1.

Burj khalifa

Burj Khalifa has been the world's tallest building since today.
Former/other name(s) : Burj Dubai
General information
Location : Dubai, UAE
Use : Office /Residential / Hotel
Height
Roof : 828 m (2,717 ft)
Top floor : 621.3 m (2,038 ft)
Reason of popularity : Tallest building in the world.

Technical details
Floor count -163 habitable floors plus 46maintenance levels in the spire and 2 parking
levels in the basement.
Floor area -309,473 m2 (3,331,100 sqft)

Companiesinvolved
Architect adrian smith at som
Structural engineer-bill baker at som
Developer-emaar properties


Structural system
The structural system consisted with a Buttressed Core, and high performance
reinforced concrete wall construction. Each of the wingsbuttress the others via a six-
sided central core, or hexagonal hub (asshown in figure). Corridor walls extend from the
central core to near theend of each wing, terminating in thickened hammer head walls.
Perimeter columns and flat plate floor construction complete the system giving a best
lateral load resisting system.







At mechanical floors, outrigger walls are provided to linkthe perimeter columns to the
interior wall system, allowingthe perimeter columns to participate in the lateral load
resistance of the structure.
Thus, all of the vertical concrete is utilized to support bothgravity and lateral loads, so
the tower is extremely stifflaterally and torsionally.
It is also a very efficient structure in that the gravity loadresisting system has been
utilized so as to maximize itsuse in resisting lateral loads.
During the design process, engineers rotated the building120 degrees from its original
layout to reduce stress fromwind.
At its tallest point, the tower sways a total of 1.5 m




























2.Taipei 101 (Taipei)
General information
Location : Xinyi District, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China
Use : Mixed Use: communication, Conference, Fitness center, Library, Observation,
Office ,Restaurant, Retail
Height
Antenna or spire : 509.2 m (1,670.6 ft)
Roof : 449.2 m (1,473.8 ft)
Top floor : 439.2 m (1,440.9 ft)
Technical details
Floor count : 101 (5 basement floors)
Floor area : 412,500 m2 (4,440,100 sqft)
Companiesinvolved
Architect(s) : C.Y. Lee & partners
Structural engineer : Thornton Tomasetti at Evergreen Engineering
Structural system
Structural system is a Braced core with belt trusses.
Gravity loads are carried vertically by a variety of columns withinthe core and the
perimeter. Slabs are composite in nature andare typically 135 mms thick.
Lateral loads are resisted by a combination of braced cores,outrigger trusses connect
the columns in the building's core tothose on the exterior, the super columns in the
outer perimeterand the Special moment resisting frame (SMRF).
For additional core stiffness, in addition to diagonal braces, concreteshear walls are
casted between core columns from basement to the 8
th
floor. Outrigger trusses occur at
11 levels of the structure some are twostorey height and others are single storey height.
In each of such floor16 outriggers present.
(Plan of the structural system which shows the braced core and the outer perimeter columns)


Other important information
Designed to withstand the typhoon winds and earthquake which is common in its area
of the Asia-Pacific.
Designed to withstand winds of 60 m/s and thestrongest earthquakes likely to occur in a
2,500 yearcycle.
Double-pane windows blocking external heat by 50%and recycled water meeting 20-
30% of the building'sneeds
Currently under way to make Taipei 101 "the world'stallest green building by LEED
standards




















3.Shanghai World Financial Center

Generalinformation
Location:100 CenturyAvenue, Pudong,Shanghai, China
Use:Office, Hotel,Museum, Observation, Parking Garage, Retail
Height
Antenna or spire: 494.4 m / 492 m
Roof: 487.4 m
Top floor: 474 m
Technical details
Floor count :101
Floor area: 381,600 m2
Companies involved
Architect(s) : Kohn Pedersen Fox
Structural engineer : Leslie E. Robertson

Structural system (for gravity and lateral loads)
Concrete shear walls of the service core together with Major columns, Diagonals and
belt trusses in outer frameis the lateral force resisting system.
This outer frame helps to decrease the thickness of theshear walls of services core as
well as a decrease in the weight of structural steel in the perimeter walls
whilemaintaining a good structural stability in lateral loadresisting.
Further, by making use of outrigger trusses coupled tothe columns of the mega-
structure, a further reduction of shear walls were realized.



Special features :
The diagonals of the mega-structure are formed of welded boxes of structural steel.
These steel boxes are in-filled with concrete, thus providing increased stiffness, non-
linearstructuralbehavior,and structural damping.
As well, in the upper reaches of the building enhanced with building, stud shear
connectors, the concrete is used to stabilize against buckling the thin steel plates of
the diagonals.


4. International Commerce Centre
General information
Location:Hong Kong
Use:Hotel, Observation,Office, Parking garage, Retail
Height
Roof : 484 m (1,587.9 ft)
Top floor : 476 m (1,561.7 ft)
Technical details
Floor count : 108
Floor area : 262,176 m2 (2,822,039 sqft)
Companies involved
Architect(s) : Architect Wong &Ouyang(HK) Ltd.
Design Architect : Kohn Pedersen Fox
Associates
Landscape Architect : Belt Collins & Associates
Structural engineer : Arup at MaunsellAECOM Group
Structural system (for gravity and lateral loads)
General composite frame structure is used for thetower up to 100/F, with the central core, an
externalsteel frame rested onto 8 mega columns which spanabout 16m.
Four sets of outrigger are provided at 6/F, 42/F, 78/Fand 100/F. Except for the one on 6/F which
isconstructed in insituprestressed design, the upper ones are in fabricated structural steel with
an innerframe embedded in the core wall.

Outriggers Distribution outrigger member in initial connected position
before final adjustment and welding
General information

















5. Petronas Tower 1 & 2
Former/other name(s): MenaraPetronas
General information
Location : JalanAmpang ,Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Use : Commercial offices
Height
Antenna or spire : 451.9 m (1,483 ft)
Roof : 378.6 m (1,242 ft)
Top floor : 375 m (1,230 ft)
Technical details
Floor count : 88
Floor area : 395,000 m2 (4,252,000 sqft)
Companies involved
Architect(s) : Csar Pelli& Associates
Structural engineer : Thornton Tomasetti ,Ranhill Bersekutu
Structural System (for gravity and lateral loads) :
Structural system consists with 75-by-75-foot concrete cores and anouter ring of widely-
spaced super columns.
The core structure of each of the towers is composed of a ring ofsixteen cylindrical columns
of high strength reinforced concrete.
The columns vary in size from 2.4 meters in diameter at the lowerareas to 1.2 meters in
diameter at the top, and are placed at the outside corners.
The columns are linked with a series of concrete core walls and ringbeams. These
movement-resistant and damper-free structures can be described as a pair of soft tubes.
There are actually twoconcentric pressurized cores in the structures, and the two coresunite
at the 38th floor of each tower.


























6.Willis Tower (Chicago)
Former/other name(s) - Sears Tower
General information
Location - 233 S. WackerDrive,Chicago,Illinois 60606 ,United States
Use -Office, observation, communication
Height
Antenna or spire -1,730 feet (527 m)
Roof -1,451 ft (442 m)
Technicaldetails
Floor count -108
Floor area -4.56 million sqft
Companiesinvolved
Architect(s) -Skidmore, Owings and Merrill
Structural Designer - Dennis Skidmore,Owings and Merrill (FazlurRahman Khan)
Structural system (for gravity and lateral loads) :
Consists with welded steel frames(square) form verticaltubes that provide the rigidity
needed to limit the lateral swayfrom wind forces.
Bundled framed tubes are a development of the framed tubesystem pioneered by the
legendary FazlurRahman Kahnwas the first engineer to introduce the notion of
shiftinggravity-load columns from the interior to the perimeter of abuilding.
The Willis Tower use Bundled tube Instead of one tube, abuilding consists of several
tubes tied together to resist thelateral forces. Such buildings have interior columns
alongthe perimeters of the tubes when they fall within the buildingenvelope.
All nine tubes would rise up to the 50th floor of thebuilding. At the 50th floor, the
northwest andsoutheast tubes end, forming the first step back and the remaining seven
continue up. At the 66th floor, thenortheast and the southwest tubes end. At the
90
th
floor, the north, east, and south tubes end. Theremaining west and center tubes
continue up to the108th floor.





7.Nanjing Greenland Financial Center(Nanjing)
General information
Location : Nanjing , China
Use : Hotel / Office
Height
Antenna or spire: 450 m (1,480 ft)
Roof : 381 m (1,250 ft)
Top floor : 339 m (1,112 ft)
Technical details
Floor count : 89 (2 basement floors)
floors below ground: 5
Companies involved
Architect(s) : Adrian Smith atSkidmore Owings & Merrill
Associate architect : ECADI
Structural engineer :Skidmore Owings & Merrill
Structural system (for gravity and lateral loads) :
The gravity load-resisting structural system consists ofstructural steel floor framing
supporting a 155mm thickcomposite metal deck floor slab. Floor framing inside
the"super-core" consists of reinforced concrete beams supporting a reinforced concrete
one-way slab.
The central reinforced concrete "super core" and the exteriorcomposite columns then
transmit the floor framing loads to the foundations.
The closed form of the "super-cores" perimeter provides a large amount of the overall
torsional stiffness of the building.
The core wall thicknesses were optimized in order to betterbalance the triangular-shaped
core for both bending stiffnessand torsional rigidity.
The primary lateral load resisting system is comprised ofan interior reinforced concrete
super-core shear wall system and exterior composite columns.
The secondary lateral system for the Main Towerconsists of a moment-resisting frame at
the perimeter of the building.
The perimeter moment frame system provides additionaltorsional stiffness, structural
integrity, and redundancy forthe overall building.
The towers shape is also highly functional- its triangularform relates to shape and size of
the site whilemaximizing views of the mountains, lake and historicNanjing buildings




























8.Guangzhou West Tower
Guangzhou International Finance Centre
General information
Location : Guangzhou, China
Use : Hotel / Office
Height
Antenna or spire: 440.2 m (1,444 ft)
Roof : 437.5 m (1,435 ft)
Top floor : 432 m (1,417.3 ft)
Technical details
Floor count : 103 (4 basement floors)
Floor area : 285,000 m2 (3,068,000 sq ft)
Companies involved
Architect(s): Wilkinson Eyre
Associate architect: South ChinaDesign Institute
Structural engineer : Arup
Structural Plan of Guangzhou West Tower
The design integrates structural systems, in both steel and structural concrete tosupport
the curving shape of the building, as well as the wind and seismic loadsimposed on the
tower. This is one structural innovation is integrated wind turbines.These turbines, which
are fed from funnel-like openings in the facade, are supportedon floor slabs occurring
within the opening zones and are laterally braced against thefloor above.










9.Jin Mao Tower (Shanghai)
Jin Mao Tower from nearby Shanghai World Financial Centre
General information
Location : 88 Century Avenue, PudongDistrict, Shanghai 200121, China
Use : Office, Hotel,Observation, Retail
Height
Antenna or spire: 421 m / 1,380 ft
Roof : 370.0 m / 1,214 ft
Top floor : 366.0 m / 1,201 ft
Technical details
Floor count : 88
Floor area : 278,707 m
Companies involved
Architect(s) : Adrian Smith at SkidmoreOwings & Merrill
project developer: China Shanghai ForeignTrade Centre
structural engineer: Skidmore Owings &Merrill
Structural System
The building employs an advanced structural engineeringsystem of wind and earthquake
engineering which fortifyit against typhoon winds of up to 200 km/h (with the
topswaying by a maximum of 75 cm) and earthquakes of upto 7 on the Richter scale.
The steel shafts have shear joints that act as shockabsorbers to cushion the lateral forces
imposed by windsand quakes, and the swimming pool on the 57th floor issaid to act as a
passive damper.
Gravity load
The remaining eight composite steel columns ("super-columns" of steelsections filled
with high strength concrete. ) are distributed in pairsamong the four corners of the
building mostly to support the gravityloads from this portion of the floor plates
Lateral load
The shear walls of an octagonal core. The deflection of the Jin MaoTower is
adequately controlled by a simple but innovative dampingsystem of specially
designed shear bolts that move within dampingchannels. Also, the mass of the 57th
floor swimming pool apparently contributes its own damping effect.

Plan geometries
10.Trump International Hotel and Tower
(Chicago)

Location of Trump Tower along the Chicago River
General information
Location -401 N. Wabash Ave.,Chicago,Illinois,United States
Use -Hotel, Condominium
Height
Antenna or spire -1,389 feet (423.4 m)
Roof -1,170 feet (356.6 m)
Technical details
Floor count -98
Floor area -2,600,000 squarefeet (242,000 m2)
Companies involved
Architect(s) : Adrian Smith atSkidmore Owings & Merrill
Structural engineer: William F. Baker atSkidmore Owings & Merrill
Structural system (for gravity and lateral loads):
A core and outrigger system provides lateral stability for theTrump Tower. Large
outrigger elements at the mechanical levelstie the concrete core to perimeter columns,
significantlyincreasing the buildings lateral stiffness as well as its resistance to
overturning due to wind.
The core is located at the center of the building and consists offour I-shaped and two C-
shaped walls at the base, and gradually reduces to two I-shaped walls above the final
setback at level 51.Above the entries to the elevator cores at each level, deep reinforced
concrete link beams connect the flanges of adjacent walls.
The outriggers are large reinforced concrete wall-beams, that extend from the flanges of
the core walls to the exterior columnsat three of the double-height mechanical floors in
the tower(levels 28-29, 50-51, and 90-91). These outrigger levels occurjust below the
building setbacks, and the outriggers also serve astransfer girders as the columns
are relocated at the faade.
Typical residential floors are 9-inch (230-mm) thick flat platesserve as gravity
load resisting system together with frame.
The design of the building incorporates three setback featuresdesigned to provide
visual continuity with the surrounding skyline




Structural core and column layout at a
residential floor
















References
http://www.emporis.com
http://www.burjkhalifa.ae/thetower/structure.aspx
http://www.allaboutskyscrapers.com/taipei101.htm
http://www.ctbuh.org
http://www.yangsquare.com/petronas-tower-in-detail/
http://www.som.com/content.cfm/burj_khalifa
http://architecture.about.com/od/skyscrapers/a/Worlds-Tallest-Buildings.htm
www.sefindia.org/rangarajan/Taipie101BuildingAnalysis.pdf
www.ncree.org.tw/iwsccc/PDF/03%20-%20Shieh.pdf
http://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=7609
http://www.structuremag.org/article.aspx?articleID=393
Thankful To,
Pragya N Roy (Peter)
Structural Engineer.