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Basis of Structural Design

Course 5
Structural action:
- Cable structures
- Multi-storey structures
Course notes are available for download at
http://www.ct.upt.ro/users/AurelStratan/
Cable structures
Cables - good resistance in tension, but no strength in
compression
Tent:
a cable structure consisting of a waterproofing membrane
supported by ropes or cables and posts
cables must be maintained in tension by prestressing in order to
avoid large vibrations under wind forces and avoid collapse
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Cables: roof structures
Cables in a cable-supported roof
must be maintained in tension -
easily achieved if the roof is saddle-
shaped
Example: hyperbolic paraboloid,
with curvatures in opposite senses
in directions at right angles
cables hung in direction BD
a second set of cables placed over
them, parallel to direction AC and put in
to tension
cables from the second set press down
on those from the first one, putting them
into tension as well fully-tensioned
network
Cables: roof structures
One of the first doubly curved
saddle-shaped cable supported
roof was the Dorton Arena in
Raleigh, North Carolina, built in
1952
The building has dimensions of
92 m x 97 m
The roof is suspended between
two parabolic arches in
reinforced concrete
intercrossing each other, and
supported by columns
The cable network consists of
47 prestressed cables with
diameter varying from 19 mm to
33 mm
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Suspension bridges
Suspension bridges: the earliest method of crossing
large gaps
Early bridges realised from a walkway suspended from
hanging ropes of vines
To walk a lighter bridge of this type at a reasonable pace
requires a particular gliding step, as the more normal
walking step will induce travelling waves that can cause
the traveller to pitch (uncomfortably) up and down or
side-to-side.
Suspension bridges
Suspension bridge realised following the simple design
of early bridges:
cables (catenaries)
light deck
hangers suspending the deck on catenaries
Lack of stability in high winds
Very flexible under concentrated loads, as the form of the
cable will adapt to loading form
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Suspension bridges
Capilano Suspension Bridge, Canada
Suspension bridges
Improved behaviour under traffic and wind loads:
stiffening trusses at the level of the deck, that distributes
concentrated loads over greater lengths
Alternatively: restrain vertical movement of the
catenaries by inclined cables attached to the top of the
towers or inclined struts below the deck
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Suspension bridges
The Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge, Japan: 1991 m span
Suspension bridges
Golden Gate Bridge, California, USA: 1280 m span
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Suspension bridges
Brooklyn Bridge, USA (the largest from 1883 until 1903):
486 m span
Suspension bridges: famous collapse
Tacoma Narrows Bridge, USA, collapsed on November 7,
1940 due to wind-induced vibrations. It had been open for
traffic for a few months only before collapsing.
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Cable-stayed bridges
A cable-stayed bridge consists of one or more piers, with
cables supporting the bridge deck
Basic idea: reduce the span of the beam (deck) several
times compared to the clear span between the piers
Steel cable-stayed bridges are regarded as the most
economical bridge design for spans ranging between 200
and 400 m
Shorter spans: truss or box girder bridges
Larger spans: suspension bridges
Cable-stayed bridges
Reducing the
span of a
beam greatly
improves the
maximum
stress and
deflection
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Cable-stayed bridges: examples
Rio-Antirio bridge in Greece. Longest span: 560 m.
Total length: 2,880 m.
Cable-stayed bridges: examples
The Millau Viaduct, France. Longest span: 342 m.
Total length: 2,460 m.
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Multi-storey buildings
Why multi-storey buildings?
large urban population
expensive land
Multi-storey buildings make more efficient use of land:
higher the building (more storeys) - larger the ratio of the
building floor area to the used land area
Technological competition (very high buildings)
Until the end of the 18
th
century most buildings of several
storeys in the Western world were made of:
continuous walls of brick or stone masonry supporting the roof
floors from timber beams
The same structural system used in the Roman city of
Herculaneum
Multi-storey buildings: beginnings
Beginning of the 19
th
century - forefront of the industrial
revolution in England:
demand for large factory buildings of several storeys and large
clear floor areas
cast iron available in bulk
cast iron columns used instead of bearing walls and cast iron
beams instead of timber floor joists
Elevator invented in USA in 1870, enabling much taller
office and apartment buildings to be constructed
Most multi-storey buildings in USA were still making use
of masonry walls instead of columns
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Multi-storey buildings: masonry
Monadnock building in
Chicago
Built between 1889 and 1891
16 storeys, 60 m high
Tallest masonry building
until today
Walls at the ground floor:
almost 1.80 m thick,
occupying more than one-
fifth of the width of the
building
Wall thickness: rule of
thumb - 0.3m
3
of exterior
walls for each square meter
of floor
Multi-storey buildings: skeleton frames
Home Insurance Building
Built in 1884 and
demolished in 1931
10 storeys, 42 m high
Considered to be the first
skyscraper
Exterior masonry walls
Cast-iron columns
Wrought-iron beams
One of the first to make
use of steel skeleton frame
instead of masonry walls
significant reduction of
dead weight (1/3 of that of
a masonry building)
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Multi-storey buildings: skeleton frames
Steel skeleton frames
loads carried by a steel frame composed of columns and beams
rigidly connected between them
large clear spaces
Traditional load-bearing wall construction
Outside load-bearing
wall support:
dead weight of the walls
and floors above
live loads on the floors
horizontal forces due to
wind pressure
Columns support
gravity loads only
To avoid tension on the
brick walls, the resultant
force must lie in the
middle third of the
thickness of the wall
very thick walls in the
lower storeys
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Load-bearing wall construction
In modern load-bearing wall construction, lateral forces
due to wind are resisted by walls aligned in the direction
of the wind
Such walls are much more effective, because they have a
much larger moment resistance
Transverse walls acts as vertical cantilevers against
lateral forces
In modern construction,
load-bearing walls
are from reinforced
concrete
Multi-storey buildings: gravity and lateral loads
The load-bearing walls must be in the
same position in plan to act as a vertical
cantilever
In order to provide clear floor spaces,
doors, corridors, lift wells and staircases
Most buildings realised as a
combination of:
load-bearing walls resisting lateral forces
frames resisting gravity loads
load-bearing walls
or braced frames
load-bearing walls
or braced frames
frames resisting
vertical loads only
frames resisting
vertical loads only
load-bearing walls
for lateral loads
frames resisting
vertical loads only
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Multi-storey buildings: gravity and lateral loads
Lateral forces on external cladding are transmitted to the
bearing walls
directly, through external cladding
indirectly, via floors
Floors must be stiff and strong in their plane in order to
allow lateral forces acting on gravity frames to be
transmitted to load-bearing walls
Usually floors are realised from cast in place reinforced
concrete to give a monolithic slab over full plan of the
building
F F
stiff floor flexible floor
Multi-storey buildings: types of structures
As the height of the building increases, the more
important are wind and earthquake loads in comparison
with gravity loading
In a multi-storey building, acting as a vertical cantilever, bending
stresses at the base increase with the square of its height
Wind loading increases with the height
Earthquake loading increases with building weight
Reinforced concrete structures:
reinforced concrete frames
load-bearing walls
Steel structures:
moment-resisting frames
braced frames
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Multi-storey buildings: types of steel structures
Moment-resisting frames resist lateral
loads through flexural strength of
members
clear spaces, but
large deformations of the structure
large stresses due to bending
Braced frames resist lateral loads through
direct (axial) stresses in the triangulated
system
obstruction of clear spaces, but
small deformations (rigid structure)
smaller stresses due to more efficient
structural behaviour
Multi-storey buildings: braced steel frames
Concentrically braced frames with diagonal bracing
Concentrically
V-braced frames
Eccentrically
braced frames
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Multi-storey buildings: steel structural systems
Multi-storey buildings: steel structural systems
Braced frame efficient in reducing lateral deformations at
the lower storeys, but becomes inefficient at upper
storeys due to overall cantilever-like effect
Moment-resisting frame: uniform "shear-like"
deformations
Combined moment-resisting frame and braced frame:
more rigid overall behaviour due to interaction between
the two systems
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Multi-storey buildings: steel structural systems
Braced frame with central braced span:
inner columns: large axial stresses due to truss action
outer columns: small axial stresses
Outrigger truss: outer columns
are "involved" into the truss-like
action (axial stresses) through
the outrigger truss
Multi-storey buildings: steel structural systems
Exterior framed tube:
closely spaced columns
at the exterior of the
building, rigidly
connected to deep
beams
Acting like a giant
rectangular steel hollow
section
Shear-lag effect - non-
uniform stresses on
web and flanges:
middle sections are not
very stressed
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Multi-storey buildings: steel structural systems
Exterior framed tube:
World Trade Center,
New-York
Multi-storey buildings: steel structural systems
Exterior framed tube: World Trade Center, New-York
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Multi-storey buildings: steel structural systems
Exterior framed tube: World Trade Center, New-York
Multi-storey buildings: steel structural systems
Bundled framed tube:
combination of multiple tubes
to reduce the shear lag effect
Sears
Tower,
Chicago
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Multi-storey buildings: steel structural systems
Exterior diagonal tube: giant
truss-like behaviour
Multi-storey buildings: steel structural systems
Exterior
diagonal
tube: John
Hancock
Center,
Chicago