3.

1 LOADS ON THE STRUCTURE

The types of loads acting on structures for buildings and other structures can be broadly
classified as vertical loads, horizontal loads and longitudinal loads. The vertical loads consist of
dead loads, live load and impact load. The horizontal loads comprises of wind load and
earthquake load. The longitudinal loads i.e. tractive and braking forces are considered in special
case of design of bridges, gantry girders etc.

3.2 Types of loads on structures

In a construction of building two major factors considered are safety and economy. If the loads
are adjusted and taken higher then economy is affected. If economy is considered and loads are
taken lesser then the safety is compromised.

So the estimation of various loads acting is to calculated precisely. Indian Standard code IS: 875-
1987 and American Standard Code ASCE 7: Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other
Structures specifies various design loads for buildings and structures.

Types of loads acting on the structure are:

 Dead loads
  Imposed loads

 Wind loads

 Snow loads

 Earthquake loads

 Special loads

3.2.1 Dead loads (DL)

The first vertical load that is considered is dead load. Dead loads are permanent or stationary
loads which are transferred to structure throughout the life span. Dead load is primarily due to
self weight of structural members, permanent partition walls, fixed permanent equipments and
weight of different materials. It majorly consists of the weight of roofs, beams, walls and column
etc. which are otherwise the permanent parts of the building.

The calculation of dead loads of each structure are calculated by the volume of each section and
multiplied with the unit weight. Unit weights of some of the common materials are presented in
table below.

Sl. No Material Weight (kN/m3)

1 Brick masonry 18.8
2 Stone masonry 20.4 – 26.5
3 Plain concrete 24
4 Reinforced cement concrete 24
5 Timber 5–8

3.2.2 Imposed loads or Live loads (IL or LL)

The second vertical load that is considered in design of a structure is imposed loads or live loads.
Live loads are either movable or moving loads without any acceleration or impact. These loads
are assumed to be produced by the intended use or occupancy of the building including weights
of movable partitions or furniture etc..
Live load keeps on changing from time to time. These loads are to be suitably assumed by the
designer. It is one of the major loads in the design. The minimum values of live loads to be
assumed are given in IS 875 (part 2) – 1987. It depends upon the intended use of the building.

The code gives the values of live loads for the following occupancy classification:

 Residential buildings – dwelling houses, hotels, hostels, boiler rooms and plant rooms,
garages.

 Educational buildings

 Assembly buildings

 Business and office buildings

 Mercantile buildings

 Industrial buildings and

 Storage rooms.

The code gives uniformly distributed load as well as concentrated loads. The floor slabs have to
be designed to carry either uniformly distributed loads or concentrated loads whichever produce
greater stresses in the part under consideration. Since it is unlikely that any one particular time
all floors will not be simultaneously carrying maximum loading, the code permits some
reduction in imposed loads in designing columns, load bearing walls, piers supports and
foundations.

Some of the important values are presented in table below which are the minimum values and
wherever necessary more than these values are to be assumed.

Sl. No Occupancy UDL load Concentrated

(kN/m (kN/m2)
1 Bath rooms and toilets in all types of building 2 1.8
2 Living and bed rooms 2 1.8
3 Office rooms in
i. Hostels, hotels, hospitals and business 2.5 2.7
 building with separate store
ii. In assembly buildings 3 4.5
4 Kitchens in (i) Dwelling houses 2 1.8
(ii) hostels, hotels and hospitals 3 4.5
5 Banking halls, class rooms, x-ray rooms, operation 3 4.5
rooms
6 Dining rooms in (i) educational buildings, 3 2.7
institutional buildings and mercantine buildings
(ii) hostels and hotels 4 2.7
7 Corridors, passages, stair cases in
(i) Dwelling houses, hostels and hotels 3 4.5
(ii) educational institutional and assembly 4 4.5
buildings
(iii) mercantine buildings 5 4.5
8 Reading rooms in libraries
i. With separate storage 3 4.5
ii. Without separate storage 4 4.5
9 Assembly areas in assembly buildings
i. With fixed seats 5 ..
ii. Without fixed seats 5 3.6
10 Store rooms in educational buildings 5 4.5
11 Store room in libraries 6 for a height of 4.5
2.24 + 2 for
every 1 m
additional height
However in multistoried buildings chances of full imposed loads acting simultaneously on all
floors is very rare. Hence the code makes provision for reduction of loads in designing columns,
load bearing walls, their supports and foundations as shown in table below.

No. of floors (including the roof) to be Reduction in total distributes imposed loads
carried by member under consideration in %
1 0
2 10
 3 20
4 30
5 – 10 40
Over 10 50

3.2.3 Wind loads

Wind load is primarily horizontal load caused by the movement of air relative to earth. Wind
load is required to be considered in structural design especially when the heath of the building
exceeds two times the dimensions transverse to the exposed wind surface.

For low rise building say up to four to five stories, the wind load is not critical because the
moment of resistance provided by the continuity of floor system to column connection and walls
provided between columns are sufficient to accommodate the effect of these forces.  Further in
limit state method the factor for design load is reduced to 1.2 (DL+LL+WL) when wind is
considered as against the factor of 1.5(DL+LL) when wind is not considered.

The horizontal forces exerted by the components of winds are to be kept in mind while designing
is the building. The calculation of wind loads depends on the two factors, namely velocity of
wind and size of the building. Complete details of calculating wind load on structures are given
below (by the IS-875 (Part 3) -1987).

Using colour code, basic wind pressure ‘Vb’ is shown in a map of India. Designer can pick up the
value of Vb depending upon the locality of the building.

To get the design wind velocity Vz the following expression shall be used:

Vz = k1.k2.k3.Vb

Where k1 = risk coefficient

k2 = coefficient based on terrain, height and structure size.

k3 = topography factor

The design wind pressure is given by

Pz = 0.6 V2z
Where Pz is in N/m2 at height Z and Vz is in m/sec. up to a height of 30m, the wind pressure is
considered to act uniformly. Above 30 m height, the wind pressure increases.

3.2.4 Snow loads

Snow loads constitute to the vertical loads in the building. But these types of loads are
considered only in the snow fall places. The IS 875 (part 4) – 1987 deals with snow loads on
roofs of building.

The minimum snw load on a roof area or any other area above ground which is subjected to
snow accumulation obtained by the expression

S = μSo

Where S = design snow load on plan area of roof

μ =shape coefficient and

So = ground snow load

3.2.5 Earthquake loads (EL)

Earthquake forces constitute to both vertical and horizontal forces on the building. The total
vibration caused by earthquake may be resolved in to three mutually perpendicular directions,
usually taken as vertical and two horizontal directions.

The movements in vertical direction do not cause forces in superstructure to any significant
extent. But the horizontal movement of the building at the time of earthquake is to be considered
while designing.
Horizontal earthquake forces (back-and-forth shaking) create ‘whipping’ forces in all parties of a
building. These forces must transfer between parts of the building to the foundation.

The response of the structure to the ground vibration is a function of the nature of foundation
soil, size and mode of construction and the duration and intensity of ground motion. IS 1893 –
2014 gives the details of such calculations for structures standing soils which will not settle or
side appreciably due to earthquake.

The seismic accelerations for the design may be arrived at from seismic coefficient, which is
defined as the ratio of acceleration due to earthquake and acceleration due to gravity. For
monolithic reinforced concrete structures located in the seismic zone 2, and 3 without more than
5 stories high and importance factor less than 1, the seismic forces are not critical.

3.2.6 Other loads and effects acting on structures

As per the clause 19.6 of IS 19.6 of IS 456 – 2000, in addition to above load discussed, account
shall be taken of the following forces and effects if they are liable to affect the safety and
serviceability of the structure.

a) Foundation movement (see IS 1904)

b) Elastic axial shortening

 c) Soil and fluid pressure (see IS 875, part 5)

d) Vibration

e) Fatigue

f) Impact (see IS 875, part5)

g) Impact (see IS 875, part 5)

h) Erection loads (see IS 875, part 2) and

i) Stress concentration effect due to point load and the like.

Non linear dynamic analysis:

Nonlinear dynamic analysis utilizes the combination of ground motion records with a detailed
structural model, therefore is capable of producing results with relatively low uncertainty. In
nonlinear dynamic analyses, the detailed structural model subjected to a ground-motion record
produces estimates of component deformations for each degree of freedom in the model and the
modal responses are combined using schemes such as the square-root-sum-of-squares.

In non-linear dynamic analysis, the non-linear properties of the structure are considered as part
of a time domain analysis. This approach is the most rigorous, and is required by some building
codes for buildings of unusual configuration or of special importance. However, the calculated
response can be very sensitive to the characteristics of the individual ground motion used as
seismic input; therefore, several analyses are required using different ground motion records to
achieve a reliable estimation of the probabilistic distribution of structural response. Since the
properties of the seismic response depend on the intensity, or severity, of the seismic shaking, a
comprehensive assessment calls for numerous nonlinear dynamic analyses at various levels of
intensity to represent different possible earthquake scenarios. This has led to the emergence of
methods like the Incremental Dynamic Analysis.