Home Design Tips Recommendations for the seismic design of buildings.

Design guide for architects and structural engineers.

Recommendations for the seismic design of buildings. Design
guide for architects and structural engineers.
In the following article we will try to present some simplified tips for the seismic design of buildings.
These tips may be useful not only to structural engineers but also to architects that want to contribute
with their design to the capacity of a building subjected to seismic loads. It is very important to mention
that the final cost of a structure located in a seismic region is determined by the implementation of the
following rules.
Desirable and Undesirable Plan Shapes
Our structure should be as simple and symmetric as possible. Square and rectangular plan shapes are
preferred because the behaviour of our structure will be more predictable and the analysis closer to the
response of the real structure. Although symmetrical, long rectangular buildings (Lmax/Lmin > 4) may
have problems with differential behaviour at their opposite ends. Buildings in the shapes of T, L, U,
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cruciform or other complex shape develop torsional effects and stress concentrations. External lifts or
stairwells can lead to similar problems. If these undesirable plan shapes are unavoidable, we can use
seismic gaps or joints to subdivide the entire building into dynamically independent units. The dimensions
of these gaps should be calculated in order not to have pounding problems.
Torsional Effects
In each floor of a building, the centre of mass and the centre of rotation must coincide. Significant
differences between these two can cause undesirable torsional effects and large deformations on
columns. Of course we can not avoid a certain amount of torsion in every building design. Symmetrical
arrangement of shear walls in concrete buildings or bracings in steel buildings in addition to the
symmetrical arrangement of the masses in each floor (e.g. non-structural walls) can minimize the
torsional effects. In order to increase the torsional resistance and stiffness of a building the lateral
restraint systems should be uniformly distributed close to the periphery of the structure.
Desirable and Undesirable Elevations
Very slender buildings (H/b > 4) suffer from high seismic forces and may have excessive horizontal
deformations. Furthermore, faade setbacks can make the design and analysis calculations more
complicated. Finally, unusually high or low storeys should not be designed.
Vertical Uniformity and Continuity in Mass and Stiffness
Make your question about lightweight
concrete here, which is the concrete forum,
so that anyone
Ion 30-06-2012, 14:51
Foundation and natural frequency of a
building.
Some types of foundation make the
structure stiffer than others. For example, a
building with pad footings is less stiff than
the same structure where
Ion 30-06-2012, 14:40
Cellular beams.
Thanks for the useful information guys!
andreas 30-06-2012, 14:23
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All lateral force resisting elements (such us columns, shear walls and bracings) shall be continuous to the
foundations. In-plane and out-of-plane discontinuity and abrupt change of stiffness along the height of a
building should be avoided or else soft storey failure may occur. Discontinuities in non-structural walls
such as at ground-floor stores and hotels can also cause this kind of failure.
Sufficient stiffness should also be provided in both directions of a building. It is obvious that there is no
point to have bracings or shear walls only in one direction because the horizontal seismic motion is a
bi-directional phenomenon.
Non uniform distribution of mass at any level should also be avoided. Sudden change in the mass or
stiffness of a building leads to concentrated ductility demand at this level. This can not always be
achieved by the storey columns and may cause the collapse of our structure. Sufficient shear walls or
bracings at both directions may provide a solution to soft storey problems. According to Eurocodes, shear
walls are vertical elements with length to width ratio 4:1.
If a structure is not designed in accordance with the above rules it may be classified as irregular in
plan/elevation or torsionally flexible. Because of this, our building is becoming less ductile, more
expensive to construct and the behaviour factor (q) is reduced.
Short Column
Short column failure may occur when non-structural walls are constructed except the upper part of a
column in order to create windows. Unfortunately, this action reduces the height of a column and makes it
vulnerable to brittle failure due to shear forces. We may have a short column failure if the height of the
short column is <=60cm in a 3.00m high storey.
Pounding
Two adjacent buildings should be separated by a seismic joint or gap or else pounding may happen. The
size of the gap should be at least the sum of their expected deflections.
Horizontal Diaphragm
Each floor should act as a horizontal diaphragm in order to collect the seismic forces and transmit them to
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the vertical structural elements. Large openings, with area more than 30-35% of the plan area, may
cause the slab not to act as a diaphragm. Furthermore, the beams of each floor should be located at the
same level.
Cantilevers
Cantilevers with length greater than 2m should be avoided because their behaviour when they are
subjected to seismic loads is not fully studied. Moreover, because of the cantilevers length, the thickness
of the adjacent slab and the reinforcement of the beams and columns will be increased.
Foundations
Rigid, box-type foundations, containing a foundation and a cover slab increase the seismic resistance of a
building. For buildings with footings or piles, the use of tie-beams between these elements and foundation
slab is recommended.
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This article was originally published in forum thread: Recommendations for the seismic design of buildings. Design guide for architects and
structural engineers. started by I on Vieworiginal post
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