions.
F ix = F′ ix + F′′ ix
F iy = F′ iy + F′′ iy
Cont’d
where:
 F′ix = load induced in wall by inter-story translation only, in x-direction

 F′iy = load induced in wall by inter-story translation only, in y-direction

 F"ix = load induced in wall by inter-story torsion only, in x-direction

 F"iy = load induced in wall by inter-story torsion only, in y-direction

 Fix = total external load to be resisted by a wall, in x-direction

 Fiy = total external load to be resisted by a wall, in y-direction

To obtain F′ix and F'iy , the forces Fx and Fy are distributed to the individual shear
walls in proportion to their rigidities.
Cont’d
 The force resisted by wall i due to inter-story
translation, in x-direction, is given by:

 The force resisted by wall i due to inter-story

translation, in y-direction, is given by
Cont’d
where:
 Fx = total external load to be resisted by all walls, in x-direction
 Fy = total external load to be resisted by all walls, in y-direction
 Iix = second moment of area of a wall section about x axis
 Iiy = second moment of areas of a wall section about y axis
 Σ Iix = total second moment of areas of all walls in x-direction
 Σ Iiy = total second moment of area of all walls in y-direction
Cont’d
 The force resisted by wall i due to inter-story
torsion, in x-direction, is given by

 The force resisted by wall i due to inter-story

torsion, in y-direction, is given by
Cont’d
where:
 xi = x-coordinate of a wall with respect to the center of rigidity C.R of
the lateral load resisting system
 yi = y-coordinate of a wall with respect to the center of rigidity C.R of
the lateral load resisting system
 ex = eccentricity resulting from non-coincidence of center of gravity
C.G and center of rigidity C.R, in x-direction
 ey = eccentricity resulting from non-coincidence of center of gravity
C.G and center of rigidity C.R, in y-direction