MARCH 2020

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HIGH-RISE BUILDINGS

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 High-Rise Building Structures

High rise structures have gone through advancement but they pose particular design challenges for
structural and geotechnical engineers, particularly if situated in a seismically active region or if the
underlying soils have geotechnical risk factors such as high compressibility or bay mud. They also pose
serious challenges to reghters during emergencies in high-rise structures. The denition of a high-rise
again differs from city to city, because of the parameters dictated by each city’s available infrastructure for
reghting, solid waste disposal, water supply and sewerage facilities. These are the agencies whose
capabilities dictate how high a building can be in any particular city. So all factors need to be analyzed
correctly for building this type of structure.

In this edition of eMag, we have focused on The materials used and its advantage in high rise buildings, An
Analysis of development, types and importance of high rise buildings, Exemplary high rise buildings across
the globe; structural and design analysis, Load Composition and much more.

March 2020 • Constrofacilitator 2

 High rise building- An Analysis of
04
development, types and importance

Top 10 high rise buildings across the

09
globe; structural and design analysis

The materials used and its advantage

15
in high rise building

Structural and load component of

20
high rise buildings

4 15
9 20

3 Constrofacilitator • March 2020

 AN ANALYSIS OF HIGH RISE BUILDING

High rise building- An Analysis of development,

types and importance

A
high-rise building is a building with forty or more stories and tion Association defines a high-rise
tall building, as opposed taller than 150 m (490 ft) is generally con- as being higher than 75 feet (23
to a low-rise building sidered a skyscraper. meters), or about 7 stories.
and is defined differ- Ÿ Most building engineers, inspectors,
ently in terms of height Various bodies have defined "high- architects and similar professionals
depending on the juris- rise"- define a high-rise as a building that is
diction. It is used as a residential, office at least 75 feet (23 meters)
building, or other functions including Ÿ Emporis Standards defines a high-
hotel, retail, or with multiple purposes rise as "A multi-story structure High-rise structures pose particular
combined. Residential high-rise build- between 35–100 meters tall, or a design challenges for structural and
ings are also known as tower blocks and building of unknown height from geotechnical engineers, particularly if situ-
may be referred to as "MDUs", standing 12–39 floors." ated in a seismically active region or if the
for "multi-dwelling unit". A very tall high- Ÿ According to the building code of underlying soils have geotechnical risk
rise building is referred to as a skyscraper. Hyderabad, India, a high-rise build- factors such as high compressibility or
ing is one with four floors or more, or bay mud. They also pose serious chal-
High-rise buildings became possible with 15 to 18 meters or more in height. lenges to firefighters during emergencies
the invention of the elevator (lift) and less Ÿ The New Shorter Oxford English Dic- in high-rise structures. New and old build-
expensive, more abundant building mate- tionary defines a high-rise as "a ing design, building systems like the
rials. The materials used for the structural building having many storeys". building standpipe system, HVAC sys-
system of high-rise buildings are rein- Ÿ The International Conference on Fire tems (heating, ventilation and air condi-
forced concrete and steel. Skyscrapers Safety in High-Rise Buildings tioning), fire sprinkler system and other
have a steel frame, while residential defined a high-rise as "any structure things like stairwell and elevator evacua-
blocks are usually constructed of con- where the height can have a serious tions pose significant problems. Studies
crete. There is no clear difference between impact on evacuation" are often required to ensure that pedes-
a tower block and a skyscraper, although a Ÿ In the U.SThe National Fire Protec- trian wind comfort and wind danger con-

04 Constrofacilitator • March 2020

 AN ANALYSIS OF HIGH RISE BUILDING

cerns are addressed. In order to allow less height control regulations to maintain south tower, Two World Trade Center
wind exposure, to transmit more daylight their low skylines. Today, however, we (WTC 2), 1,362 feet (415 meters), was
to the ground and to appear more slender, witness Paris and London giving away completed in 1973. At that time, the WTC
many high-rises have a design with set- their horizontality in favor of the vertical towers were the tallest buildings in the
backs. scale. world (taking the title from the Empire
State Building, which for more than 40
The development of high rise buildings In 1930 and 1931, two of the tallest build- years was the world's tallest building). In
ings in the world were constructed in New 1974, the world's tallest building became
The 10-story Home Insurance Building, York City: the 77-story Chrysler Building the Sears Tower. Located in Chicago, it
built in Chicago in 1885, is generally con- (1,046 feet, 319 meters) and the 102-story has 110 floors, beginning at street level
sidered to be the world's first skyscraper. Empire State Building (1,250 feet, 381 and ending 1,450 feet (442 meters) in the
As stated in the Architectural Record , meters). The latter, considered the “ air.
before the Home Insurance Building was Eighth Wonder of the World, ”was built in
demolished to allow construction of the the record time of one year and 45 days. In 1972, the Council on Tall Buildings and
New Field Building, “a committee of 27 Both the Chrysler Building and the Urban Habitat (CTBUH) first compiled a
architects and others was appointed by the Empire State Building eclipsed the Wool- list of “The One Hundred Tallest Build-
Marshall Field Estate to decide if it was worth Building as the world's tallest sky- ings in the World.” In compiling the data
entitled to the distinction of being the scrapers. After these buildings were “height is measured from the sidewalk
world's first skyscraper. This committee, erected, 40-, 50-, and 60-story structures level of the main entrance to the architec-
after a thorough investigation, handed were built all over the United States. tural top of the building. Cities in the elite
down a verdict that it was unquestionably 100 are Atlanta, Bangkok, Charlotte, Chi-
the first building of skeletal construction.” “Skyscrapers began to appear in Shang- cago, Chongqing, Cleveland, Dallas,
Engineer William Le Baron Jenney hai, Hong Kong, S ã o Paulo, and other Doha, Dubai, Frankfurt, Gold Coast (Aus-
designed this 180-foot (55 meters) tall major Asian and Latin American cities in tralia), Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Hous-
building using a steel frame to support the the 1930s, with Europe and Australia join- ton, Izumisano, Kaohsiung, Kuala
weight of the structure. Jenney stated in ing in by mid-century.” In the early 1970s, Lumpur, Los Angeles, Makati, Manama,
1883, “ we are building to a height to rival the 110-story Twin Towers of the New Melbourne, Moscow, Nanning, New
the Tower of Babel. ” In the 1890s, “ most York World Trade Center (WTC) were York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Riyadh,
European cities like London, Paris, and built: the north tower, One World Trade San Francisco, Seattle, Seoul, Shanghai,
Rome rejected tall buildings in their his- Center (WTC 1), 1,368 feet (417 meters) Shenzhen, Singapore, Taipei, Toronto,
torical city centers meanwhile opting for in height, was completed in 1972; the Wuhan, and Yokohama. Of the tallest 100

March 2020 • Constrofacilitator 05

 AN ANALYSIS OF HIGH RISE BUILDING

buildings, 64 are located outside of North The only means of escape from a floor structures are built of lightweight steel or
America. Of these, 41 are in Asia and 16 was through a single stairway usually pro- reinforced concrete frames, with exterior
are in the Middle East. Burj Dubai, tected at each level by a metal-plated all-glass curtain walls. As Salvadori
located in Dubai, the United Arab wooden door. There were no standards for stated, “The so-called curtain walls of our
Emirates, is the tallest structure in the the protection of steel used in the con- highrise buildings consist of thin, vertical
world. Scheduled to be completed in struction of these high-rises. metal struts or mullions, which encase the
2009, this 160 + -story monolith will stand large glass panels constituting most of the
at a stunning height (at the time of publi- Second Generation wall surface. The curtain wall, built for
cation of this book, the estimated height of lighting and temperature-conditioning
Burj Dubai was over 800 meters or 2600 The second generation of tall buildings, purposes, does not have the strength to
feet). which includes the Metropolitan Life stand by itself and is supported by a frame
Building (1909), the Woolworth Building of steel or concrete, which constitutes the
Three Generations of High-Rise Build- (1913), and the Empire State Building structure of the building.
ings (1931), are frame structures, in which a
skeleton of welded- or riveted-steel col- Steel-Framed Tube Construction- Tube
Since the first appearance of high-rise umns and beams, often encased in con- structures represented a change in the
buildings, there has been a transformation crete, runs through the entire building. design of steel-framed buildings to enable
in their design and construction. This has This type of construction makes for an them to be built ü ber tall and yet remain
culminated in glass, steel, and concrete extremely strong structure, but not such strong enough to resist the lateral forces of
structures in the international and attractive floor space. The interiors are winds and the possible effects of an earth-
postmodernist styles of architecture prev- full of heavy, load-bearing columns and quake. Tube construction used load-
alent today. walls. bearing exterior or perimeter walls to sup-
port the weight of the building.
First Generation Third Generation
Reinforced Concrete Construction -
The exterior walls of these buildings con- Buildings constructed from after World Concrete that has been hardened onto
sisted of stone or brick, although some- War II until today make up the most recent imbedded metal (usually steel) is called
times cast iron was added for decorative generation of high-rise buildings. Within reinforced concrete, or ferroconcrete .The
purposes. The columns were constructed this generation there are those of steel- reinforcing steel, which may take the
of cast iron, often unprotected; steel and framed construction (core construction form of rods, bars, or mesh, contributes
wrought iron was used for the beams; and and tube construction), reinforced con- tensile strength.” 46 Reinforced concrete
the floors were made of wood. “In a fire, crete construction, and steel-framed rein- is “concrete containing reinforcement and
the floors tend to collapse, and the iron forced concrete construction. [is] designed on the assumption that the
frame loses strength and implodes.” 38 two materials act together in resisting
Elevator shafts were often unenclosed. Steel-Framed Core Construction-These forces.

High-rise structures in concrete followed

the paradigm of the steel frame. Examples
include the 16-story Ingalls Building
(1903) in Cincinnati, which was 54
metres (180 feet) tall, and the 11-story
Royal Liver Building (1909), built in Liv-
erpool by Hennebique's English represen-
tative, Louis Mouchel. The latter structure
was Europe's first skyscraper, its clock
tower reaching a height of 95 metres (316
feet). Attainment of height in concrete
buildings progressed slowly owing to the
much lower strength and stiffness of con-
crete as compared with steel.

Steel-Framed Reinforced Concrete Con-

struction- These structures are a mixture
of reinforced concrete construction and
steel-framed construction, hence the
name steel-framed reinforced construc-
tion. An example would be a steel framed
structure with a concrete shear core and
composite floors built with steel decking.

06 Constrofacilitator • March 2020

 AN ANALYSIS OF HIGH RISE BUILDING

The term mixed construction is some- independent cooking and bathroom facili- tall buildings. The ever increasing popu-
times used to describe this type of high- ties and may be known as an apartment, a lation and growing economies in major cit-
rise construction. residence, a tenement, or a condominium. ies of the world mean increasing urban-
An apartment building is “ a building con- ization globally and the continuing rise in
Types of High-Rise Buildings taining more than one dwelling unit. population density in urban areas. Arable
Apartment buildings are those structures land areas are constantly being eaten
The use of a building has considerable containing three or more living units with away by urban spreading through subur-
influence on its security and fire life independent cooking and bathroom facili- ban developments. The tall building can
safety needs. There are different types of ties, whether designated as apartment accommodate many more people on a
high-rise buildings classified according to houses, … condominiums, or garden smaller land than would be the case with
their primary use. apartments. low-rise building on the same land. A tall
building is in effect a vertical transforma-
1. Office buildings: An office building is 4. Mixed-use buildings: A mixed-use tion of horizontal expansion.
a “structure designed for the conduct of building may contain offices, apartments,
business, generally divided into individ- residences, and hotel rooms in separate There has been evident neglect of the
ual offices and offering space for rent or sections of the same building. Hotel Resi- human factors in urban design at the
lease.” dences are another type of mixed-use expense of livability and quality of life.
occupancy. “ The hotel residences trend is The outward expansion of cities into the
2. Hotel buildings: “The term ' hotel ' is notably different from its predecessors suburbs has resulted in increased travel
an all-inclusive designation for facilities such as fractional/timeshare hotel units, time and traffic gridlock. The prospect of
that provide comfortable lodging and gen- which are not wholly owned, or condo traveling for a long time, to and from
erally, but not always food, beverage, hotels, which are wholly owned hotel work, is detrimental to social well-being
entertainment, a business environment, rooms without, for example, kitchens. of the commuter and results in losses of
and other 'away from home' services.” Not only do hotel residences have kitch- fuel and productivity. Clustering of build-
There are also hotels that contain resi- ens and everything else an owner would ings in the form of tall buildings in
dences. Known as hotel-residences, this expect in a typical abode, they also densely built-up areas is the opportunity
type of occupancy is later addressed in include amenities such as maid and room for creating open spaces like playgrounds,
mixed-use buildings. service, plus restaurants, spas and gyms. plazas, parks, and other community
spaces by freeing up space at the ground
3. Residential and apartment build- The need of high rise buildings level. Besides the impact on the city sky-
ings: A residential building contains sepa- line, tall buildings thus influence the city
rate residences where a person may live or First, the exploding population, largely fabric at the level where they meet the
regularly stay. Each residence contains urban, creates an increasing demand for ground. The improvement of the “public

March 2020 • Constrofacilitator 07

 AN ANALYSIS OF HIGH RISE BUILDING

realm” has become a necessity exerted by

planning authorities in major cities.

Among the most important advantages

that high-rise buildings offer to consum-
ers is the fact that they tend to have well-
established occupier profiles – in other
words, tailored neighbourhoods. The
other appeal factors for high rises are that
they offer all the conveniences of modern
life, including swimming-pools, gymna-
siums, grand entrance lobbies, high-speed
elevators. Because property prices in a
high-rise are higher than in smaller pro-
jects in a locality, developers tend to pro-
vide a lot of extra amenities and features.

Vertical expansion means they can

accommodate more residential / commer-
cial space per square meter of ground
floor than single storey buildings which
take up more ground floor or land. They
are suitable for highly populated or over-
populated countries where there is a short-
age of land.

The overall cost of land, preliminaries,

foundations and roofing is much lower for
high rise buildings when compared to sin-
gle storey horizontal developments of the
same magnitude. High rise buildings offer ground level development which pro- ers. More security is often required for a
much better security to tenants than a vides multiple points of access for intrud- single storey complex. High rise build-
ings release more space for other CBD
developments, reducing travelling dis-
tance within a location.

Maximum utilization of Land Parcel, as

High rises consume a High FAR and
enables you to build more on a land parcel
as compared to a low-rise. Land is at a
very high premium in almost all cities of
the world and therefore, highrise is the
only feasible option.

High Density developments, which con-

centrate multiple dwellings, and offices,
etc. into a single development. This
reduces the strain on Urban infrastructure
like roads, water supply, sewage, etc as
the connectivity needs to be provided to
only 1 location as compared to low rises,
where every dwelling unit needs a public
infrastructure connectivity.

Source

elsevier.com, researchgatte britanica,

deezen, ingricloud, architonic.com,
adsttc.com, epicgames.com, wsp.com,
pinintrest.com

08 Constrofacilitator • March 2020

 HIGH RISE BUILDINGS

Top 10 high rise

buildings across the
globe; structural and
design analysis

T
he 20th century are undergoing increasing inundation tecture and design of top ten high rise
was surely the cen- by indigenes from the rural areas in buildings across the globe.
tury for high-rise search of jobs, education and better
buildings. facilities. This puts immense pressure Burj Khalifa
Humans have on the demand for housing, leading to
always been fas- spiraling property costs. Educational The Burj Khalifa is a skyscraper in
cinated by height. institutes, health centers, industries Dubai, United Arab Emirates. With a
Whether it be and commercial activities all attract total height of 829.8 m (2,722 ft) and a
Icarus or the people from surrounding habitations roof height (excluding antenna, but
Wright Brothers, and into the cities. This leads to expan- including a 244 m spire of 828 m (2,717
we have always sought to escape the sion in all aspects of the city; the bad ft), the Burj Khalifa has been the tallest
bonds of gravity. Skyscrapers let us fly part is that there is increased conges- structure and building in the world
if only briefly. And then there are the tion, pollution, competition as well as since its topping out in 2009.
less lofty reasons for going taller -- deforestation as the city tries to expand
such as maximizing land value and horizontally first. Construction of the Burj Khalifa began
ever-improving technology and engi- in 2004, with the exterior completed five
neering capabilities. Currently, cities We have analysed the structure, archi- years later in 2009. The primary struc-

Constrofacilitator • March 2020 09

 HIGH RISE BUILDINGS

ture is reinforced concrete. The build- the region, such as in the Great
ing was opened in 2010 as part of a Mosque of Samarra. The Y-shaped tri-
new development called Downtown partite floor geometry is designed to
Dubai. It is designed to be the centre- optimize residential and hotel space. A
piece of large-scale, mixed-use devel- buttressed central core and wings are
opment. The decision to construct the used to support the height of the build-
building is based on the government's ing. Although this design was derived
decision to diversify from an oil-based from Tower Palace III, the Burj Khalifa's
economy, and for Dubai to gain inter- central core houses all vertical trans-
national recognition. The building was portation with the exception of egress
originally named Burj Dubai but was stairs within each of the wings. The
renamed in honour of the ruler of Abu structure also features a cladding sys-
Dhabi and president of the United Arab tem which is designed to withstand
Emirates, Khalifa bin Zayed Al Dubai's hot summer temperatures. It
Nahyan;Abu Dhabi and the UAE gov- contains a total of 57 elevators and 8
ernment lent Dubai money to pay its escalators.
debts. The building broke numerous
height records, including its designa- Shanghai Tower
tion as the tallest building in the world.
The Shanghai Tower is a 632-metre
Burj Khalifa was designed by Adrian (2,073 ft), 128-story megatall sky-
Smith, of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, scraper in Lujiazui, Pudong, Shanghai. Between that and the outer layer, which
whose firm designed the Willis Tower It shares the record (along with the Ping twists as it rises, nine indoor zones pro-
and One World Trade Center. Hyder An Finance Center) of having the vide public space for visitors. Each of
Consulting was chosen to be the world's highest observation deck within these nine areas has its own atrium, fea-
supervising engineer with NORR a building or structure at 562 m, and the turing gardens, cafés, restaurants and
Group Consultants International Lim- world's second-fastest elevators at a retail space, and providing panoramic
ited chosen to supervise the architec- top speed of 20.5 metres per second views of the city.
ture of the project. The design is (74 km/h; 46 mph).It is the world's sec-
derived from the Islamic architecture of ond-tallest building by height to archi- Both layers of the façade are transpar-
tectural top. However, the title of the ent, and retail and event spaces are pro-
world's fastest elevator now belongs to vided at the tower's base. The transpar-
the Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre, ent façade is a unique design feature,
with a top speed of 21 metres per sec- because most buildings have only a sin-
ond (76 km/h; 47 mph) achieved in gle façade using highly reflective glass
2017.Designed by international design to reduce heat absorption, but the
firm Gensler and owned by the Shang- Shanghai Tower's double layer of glass
hai city government, it is the tallest of eliminates the need for either layer to
the world's first triple-adjacent supertall be opaque. The tower is able to
buildings in Pudong, the other two accommodate as many as 16,000 peo-
being the Jin Mao Tower and the ple on a daily basis.
Shanghai World Financial Centre. Its
tiered construction, designed for high The Shanghai Tower joins the Jin Mao
energy efficiency, provides nine sepa- Tower and SWFC to form the world's
rate zones divided between office, first adjacent grouping of three
retail and leisure use. supertall buildings. Its 258-room hotel,
located between the 84th and 110th
The Shanghai Tower was designed by floors, is to be operated by Jin Jiang
the American architectural firm International Hotels as the Shanghai
Gensler, with Shanghainese architect Tower J-Hotel, and at the time of its
Jun Xia leading the design team. The completion it will be the highest hotel in
tower takes the form of nine cylindrical the world. The tower will also incorpo-
buildings stacked atop each other, rate a museum. The tower's sub-levels
totalling 128 floors, all enclosed by the provide parking spaces for 1,800 vehi-
inner layer of the glass facade. cles.

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 HIGH RISE BUILDINGS

The pro1ject uses clock faces for each pleted in 2017, becoming the tallest
side of the main hotel tower. The high- building in Shenzhen, the 2nd tallest
est residential floor stands at 370 m building in China and the 4th tallest
(1,210 ft), just below the media dis- building in the world. It also broke the
plays under the clock faces. At 43 m × record of having the highest observa-
43 m (141 ft × 141 ft), these are the larg- tion deck in a building at 562.2 m
est in the world. The roof of the clocks is (1,844 ft).
450 m (1,480 ft) above the ground, mak-
ing them the world's most elevated The building contains office, hotel and
architectural clocks. A 151-metre-tall retail spaces, a conference center, and
(495 ft) spire has been added on top of a high-end shopping mall. Floor 116
the clock giving it a total height of 601 features an observation deck named
m (1,972 ft). Behind the clock faces Free Sky. As its name suggests, it is
there is an astronomy exhibition. In the also the headquarters of Ping An Insur-
spire base and the glass-covered ance. The design of the building is
floors (The Jewel) there is a scientific meant to be unique and elegant, and to
center which is used to sight the moon represent the history and achieve-
in the beginnings of the Islamic ments of the main tenant. A stainless-
months, and to operate an atomic steel facade that weighs approximately
clock which controls the tower clocks. 1,700 metric tons provides a modern
design to the building. The building has
Abraj Al-Bait Ping An International Finance Center a total gross floor area of 378,600
square meters. The 115-story tower
The Abraj Al-Bait is a government- The Ping An International Finance Cen- has a width-to-height aspect ratio of
owned complex of seven skyscraper ter (also known as the Ping An IFC) is a 1:10 and also has an 11-story podium.
hotels in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. These 115-story, 599 m (1,965 ft) supertall sky- Including the podium, the building has
towers are a part of the King Abdulaziz scraper in Shenzhen, Guangdong. The 495,520 square meters of floor space.
Endowment Project that aims to mod- building was commissioned by Ping A five-level basement adds another
ernize the city in catering to its pilgrims. An Insurance and designed by the 90,000 square meters of area. The
The central hotel tower, the Makkah American architectural firm Kohn 620,000 metric ton tower has eight
Royal Clock Tower, has the world's larg- Pedersen Fox Associates. It was com- main columns which form the super-
est clock face and is the third-tallest
building and fifth-tallest freestanding
structure in the world. The clock tower
contains the Clock Tower Museum that
occupies the top four floors of the
tower.

The building complex is metres away

from the world's largest mosque and
Islam's most sacred site, the Great
Mosque of Mecca. The developer and
contractor of the complex are the Saudi
Binladin Group, the Kingdom's largest
construction company. It is the world's
most expensive building with the total
cost of construction totalling US$15 bil-
lion. The complex was built after the
demolition of the Ajyad Fortress, the
18th-century Ottoman citadel on top of
a hill overlooking the Grand Mosque.
The destruction of the historically sig-
nificant site in 2002 by the Saudi gov-
ernment sparked an international out-
cry and a strong response from Turkey.

Constrofacilitator • March 2020 11

 HIGH RISE BUILDINGS

structure. The column dimensions pleted in 2012 and opened in 2013. Its
range from approximately 6 by 3.2 m at interior and elevator atmosphere are
the lowest level to 2.9 by 1.4 m at the similar. In addition, space externally on
top of the tower. the roof tower is similar.

Lotte World Tower On March 17, 2016, prior to the final

phase of external construction, the
Lotte World Tower is a 123-floor, 555.7- Diagrid lantern-shaped roof structure
metre (1,823 ft) supertall skyscraper was completed. The roof structure was
located in Seoul, South Korea. It constructed with steel counterparts
opened to the public on April 11, 2017 that are each 12 meters and weigh 20
and is currently the tallest building in tons. The counterparts were made up
South Korea, and is the 6th tallest of bent metal panels that are 6 cm
building in the world. thick, and the structure itself is 120
meters high, and it covers floors
In 1989, the first design was made and 107–123. Approximately 3,000 tons of
there was a plan. Design changed steel parts, a high-precision 64t tower
again in 1994, 1995 and 1997. The crane, high-precision GPS alignment
design that came out of the second systems and highly skilled welding
Lotte World in 2002 was similar to that technicians were used in the construc-
of France, which literally copied the Eif- tion of the roof itself. The roof structure
fel Tower. Following the revision of the is engineered to withstand its weight
bird's eye view from 2004 to 2006, the without reinforcing pillars, and endure
bird's eye view was changed seven earthquakes up to a magnitude of 9 main building of the rebuilt World Trade
times in 2008 and the design was under the Richter magnitude scale and Center complex in Lower Manhattan,
changed in 2009 and the Lotte World winds up to 80 m/s. New York City. One WTC is the tallest
Tower began to break ground. The building in the United States, the tallest
Shard of England is said to be similar in One World Trade Center building in the Western Hemisphere,
design. The Shard, the design of and the seventh-tallest in the world.
renowned Italian architect Renzo One World Trade Center (also known The supertall structure has the same
Piano, was launched in 2008 and com- as One WTC or Freedom Tower is the name as the North Tower of the original
World Trade Center, which was
destroyed in the terrorist attacks of Sep-
tember 11, 2001. The new skyscraper
stands on the northwest corner of the
16-acre (6.5 ha) World Trade Center
site, on the site of the original 6 World
Trade Center. The building is bounded
by West Street to the west, Vesey Street
to the north, Fulton Street to the south,
and Washington Street to the east.

The building's architect is David Childs,

whose firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
(SOM) also designed the Burj Khalifa
and the Willis Tower. The construction
of below-ground utility relocations, foot-
ings, and foundations for the new
building began on April 27, 2006. One
World Trade Center became the tallest
structure in New York City on April 30,
2012, when it surpassed the height of
the Empire State Building. The tower's
steel structure was topped out on
August 30, 2012. On May 10, 2013, the

12 Constrofacilitator • March 2020

 HIGH RISE BUILDINGS

the Guangzhou Twin Towers. The other

tower of the pair, the 1,439-foot (439 m)
tall Guangzhou International Finance
Center, is located on the other side of
the axis and is also known under the
name "West Tower". The Guangzhou
CTF Centre is therefore known as the
"East Tower" as well. Both towers have
a similar height, size, and function, and
are situated close to the 1,982-foot
(604 m) tall Canton Tower.

Tianjin CTF Finance Center

Tianjin CTF Finance Center is a

supertall skyscraper in Tianjin, China.
Construction started in 2013 and was
completed in 2019. The tower is the sec-
ond tallest building in Tianjin after
Goldin Finance 117, eighth tallest com-
final component of the skyscraper's ters from New Jersey to Lower pleted building in the world, and the tall-
spire was installed, making the build- Manhattan. est building in the world with less than
ing, including its spire, reach a total 100 floors. It is located in the outer dis-
height of 1,776 feet (541 m). Its height Guangzhou Chow Tai Fook Finance trict of the Tianjin Economic-
in feet is a deliberate reference to the Centre Technological Development Area.
year when the United States Declara-
tion of Independence was signed. The The Guangzhou Chow Tai Fook The building commonly designed as
building opened on November 3, 2014; Finance Centre (also called East the softly curving glass skin integrates
the One World Observatory opened on Tower) is a 1,739-foot (530 m) tall eight sloping mega columns that follow
May 29, 2015. mixed-use skyscraper in Guangzhou,
Guangdong, which was completed in
The construction of the World Trade October 2016. It is the tallest com-
Center, of which the Twin Towers (One pleted building in Guangzhou, the
and Two World Trade Center) were the third-tallest in China, and the seventh-
centerpieces, was conceived as an tallest in the world. The Guangzhou
urban renewal project and spear- CTF Finance Centre has a total of 111
headed by David Rockefeller. The pro- above ground and five below ground
ject was intended to help revitalize floors and houses a shopping mall,
Lower Manhattan. The project was offices, apartments, and a hotel. The
planned by the Port Authority of New skyscraper has a gross floor area of
York and New Jersey, which hired 5,464,633 square feet (507,681.0 m2),
architect Minoru Yamasaki. He came of which a little over 20% is not part of
up with the idea of building twin towers. the skyscraper itself, but of the podium
After extensive negotiations, the New connected to it.
Jersey and New York State govern-
ments, which supervise the Port The Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre is
Authority, consented to the construc- situated on a 290,000-square-foot
tion of the World Trade Center at the (27,000 m2) lot along Zhujiang East
Radio Row site, located in the lower- R o a d i n Z h u j i a n g N e w To w n ,
west area of Manhattan. To satisfy the Guangzhou's central business district.
New Jersey government, the Port In that neighborhood, the skyscraper is
Authority agreed to buy the bankrupt located east of the central axis with an
Hudson & Manhattan Railroad (re- underground mall and connections to
named to Port Authority Trans- public transportation underneath it.
Hudson), which transported commu- The Guangzhou CTF Centre is part of

Constrofacilitator • March 2020 13

 HIGH RISE BUILDINGS

a lyrical line connecting the centers and file of the tower and softening any 180 meters in a bid to reduce conges-
corners of all four elevations. These sharp corners in plan. The building's tion.
curving mega columns increase the aerodynamic shape greatly reduces
structure's response to seismic con- this vortex shedding by “confusing the CITIC Tower's design draws inspiration
cerns and are integral to both the grav- wind” and disrupting the opportunity from the “zun”, a ritual vessel originat-
ity and lateral systems. They are effec- for any resonating wind forces and ing in Bronze Age China. In profile, the
tive in increasing the stiffness of the loads on the structure. tower abstracts and refines the zun's
building's perimeter frame, conse- vase-like form, balancing composition
quently attracting a larger portion of the CITIC Tower and articulation with structural require-
seismic forces in compliance with the ments and leasing depth needs. In
Chinese code requirements. The CITIC Tower is a supertall skyscraper in plan, the building is square with
façade reinforces the curvature of the the Central Business District of Beijing. rounded corners; its width transforms
tower form and creates a shimmering It is popularly known as China Zun. The vertically from its 78-meter-wide base
texture over the building's surface. The 109-storey, 528 m (1,732 ft) building is to its 54-meter-wide “waist” to its 69-
crystalline-like curtain wall stretches the tallest in the city, surpassing that of meter-wide top. Broader at its base
from the suspended glass canopies at the China World Trade Center Tower III than its crown, the tower combines its
each of the lobbies to the by 190 metres. On August 18, 2016, iconography with infrastructure that
dematerialized, megacolumn-looped CITIC Tower surpassed China World supports the building's integrity in
crown and presents a bold expression Trade Center Tower III in height, China's greatest seismic zone.
of a comprehensive, integrated design becoming Beijing's tallest building. The
on the Tianjin skyline. tower structurally topped out on July 9, These sweeping proportions meet the
2017, fully topped out on August 18, ground with particular finesse. The
By stacking reducing floor plates, the 2017, and was completed in late 2018 lobby's distinct upward curve mirrors
tower tapers dramatically to minimize making CITIC Tower the tallest com- the tower's fluted, outward drape in the
the surface area exposed to wind, sun, pleted building of 2018. opposite direction, providing a dra-
and moisture. The gently-undulating matic backdrop to the pedestrian expe-
curves of the façade subtly denote the China Zun Tower is a mixed-use build- rience. The interior canopy features
integration of the three distinct pro- ing, featuring 60 floors of office space, bespoke aluminum ribbing that follows
grams within a singular smooth object. 20 floors of luxury apartments and 20 its curvature and echoes the tower's ele-
Square in plan with rounded corners, floors of hotel with 300 rooms,there will gant façade expression.
the floor plate geometry enables be a rooftop garden on the top floor at
unique interior fit-outs and customiz- 524m high. The tower is likely to remain CITIC Tower anchors the northern end
ation options for occupants. Research the tallest building in Beijing for the fore- of the city's CBD, forming an iconic
by the architect has shown that lateral seeable future, as in 2018 authorities backdrop to the park and a prominent
forces due to vortex shedding can be capped new projects in the central busi- new destination for visitors. The tower
controlled by tapering the vertical pro- ness district to a height of no more than also connects to a vast underground

14 Constrofacilitator • March 2020

 HIGH RISE BUILDINGS

transportation network, linking the strongest earthquakes in a 2,500- tons (1,100–1,460 short tons). During
together a pedestrian passageway sys- year cycle. construction, on 31 March 2002, a 6.8-
tem, a B2-level roadway, and four sub- magnitude earthquake rocked Taipei;
way lines across three stations. Taipei 101 was designed to be flexible two construction cranes from the 56th
as well as structurally resistant, floor, the highest floor at the time, top-
The Taipei because while flexibility prevents struc- pled. Five people died in the accident,
tural damage, resistance ensures com- but an inspection showed no structural
The Taipei 101formerly known as the Tai- fort both for the occupants and for the damage to the building, and construc-
pei World Financial Center, is a protection of the glass, curtain walls, tion soon resumed.
supertall skyscraper designed by C.Y. and other features. Most designs
Lee and C.P. Wang in Xinyi, Taipei, Tai- achieve the necessary strength by Taipei 101's characteristic blue-green
wan. This building was officially classi- enlarging critical structural elements glass curtain walls are double paned
fied as the world's tallest from its open- such as bracing. Because of the height and glazed, offer heat and UV protec-
ing in 2004 until the 2010 completion of of Taipei 101, combined with the sur- tion sufficient to block external heat by
the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab rounding area's geology-the building is 50 percent, and can sustain impacts of
Emirates. Its elevators, capable of trav- located just 660 ft (200 m) away from a 7 metric tons (8 short tons). The facade
eling 60.6 km/h (37.7 mph) and used to major fault line-Taipei 101 used high- system of glass and aluminum panels
transport passengers from the 5th to performance steel construction and 36 installed into an inclined movement-
89th floor in 37 seconds, set new columns, including eight "mega- resisting lattice contributes to overall
records upon completion. In 2011 Tai- columns" packed with 10,000 psi (69 lateral rigidity by tying back to the
pei 101 received a Platinum rating MPa) concrete. Outrigger trusses, mega-columns with one-story high
under the LEED certification system to located at eight-floor intervals, connect trusses at every eighth floor. This
become the tallest and largest green the columns in the building's core to facade system is therefore able to with-
building in the world. The structure reg- those on the exterior. stand up to 95 mm (4 in) of seismic lat-
ularly appears as an icon of Taipei in eral displacements without damage.
international media, and the Taipei 101 These features, combined with the The facade system is also known as a
fireworks displays [zh] are a regular fea- solidity of its foundation, made Taipei Damper.
ture of New Year's Eve broadcasts. 101 one of the most stable buildings
ever constructed. The foundation is Source
Taipei 101's postmodernist architec- reinforced by 380 piles driven 80 m
tural style evokes traditional Asian aes- (262 ft) into the ground, extending as archdaily.com, en.wikipedia.org,
thetics in a modern structure employ- far as 30 m (98 ft) into the bedrock. designboom.com, thetowerinfo.com,
ing industrial materials. Its design Each pile is 1.5 m (5 ft) in diameter and nwcl.com.hk, kpf.com, britannica.com
incorporates a number of features that can bear a load of 1,000-1,320 metric
enable the structure to withstand the
Pacific Rim's earthquakes and the
region's tropical storms. The tower
houses offices and restaurants as well
as both indoor and outdoor observato-
ries. The tower is adjoined by a multi-
level shopping mall that has the world's
largest ruyi symbol as an exterior fea-
ture. Taipei 101 is owned by Taipei
Financial Center Corporation. The sky-
scraper opened on 31 December 2004
to celebrate New Year's Eve.

The Taipei 101 is designed to withstand

typhoon winds and earthquake trem-
ors that are common in the area in the
east of Taiwan. Evergreen Consulting
Engineering, the structural engineer,
designed Taipei 101 to withstand gale
winds of 60 meters per second (197
ft/s), (216 km/h or 134 mph), as well as

Constrofacilitator • March 2020 15

 ADVANTAGE IN HIGH RISE BUILDING

The materials used

and its advantage in
high rise building

Shamanth Kumar M
Project Engineer and
Manager of Design Services
Salarpuria Sattva Group

Constrofacilitator • February 2020 16

 ADVANTAGE IN HIGH RISE BUILDING

H
igh-RiseBuilding whose
height creates different
conditions in the design,
construction, and those
that exist in common
buildings of a certain region and
period. These buildings process several
unique challenges not found in tradi-
tional low-rise buildings, longer egress
times and distance, fire department
accessibility, smoke movement and fire
control. The multiple floors of a high-
rise building create the cumulative
effect of requiring great numbers of per-
sons to travel great vertical distances on
stairs in order to evacuate the building. Fig 2: EVOLUTION OF STRUCTURAL SYSTEMS.

History of High-Rise Buildings pleted in 1872 also contribute toward health facility is the most requirement
the development of the high rise build- of the high rise building.
The first to apply the scientific knowl- ing, for it was the first building to have
edge for the construction of building the elevator with the six floor. Recently Indian cities are witnessing immense
were the ancient Egyptians. They apply there are many high rise building were demographic expansion due to migra-
the natural science technology about going to be constructed with the latest tion from surrounding villages, leading
the properties of the material to design construction techniques. to urban sprawl, housing demand, rise
the huge building with huge rooms. in cost ofland. Many citizens all over
The first high rise office building was Demand for High-Rise Buildings India migrate to the cities for better
built in Chicago in 1885, which is of jobs and education. Industries, trade
twelve floor before it was ten floor but As the high rise building are con- and commerce activities and number of
afterward two floor have been added structed rapidly and the demand of educational centres in cities attract
and was built in roughly sixteen month. high rise building is also very high for floating population from all their sur-
Also according to bible it has been writ- the growing population due to the scar- rounding villages and districts. This has
ten that the tower of babel has to reach city of land. For the construction of high expanded the cities in all directions and
unto the heaven. The early equitable life rise building there is some requirement all aspects of development. With an
building in New York which was com- that should be fulfilled. Safety and urban sprawl of kilometres, these face
the problems of congestion, pollution,
everyday commuting to work place,
competition, deforestation etc. The
development can be categorized in
four categories considering different
philosophy: High Rise with High Den-
sity; High Rise with Low Density; Low
Rise with High Density; and Low Rise
with Low Density. In India, a building
greater than 75ft (23 m), generally 7 to
10 stories, is considered as high-rise.
Also a building is considered to behigh-
rise when it extends higher than the
maximum reach available to fire fight-
ers. According to the building code of
India, a tall building is one with four
floors or more or a high-rise building
isone 15 meters or more in height.
Most of the tall buildings in India are in
the commercial capital Mumbai. More
Fig 1: HIGH-RISE BUILDING, CHICAGO than 2500 high-rise buildings are

17 Constrofacilitator • March 2020

 ADVANTAGE IN HIGH RISE BUILDING

already constructed. In addition more

than thousand mid-rises exist already in
the city. Mumbai is undergoing a mas-
sive construction boom, with thou-
sands of tall buildings and about fifteen
high-rise structures are under construc-
tion. Delhi and its surrounding regions
are witnessing huge construction activ-
ities with 1500 already constructed
high-rises.

Materials Used In the Construction of

High-Rise Buildings in India

Concrete is an incredibly strong man-

made mixture of aggregate (sand and
gravel), cement and water that has
been used in construction since Roman
times. It is very hard and in its normal
state can withstand high compression
loads but it has one major weakness - it
cannot resist tension loads. Many fac-
tors will affect how concrete will Ø Type of Cement used. Ø Age.
behave under fire conditions. These Ø Water content of the concrete.
may include: Ø Load bearing. Advantage of High-Rise Buildings:
Ø Fire Exposure time. High-rises are often located in premium
Ø Quantity and type of aggregate Ø Temperature. neighbourhoods that affording a single
used in the mix. Ø Application of water. family or walk up unit would be
Ø Thickness of the Concrete. Ø Cladding or covering. extremely expensive. Secondly, living in
a high rise often gives you walking
access to great restaurants, public
transportation and possibly your place
of employment.

Disadvantage of a High-Rise Build-

ings: In a high-rise you commonly have
neighbours above, below and to both
sides of you. Obviously this can be a pos-
itive, but it has the more potential for
trouble than when you neighbours are
close and partying all the time, or per-
haps worse, they could complain every
time you have 2 friends over for a cou-
ple drinks and aren't dead silent.

There is little that a building owner or

local government can do to shield high-
rise buildings from the kind of cata-
strophic attacks. Mitigating the effects
of an attack therefore is of paramount
concern. Much can be done in this
regard.

We base our CONCLUSIONS on an anal-

ysis of high-rise buildings and relevant

Constrofacilitator • February 2020 18

 ADVANTAGE IN HIGH RISE BUILDING

laws and policies, although most of our ernment and the private sector should of private security firms. Establish
findings can apply to other major cities assume different but complementary guidelines for training security offi-
as well. In Los Angeles, access to most responsibilities. We recommend the fol- cers. Enforce consistent imple-
high-rise buildings has been more lowing roles for local government: mentation of security measures.
restricted since Sept. 11 than it was Ø Develop building-access control
before. Surveillance has been Ø Coordinate threat assessments programs similar to "trusted trav-
improved. Many building owners have among law enforcement agencies eller" programs proposed for air-
increased the number of security and building owners. ports.
guards. Some owners are implement- Ø Mandate, subsidize, or directly Ø Help establish guidelines for
ing new security technologies. provide occupants of high-rise reporting suspicious activity.
buildings with more education Ø Create a "percent for security"
Nevertheless, emergency preparedness and training in emergency pre- fund, similar to the "one percent
plans need to be reviewed and, in some paredness and building evacua- for the arts" funds, to promote sci-
cases, revised. Building occupants also tion. entifically sound research and eval-
need to learn to play a role in their own Ø Mandate more frequent and com- uation of security procedures.
safety. Education and training will likely prehensive emergency prepared-
need to become more intensive and fre- ness drills. Source
quent than in the past. Ø Make public buildings exemplars
of building security. squidex.io, landportal.org,
To make these things happen, local gov- Ø Provide new regulatory oversight miyamotointernational.com

19 Constrofacilitator • March 2020

STRUCTURAL AND LOAD COMPONENT OF HIGH RISE BUILDINGS

Structural and load component of high rise

buildings

T
he process of designing few decades, high-rise buildings have buildings
high-rise buildings have received a renewed interest in many city
changed over the past business locations, where land is scarce, as IS 16700 : 2017 defines Tall building as a
years. In the most recent per their economics, sustainability, and building whose heights are above 50 Mtr
years it is not unusual other benefits. Taller and taller towers are but less than or equal to 250 Mtr. The code
to model full three- being built everywhere in the world. How- has classified Tall Building as:
dimensional finite element e v e r, t h e i n c r e a s e d f r e q u e n c y o f
models of the buildings. multihazard disasters makes it challenging Ÿ Structural wall system
The advances in structure design of High to balance between a resilient and sustain- Ÿ Moment frame System
Rise Building started in the 20th Century able construction. Accordingly, it is essen- Ÿ Moment frame, structural wall system
while its formation was laid during 1880's tial to understand the behavior of such Ÿ Structural wall
with use of cast iron as a building material structures under multihazard loadings, in Ÿ Flat slab floor
which was lighter and also better than order to apply such knowledge to design. Ÿ Structural wall - framed tube system
masonry. Gradually, elevators cemented Ÿ Framed tube system Tube in the tube
the way for high rise buildings. In the past The designing component in high rise system.

March 2020 • Constrofacilitator 20

 STRUCTURAL AND LOAD COMPONENT OF HIGH RISE BUILDINGS

Ÿ Multiple tube system.

Ÿ Hybrid system
Ÿ Any of above with additional framing
system- ex. Outrigger trusses, belt
truss.

The design in High Rise Building were

largely of three unique elements:

In recent high-rise buildings, there are many

cases where large spans are required to
gain spacial freedom on typical floors and
wide atria to allow continuity with the exter-
nal spaces on the lower floors. In order to
achieve these spaces, it is necessary to pro-
vide high strength in the structural members
that constitute the building structure, partic-
ularly the columns. It is possible to avoid Loads of high rise building
excessively large volume columns by using additional inertia loads which can alarm the loads increase with the height of the build-
appropriate combinations of high strength serviceability and the comfort concern of ing. There is also the large effect from hori-
materials. people in a building or even lead to a com- zontal wind-load on the building. The build-
plete collapse. When it comes to dynamics ings behaviour under the lateral loading can
Ÿ New design of bold lines, rectangles and load-structure interaction, the inher- be seen as a cantilever fixed at the ground.
where heavy structures made up of ently low damping in buildings is a key If the wind is assumed to have a uniform dis-
steel define power and prestige. parameter that can be used to control the tribution the base-moment increases qua-
Ÿ The amalgamation of interior spaces behavior of a structure under such dynamic dratic with the height. However, the real
and exterior facade as a one unit. loads. In addition, a building's orientation shape of the wind pressure is increasing
Ÿ Use of steel and concrete as structural change can result in wind response/load with the height, which gives even greater
and members reduction. High-rise buildings are an base-moment. One of the main tasks when
increasingly common sight because they designing high-rise buildings is its ability to
Buildings are usually subjected to static provide a high ratio of rentable floor space absorb the horizontal forces and to transmit
loads, such as occupants' weight, equip- per unit area of land, in addition to other fac- the resulting moment into the foundation.
ment, furniture, and the weight of the struc- tors, such as architectural and energy per- One way to effectively achieve this are cou-
ture. However, two important environmental spectives. Tall buildings or “skyscrapers” pled load-bearing vertical walls. However,
loads that are different in nature may attack can be artificially lighted and the energy this will lead to tensile stresses in the con-
our buildings once or twice during their life- requirements can be covered by renewable crete walls on the loaded side. In order to
time. The nature of the two loads is totally dif- energy or another electricity generation of minimise these stresses, self-weight of
ferent from the static load, and even if they lower greenhouse gas emissions. Heating slabs etc. are placed on the walls to get com-
could be expressed as equivalent static and cooling of skyscrapers can be efficient, pressive stresses.
loads, tall buildings and flexible structures because of centralized HVAC systems, heat
may amplify the internal loads resulting in radiation blocking windows, and small sur- The higher a building is, the more important
face area of the building. There is a Leader- it is to consider the choice of cross sections,
ship in Energy and Environmental Design materials and structural systems as well as
(LEED) certification for skyscrapers. the demands on functionality. Factors that
need to be considered are deflections and
Dynamics of buildings greatly depends on accelerations from horizontal loading that
the characteristics of the external excitation mainly occurs from unexpected deflec-
as well as the physical properties of the tions, wind or earthquakes. Unexpected
building in terms of generalized masses, fre- deflections may arise when imperfections in
quencies, and damping. Wind loads are the elements occur during the manufactur-
characterized by low frequencies while ing or if the foundation is uneven due to an
earthquakes usually contain higher fre- inhomogeneous site. Any unexpected
quency load components. deflection causes additional lateral forces
and must be considered. Horizontal load-
Stabilization of high rise buildings design ing from wind may also cause sway in the
building. This since highrise buildings are
Knowledge, technology and construction susceptible for oscillation. The wind should
materials are constantly evolving and so is therefore not only be seen as a static load
the strife for constructing higher buildings. but also as a dynamic load. To determine
However, it does not go without some chal- how the building responds to wind-loads,
Stabilization of high rise buildings lenges and issues. First off, the vertical wind tunnel experiments are often per-

21 Constrofacilitator • March 2020

STRUCTURAL AND LOAD COMPONENT OF HIGH RISE BUILDINGS

formed. The oscillation affects the building these are the use of concrete or mortar. Wet
in several ways, how the people inside per- connections are for example, mortar joints,
ceive the sway and the maximum horizontal cast in-situ blocks or cast in-situ slabs that
deflection that arises. are more fire resistant, less sensitive for tol-
erance criteria and more ductile than dry
Concrete buildings can either be cast in- connections. Examples of dry connections
situ, composed with precast elements or a are free supports, welded connections and
combination of both. If the building is cast cold joints which are quick to assemble.
in-situ it is possible to start the activities on
site in an early stage. Preparation for scaf- Loads of high rise building design
folding and moulding can start as soon as
the contract is assigned to the contractor The foundations of high-rise buildings sup-
and the design of the building starts. This is port very heavy loads, but the systems
not possible when constructing precast ele- developed for low-rise buildings are used,
ments as all decisions regarding dimen- though enlarged in scale. These include
sions, shapes and so forth have to be taken concrete caisson columns bearing on rock
long before the activities on site can start. or building on exposed rock itself. Bearing
When using precast elements it is of impor- piles and floating foundations are also
tance to industrialise the manufacturing. used.
This implies manufacturing in covered fac-
tories, use of automatic tools and thor- Loads that have to be taken into consider-
oughly planning the production process. ation when designing a building are vertical
There are some important differences loads from self-weight, imposed loads,
regarding cast in-situ and precast build- snow loads and horizontal loads from both
ings. When a building is cast in-situ the ele- wind and unintended inclinations. For tall
ments are created in moulds on site and are buildings, as earlier mentioned, the hori-
constantly checked to have the correct zontal loading from wind is usually the
height. But when a building is constructed design load. The vertical loads are the self-
with precast elements the elements are cre- weights, finishing loads and live loads and
ated in a factory where the factory worker is they are transferred to the foundation
fully dependent on the drawing. If for exam- through columns, load-bearing walls or tow-
ple a column has the wrong height on the ers. The live load depends on the type of Framed tube structures
drawing, no one will correct this in the fac- usage in the building and on the standard distributed load on the facade, which trans-
tory and an incorrect column will be created used for designing. The higher value is fers the load to the slabs. The slabs are work-
causing problems on site. often used for offices to take the variable ing as diaphragms and provide the lateral
partitioning and the greater live load in corri- transfer of the shear load to the vertical ele-
When designing a precast building it is dor areas into account. Some reduction of ments and also as a stability unit for the com-
important to consider the connections the live load can be made depending on the pression flange of the steel beam beneath.
between elements, which are part of the number of stories, but may never exceed The shear forces in the diaphragms occur
assembly procedure and should not inter- 40% for any construction element. mainly in the concrete because of its in-
fere. Connections can be divided in wet and plane stiffness. The horizontal loads are
dry connections. The difference between The horizontal load from wind working as a transferred from the slabs to the beams
through welded studs. Depending on how
the slabs are connected to the facade, the
stress distributions in the slabs will vary. For
example, the slabs can be connected
directly to the facade, which gives a distrib-
uted load. The facade can also be con-
nected to columns which will provide point
loads instead. The load distribution
depends on the stiffness of the elements as
stiffer units attract more load than weaker.
When designing vertical walls in a building
both shear and bending deformation may
occur. For low robust walls the bending is
negligible and for tall slender structures
shear is negligible. Considering the entire
building the shear wall becomes tall and
slender, however, the walls in each plane
are low and robust making it susceptible to
Structural systems of high rise building both shear and bending. For a tall building

March 2020 • Constrofacilitator 22

 STRUCTURAL AND LOAD COMPONENT OF HIGH RISE BUILDINGS

the deformation shapes from bending and Shear wall

shear.

Structural systems of high rise building

design

A building needs to be stabilised for hori-

zontal load and to achieve this, several dif-
ferent structural systems can be chosen.
Some of these are shown in Figure 2.5 and
described in this section, for more detailed
information see. All of the different systems
have evolved from the traditional rigidly
jointed structural frame. The fundamental
design for all these structural systems have
been to place as much of the load-carrying (b) Shear wall frames
(a) Moment resisting frames (c) Braced frames
material as possible around the buildings
external fringe to maximise its flexural rigid-
Rigid frame
ity. For all structural systems, advantage
can be taken by locating the main vertical The tube carries all the lateral load and the dowed and repetitious.
members and, with the compressive self-weight is distributed between the outer
stresses from self weight, suppress the lat- tube and the interior columns or walls. For Bundled tube
eral load tensile stresses. This to avoid net the lateral loading the perimeter frames
tension in the vertical members and uplift in aligned in the load direction acts as webs of The bundled tube structure consists of four
the foundations. For some structural sys- the tube cantilever and those perpendicular parallel rigid frames in each orthogonal
tems it is necessary to have self-weight at to the load direction acts as flanges. The direction, interconnected to form nine bun-
the outer vertical members in order to tube structure is suitable for both steel and dled tubes, see Figure 2.6. The principle is
achieve this. reinforced concrete buildings and have the same as for the single tube structure
been used in the range of 40–100 stories. where the frames in the horizontal load
Framed tube structures Framed tube systems have been the most direction acts as webs and the perpendicu-
significant modern development in high- lar frames acts as flanges. By introducing
For framed tube structures the lateral resis- rise structural forms and is easily con- the internal webs the shear lag is drastically
tance is given by very stiff moment resisting structed and usable for great heights. For reduced and as a result the stresses in the
frames that form a tube around the perime- the aesthetics of the tube structure the columns are more evenly distributed and
ter of the building. The frames consists of enthusiasm is mixed, some like the logic of their contribution to the lateral stiffness is
closely spaced columns, 2–4 meters the clearly expressed structure while others more significant. This allows for the col-
between centres, connected by girders. criticise the grid-like facade as small win- umns to be spaced further apart and to be
less striking.

Tube in tube

What differentiates the tube in tube concept

from other structural systems is that an
outer framed tube (hull), is working together
with an internal tube (core), usually elevator
shafts and stairs, to resist both the lateral
and vertical loading. This provides
increased lateral stiffness and can be seen
as the shear and flexural components of a
wall-frame structure.

Diagonalised- and rigid frame

In braced frames the lateral resistance is

given by diagonal members that, together
with the girders, form a web of vertical
trusses, where the columns acting as
chords. Bracing systems are highly efficient
at resisting lateral loads. This due to the hori-
zontal shear in the building is resisted by the
Bundled tube horizontal components resulting in tensile
and compressive actions in the web mem-

23 Constrofacilitator • March 2020

STRUCTURAL AND LOAD COMPONENT OF HIGH RISE BUILDINGS

bers. The bracing system is an almost steel

exclusive system since the diagonals are
inevitably subjected to tension for one or the
other direction of the lateral loading. Braced
systems are able to produce a very stiff lat-
eral structure for a minimum of additional
material which makes it economically effi-
cient for any height. The major disadvan-
tage with diagonal bracing is that it is limit-
ing the internal planning and the location of
windows. Furthermore, the connections to
the diagonals are expensive to fabricate
and erect.

Outrigger system

The outrigger system is an efficient struc-

tural form that consists of a central core with
outriggers, connecting the core to the outer
columns. The central core contains either
braced frames or shear walls. When the
building is loaded laterally the vertical plane
rotations are resisted by the outriggers
through tension in the windward columns
and compression in the leeward columns . Hybrid Structure
This is augmenting the lateral stiffness of
the building and reducing the lateral deflec- Hybrid structure both for serviceability and safety. When con-
tions as well as the moments in the core. In sidering safety, the risks of resonance are of
addition, the outriggers join the columns Hybrid structures are often used for non- interest and when considering serviceabil-
and make the building behave almost as a prismatic structures where two or more of ity, the human response to motion are of
composite cantilever. Even the perimeter the basic structures described earlier are interest. Movement in a tall building can
columns, those not directly connected to used in the same building. This concept can have a wide range of human response, from
the outriggers, can be used to increase the be used for either direct combination of, for anxiety to acute nausea. This can make a
lateral resistance of the building by con- example, a tube and an outrigger system or building undesirable and may produce diffi-
necting all the perimeter columns with a hori- by adopting different systems for different culties renting floor area. Why it is of impor-
zontal girder around the building's facade. parts of the building, for example a tube sys- tance to not just consider stability issues but
Multilevel outrigger systems can provide up tem on three walls and a frame on the fourth also consider motions. Movements in build-
to five times the moment resistance of a sin- wall. ings are commonly generated from wind,
gle outrigger system. Outrigger systems earthquakes, machinery, nearby industrial
have been used for buildings up to 70 sto- Conclusion plants and various types of transportation. It
ries but the concept should hold for even would be expensive to construct a high-rise
higher buildings. The dynamic effects should be considered building that could withstand all move-
ments. That is why there are various recom-
mendations regarding accelerations in
buildings depending on the occupancy.

Image and info:

byggmek.lth.se
ijitee.org
hindawi.com
researchgate.net
s3da-design.com
theb1m.com
slideshare.com
Youtube.com
inflatable-structures.co.uk
bdcnetwork

Outrigger system

March 2020 • Constrofacilitator 24

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