2022/2023 ARC412 Lecture Series I on:

Building Structural Design II

By

Dr (Arc.) S.A. OLANIYAN mnia

May, 2024
1|P a g e
 Building Structural Design II
General Introduction
Structural Analysis and Design generally involve:
• Selection of most appropriate structural system to bring the architect’s concept into being;
• Estimation of loads on structure; these loads may involve Dead, Imposed and Environmental
loads;
• Structural analysis for estimation of stresses;
• Structural design of actual proportion (size, reinforcement, etc.) for safety and serviceability;
• Adoption of a typical design philosophy.

Structural Loads and Loading System: Structures are designed to sustain various types of loads and
possible combinations of loads that could act on them during their lifetime. Such loads can be broadly
classified into four groups: Dead loads, Live loads, Impact loads, and Environmental loads. These loads
are briefly described as follows:
• Dead Loads: these are loads of a constant magnitude over time. They include the self-weight of
structural members, such as walls, plasters, ceilings, floors, beams, columns, and roofs. Dead loads
also include the loads of fixtures that are permanently attached to the structure;
• Live Loads: these are moveable or temporarily attached loads to a structure. They include the loads
on a building created by the storage of furniture and equipment, occupancy (people), and impact;
• Impact Loads: these are sudden or rapid loads applied on a structure over a relatively short period
of time compared with other structural loads. They cause larger stresses in structural members than
those produced by gradually applied loads of the same magnitude. Examples of impact loads are
loads from moving vehicles, vibrating machinery, or dropped weights. In practice, impact loads are
considered equal to imposed loads that are incremented by some percentage, called the impact
factor, and;
• Environmental Loads: these may include additional loads arising in form of :
(i) Rain Loads: Rain loads are loads due to the accumulated mass of water on a rooftop during
a rainstorm or major precipitation. This process, which is referred to as ponding, mostly
occurs in flat roofs and roofs with pitches of less than 0.25 in/feet. Ponding in roofs occurs
when the run off after precipitation is less than the amount of water retained on the roof.
Water accumulated on a flat or low-pitch roof during a rainstorm can create a major
structural load. Therefore, it must be considered when designing a building;
2|P a g e
 (ii) Wind Loads: Wind loads are pressures exacted on structures by wind flow. Wind forces
have been the cause of many structural failures in history, especially in coastal regions. The
speed and direction of wind flow varies continuously, making it difficult to predict the
exact pressure applied by wind on existing structures. This explains the reason for the
considerable research efforts on the effect and estimation of wind forces.
(iii) Snow Loads: In some geographic regions, the force exerted by accumulated snow and ice
on buildings’ roofs can be quite enormous, and it can lead to structural failure if not
considered in structural design. Suggested design values of snow loads are provided in
codes and design specifications for the regions usually affected;
(iv) Earthquake loads: These are loads exerted on a structure by the ground motion caused by
seismic forces, and;
(v) Hydrostatic and earth pressures: These are loads on retaining structures due to pressures
developed by the retained materials. They vary linearly with the height of the walls.

Load Combinations for Structural Design: Structures are designed to satisfy both strength and
serviceability requirements. The strength requirement ensures the safety of life and property, while the
serviceability requirement guarantees the comfortability of occupancy (people) and the aesthetics of the
structure. To meet the afore-stated requirements, structures are designed for the critical or the largest load
that would act on them. The critical load for a given structure is found by combining all the various
possible loads that a structure may carry during its lifetime.

Design Philosophies
A design philosophy is a set of assumptions, guidelines and procedures that are used to meet the
conditions of serviceability, safety, economy and functionality of the structure. Major three of the design
philosophies that have been used by engineers are:
• Working Stress Method(WSM)/ Allowable Stress Design (ASD)
This is used to design structures made of reinforced concrete, steel, and wood. In this case, the
behavior of structural materials is limited to the linear-elastic region, and the safety of the structure is
ensured by limiting the stresses that work loads put on the members. So, the allowable stresses will
come in the linear portion (i.e., initial phase) of the stress-strain curve. Thus a factor of safety was
introduced to the design (Note: Factor of safety is the ratio of strength of material to the permissible
stress on the structure). It is assumed that the stress-strain relation is linear, thus making it possible to

3|P a g e
calculate the actual stresses in the materials concerned. This design philosophy is also known as also
known as Permissible Sresss Design or Modular Ratio Design Or Elastic Design. This method uses
CP 114 – for concrete design, and BS 449 – for steel design.

Figure 1: Typical Steel Stress-Strain Curve (with the critical regions indicated)

However, the design process using this design philosophy tends to be over-complicated, leading to
conservative solutions; also, true factor of safety cannot be realistically estimated because the
assumption that stress-strain relation is linear becomes unjustifiable for materials such as high quality
concrete.
• Ultimate Load Method (ULM)
This design philosophy is also known as load factor method or ultimate strength method. In this case,
we make use of the nonlinear region of stress strain curves of steel and concrete (see Figure 1). The
safety is ensured by introducing load factor (Load factor is the ratio of ultimate strength to the service
loads). This design philosophy makes it possible to consider the effects of different loads acting
simultaneously thus solving the shortcomings of Working Stress Method. As the ultimate strength of
the material is considered, it is possible to design much slender sections for columns and beams
compared to WSM method. Also, the method of analysis is simplified and the actual factor of safety
can be calculated.
4|P a g e
 However, the Ultimate Load Method design philosophy does not take serviceability criteria into
account due to large deflections and cracks in the sections. Even though the nonlinear stress-strain
behavior of the sections is accounted for in this method, the nonlinear analysis of the structure for the
load effects was not done.Thus, this design philosophy was slow in gaining acceptability before it was
superseded by the more comprehensive Limit State Design Philosophy.

• Limit State Method (LSM)

This philosophy is an advancement over the traditional design philosophies (Working Stress Method and
Ultimate Load Method). Limit state connotes a state of impending failure, beyond which the structure
ceases to perform its intended function satisfactorily, in terms of either safety or serviceability. It lays
emphasis on the safety of the structure at the maximum load and also takes into account the
serviceability considerations at the working load. It can be considered as an extension of the WSM and
the ULM. Specifically, there are 2 types of limit states:
i. Ultimate Limit State which considers strength, overturning, fatigue, sliding etc., and;
ii. Serviceability Limit State which considers crack width, deflection, vibration etc.

Limit State Method uses multiple safety factors to meet the required safety and serviceability at the
maximum load and the working load. These safety factors are called "Partial factors of Safety".
Partial safety factor for materials:
The strength of concrete in actual structure is taken as (0.67 *characteristic strength), i.e. 0.67 fck. The
partial safety factor (for ultimate limit state) for concrete is 1.5 and that for steel is 1.15. The value is
higher for concrete as it is expected to have more variability compared to steel. The partial safety factor
(for serviceability limit state) for concrete and that for steel is taken as 1.0, as we are interested in
estimating the actual deflections (crack width) during service loads.
Partial safety factor for loads:
5|P a g e
Various load combinations as specified in IS 456 are:
For Ultimate limit states:
UL = 1.5(DL+LL)
UL = 1.5(DL+QL) OR 0.9DL+1.5QL
UL = 1.2(DL+LL+QL)
The load factor of 1.2 is considered for the combination of three because the probability of the three loads
reaching its peak together are less.
For serviceability limit states:
SL = 1.0 (DL+LL)
SL = 1.0 (DL+QL)
SL = 1.0DL+ 0.8LL+ 0.8 QL

6|P a g e
7|P a g e
Loads Acting on a Structure: Sequence of load transfer is in the order of:
Roof/Floor Slab to Beams to Columns to Foundation to Ground
(Note: The reaction from one element is a load on the next element e.g. reactions from beams are loads on
columns)

Load Combinations and Design Loads: Usually, load combinations that would produce the worst
possible effect on the structure are considered for structural calculations. For example, for most simple
structures, the worst possible combinations would aarise fro maximum dead and maximum imposed loads
acting on the structure together. Then, the partial safety factors (1.4 and 1.6 for dead and imposed loads
respectively) are factored into it, to obtain the design load. Thus, the design load in such a scenario is
given as:
Design Load = 1.4 Gk + 1.6 Qk

Examples on loading calculation:

8|P a g e