The Effect of Core Eccentricity on the Structural Behavior of Concrete Tall Buildings

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of core eccentricity on the structural behavior of concrete tall buildings.Concrete buildings of 55 floors with plan dimensions 48.0×48.0 m2 were investigated.Three cases of main core locations are studied:centric(A),eccentric by one sixth(B)and one third(C)of building width.The three-dimensional finite element method has been used in conducting structural analysis through ETABS software.Gravity and lateral(wind and seismic)loadings are applied to all building cases.It has been concluded that the core location is the prime parameter governing the structural behavior of tall buildings.Although the first two cases(A,B)have acceptable and similar structural behaviors conforming to code limits,in the third case(C),the building behavior came beyond code limits.The author introduced remedial action by adding two secondary cores in the opposite direction of the main core(C-R)to restore the building behavior to the code limits.The results of this action were satisfactory.

Modified consecutive modal pushover procedure for seismic investigation of one-way asymmetric-plan tall buildings

The effects of higher modes and torsion have a significant impact on the seismic responses of asymmetric-plan tall buildings. A consecutive modal pushover (CMP) procedure is one of the pushover methods that have been developed to consider these effects. The aim of this paper is to modify the (CMP) analysis procedure to estimate the seismic demands of one-way asymmetric-plan tall buildings with dual systems. An analysis of 10-, 15- and 20-story asymmetric-plan buildings is carried out, and the results from the modified consecutive modal pushover (MCMP) procedure are compared with those obtained from the modal pushover analysis (MPA) procedure and the nonlinear time history analysis (NLTHA). The MCMP estimates of the seismic demands of one-way asymmetric-plan buildings demonstrate a reasonable accuracy, compared to the results obtained from the NLTHA. Furthermore, the accuracy of the MCMP procedure in the prediction of plastic hinge rotations is better than the MPA procedure. The new pushover procedure is also more accurate than the FEMA load distribution and the MPA procedure.

Tall Buildings with Dynamic Facade Under Winds

Burgeoning growth of tall buildings in urban areas around the world is placing new demands on their performance under winds.This involves selection of the building form that minimizes wind loads and structural topologies that efficiently transfer loads.Current practice is to search for optimal shapes,but this limits buildings with static or fixed form.Aerodynamic shape tailoring that consists of modifying the external form of the building has shown great promise in reducing wind loads and associated structural motions as reflected in the design of Taipei 101 and Burj Khalifa.In these buildings,corner modifications of the cross-section and tapering along the height are introduced.An appealing alternative is to design a building that can adapt its form to the changing complex wind environment in urban areas with clusters of tall buildings,i.e.,by implementing a dynamic facade.To leap beyond the static shape optimization,autonomous dynamic morphing of the building shape is advanced in this study,which is implemented through a cyber–physical system that fuses together sensing,computing,actuating,and engineering informatics.This approach will permit a building to intelligently morph its profile to minimize the source of dynamic wind load excitation,and holds the promise of revolutionizing tall buildings from conventional static to dynamic facades by taking advantage of the burgeoning advances in computational design.

Recent progress of seismic research on tall buildings in China Mainland

As a result of rapid economic growth and urbanization in the past two decades,many tall buildings have been constructed in China Mainland,offering researchers and practitioners an excellent opportunity for research and practice in the field of structural engineering. This paper reviews progress by researchers throughout China Mainland on the seismic research of tall buildings,focusing on three major topics that impact the seismic performance of tall buildings. These are:(1) new types of steel-concrete composite structural members such as steel-concrete composite shear walls and columns,(2) earthquake resilient shear wall structures such as shear walls with replaceable structural components,self-centering shear walls and rocking walls,and(3) performance-based seismic design,including seismic performance index,performance level and design method. The paper concludes by presenting future research needs and directions in this field.

Extended consecutive modal pushover procedure for estimating seismic responses of one-way asymmetric plan tall buildings considering soil-structure interaction

Performance based design becomes an effective method for estimating seismic demands of buildings. In asymmetric plan tall building the effects of higher modes and torsion are crucial. The consecutive modal pushover （CMP） procedure is one of the procedures that consider these effects. Also in previous studies the influence of soil-structure interaction （SSI） in pushover analysis is ignored. In this paper the CMP procedure is modified for one-way asymmetric plan mid and high-rise buildings considering $SI. The extended CMP （ECMP） procedure is proposed in order to overcome some limitations of the CMP procedure. In this regard, 10, 15 and 20 story buildings with asymmetric plan are studied considering SSI assuming three different soil conditions. Using nonlinear response history analysis under a set of bidirectional ground motion; the exact responses of these buildings are calculated. Then the ECMP procedure is evaluated by comparing the results of this procedure with nonlinear time history results as an exact solution as well as the modal pushover analysis procedure and FEMA 356 load patterns. The results demonstrate the accuracy of the ECMP procedure.

Shear wall layout optimization of tall buildings using Quantum Charged System Search

This paper presents a developed meta-heuristic algorithm to optimize the shear walls of tall reinforced concrete buildings.These types of walls are considered as lateral resistant elements.In this paper,Quantum Charged System Search(QCSS)algorithm is presented as a new optimization method and used to improve the convergence capability of the original Charged System Search.The cost of tall building is taken as the objective function.Since the design of the lateral system plays a major role in the performance of the tall buildings,this paper proposes a unique computational technique that,unlike available works,focuses on structural efficiency or architectural design.This technique considers both structural and architectural requirements such as minimum structural costs,torsional effects,flexural and shear resistance,lateral deflection,openings and accessibility.The robustness of the new algorithm is demonstrated by comparing the outcomes of the QCSS with those of its standard algorithm.

Effects of corner modifications on wind loads and local pressures on walls of tall buildings

In this study, the aerodynamic characteristics of tall buildings with corner modifications (e.g., local wind force coefficients, mean pressure distributions, normalized power spectrum density, and extreme local pressure) were examined. Wind tunnel experiments were conducted to measure the wind pressures on building models with different heights and recessed corners of different ratios. At a wind direction of a = 0° (i.e., wind blowing on the front of a building), corner modifications effectively reduced wind forces in all cases. Specifically, small corner modification ratios reduced wind forces more effectively than their larger counterparts. However, corner modifications resulted in extreme local pressure on building surfaces. In addition, for small corner modification ratios, the probability of extreme local pressure occurring at a = 0° was high. This probability was also high for large corner modification ratios at a = 15° (i.e., wind blowing slightly obliquely on the front of a building) because wind blowing obliquely creates substantial vortex shedding on one side surface and extreme negative pressure over one building side surface. Results of computational fluid dynamic modeling were adopted to determine details of the aerodynamic characteristics of tall buildings with corner modifications.

A Computational Model for Pedestrian Level Wind Environment Around Tall Buildings

A computational model has been developed for the simulation of pedestrian level wind environment around tall buildings by coupling the numerical simulation of the full scale site and meteorological station materials. In the first step, the hybrid/mixed finite element method is employed to solve the two dimensional Navier Stokes equation for the flow field around tall buildings, in view of the influence of fluctuating wind, the flow field is revised with the effective wind velocity. The velocity ratio is defined in order to relate numerical wind velocity to oncoming reference wind velocity. In the second step, the frequency occurred discomfort wind velocity as a suitable criterion is calculated by use of the coupling between the numerical wind velocity and the wind velocity at the nearest meteorological station. The prediction accuracy of the wind environment simulation by use of the computation model will be discussed. Using the available wind data at the nearest meteorological station as well as the established criteria of wind discomfort, the frequency of wind discomfort can be predicted. A numerical example is given to illustrate the application of the proposed method.

Seismic response of tall building considering soil-pile-structure interaction

The seismic behavior of tall buildings can he greatly affected by non-linear soil-pile interaction during strong earthquakes.In this study a 20-storey building is examined as a typical structure supported on a pile foundation for different conditions:(1) rigid base,i.e.no deformation in the foundation:(2) linear soil-pile system;and (3) nonlinear soil-pile system. The effects of pile foundation displacements on the behavior of tall building are investigated,and compared with the behavior of buildings supported on shallow foundation.With a model of non-reflective boundary between the near field and far field, Novak's method of soil-pile interaction is improved.The computation method for vibration of pile foundations and DYNAN computer program are introduced comprehensively.A series of dynamic experiments have been done on full-scale piles, including single pile and group,linear vibration and nonlinear vibration,to verify the validity of boundary zone model.

Structural Design of a Tall Building with Underpinning Structure in Guangzhou

This paper introduces the structural design optimization of a tall building with reinforced concrete frame-core shear walls in Guangzhou downtown.To decrease the construction cost,wide flat beam with 400 mm ×650 mm rectangular cross-section are adopted for main beam.Special measures are used to decrease noncoincident centers of mass and stiffness.Because subway tunnels cross the building underground,inclined columns,the second and third floor underground together function as the underpinning structures.Different from traditional transform beam,the proposed underpinning structures show good performance without using large dimensional bending members.Special attentions should be paid to the beams connecting with the inclined column in the underpinning structures,and these beams show large tensile or compressive forces.Settlement observations after completion construction indicate that the building as well as the proposed design measures work well.

Investigation Responses of the Diagrid Structural System of High-rise Buildings Equipped with Tuned Mass Damper Using New Dynamic Method

Due to the shortage of land in cities and population growth,the significance of high rise buildings has risen.Controlling lateral displacement of structures under different loading such as an earthquake is an important issue for designers.One of the best systems is the diagrid method which is built with diagonal elements with no columns for manufacturing tall buildings.In this study,the effect of the distribution of the tuned mass damper(TMD)on the structural responses of diagrid tall buildings was investigated using a new dynamic method.So,a diagrid structural systems with variable height with TMDs was solved as an example of structure.The reason for the selection of the diagrid system was the formation of a stiffness matrix for the diagonal and angular elements.Therefore,the effect of TMDs distribution on the story drift,base shear and structural behaviour were studied.The obtained outcomes showed that the TMDs distribution does not significantly affect on improving the behaviour of the diagrid structural system during an earthquake.Furthermore,the new dynamic scheme represented in this study has good performance for analyzing different systems.Abbreviation:TMD-tuned mass damper;SATMD-semiactive-tuned mass dampers;MDOF-multiple degrees of freedom;m_(i)-mass of ith story of the building;c_(i)-damping coefficient of the ith story of the building;k_(i)-stiffness of ith story of the building;x_(i)-displacement of the ith story of the building;md-mass of damper;c_(d)-damping coefficient of the damper;k_(d)-stiffness of damper;x_(d)-displacement of TMD;M_(i)-generalized mass of the ith normal mode;C_(i)-generalized damping of the ith normal mode;K_(i)-generalized stiffness of the ith normal mode;K_(i)(t)-generalized load of the ith normal mode;Y_(i)(t)-generalized displacement of the ith normal mode;[M]-matrices of mass;[C]-matrices of damping;{P(t)}-consequence external forces;N_(i)(τ)-interpolation functions;[Ai]-mechanical properties of the structure.

Influence of core stiffness on the behavior of tall timber buildings subjected to wind loads

This study analyzes the feasibility of the use of cross-laminated timber(CLT)as a load-bearing structural element in a 40-story building based on Chinese design requirements.The proposed design of the high-rise concrete-CLT building utilizes the core-outrigger system.Concrete is used for the central core and outriggers,and CLT is used for the rest of the structure of the building.Finite element models with different types of connections were developed using SAP2000 to analyze the lateral behavior of the building under wind action.The finite element models with rigid connections deduce the wind load distributions on individual structural elements,which determine the total number and the stiffness of fasteners of the CLT panels.Accordingly,spring links with equivalent stiffness that simulate the mechanical fasteners were employed in SAP2000.The results indicate that CLT increases the lateral flexibility of the building.A closed concrete core was substituted by two half cores to measure the requirement of the maximum lateral deflection.However,the acceleration at the building top still exceeded the limitation prescribed in Chinese Code JGJ 3-2010 owing to the lightweight of CLT and decreased stiffness of the hybrid building.To restrict this top acceleration within the limit,further approaches to increase the stiffness in the weak direction of the building are required.Methods such as the modification of the floor layout,increase in the thickness of walls,and addition of extra damping capacity should be considered and verified in the future.

Optimisation of the double skin facade in hot and humid climates through altering the design parameter combinations

Architects welcome double skin facade(DSF)due to its aesthetic quality.The first DSF structure was intended to prevent cold weather and strong winds.Nowadays,the application of DSF under different climates has been investigated in many previous studies.Fiowever,little work had been done on the behaviour of DSF in hot and humid climates.Therefore,this paper aimed to extend the application into this specific climate and Guangzhou was selected as the sample city.Both the climate and the design influence the performance of DSF.In this paper,rather than explore how each design parameter influences the performance,the design was evaluated from an overall aspect.The Designbuilder software was used to build the single skin facade(SSF)and double skin facade base model.Annual HVAC energy consumption for both the two models was calculated and compared.An optimisation process was conducted to figure out what kinds of parameter combination could make the design more energy-saving and thermally comfortable.The results indicated that it was possible to design an energy-saving DSF system applied in hot and humid climates compared with the SSF model.The efficiency of the DSF could be further enhanced with a better parameter combination.The optimised options had some features in common,which could provide some inspirations for the application of DSF in hot and humid climates.

Predicted aerodynamic damping of slender single beam structures in across-wind vibrations

The paper presents a generalization of the conventional analytical approach where the quasisteady theory is utilised to evalu-ate the across-wind aerodynamic damping of slender single beam structures.This generalized theory considers the variation of structural and aerodynamic parameters along the structural height,together with the nature of the vertical wind profile and mode shapes.Closed-form solutions for typical uniform and tapered tall buildings are given.A numerical application on a prototype tall building shows that the conventional method may be oversimplified,which results in incorrect predictions of the aerodynamic damping.