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Abstract Analysis and design of tall buildings

Conference Paper · January 2008

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 Analysis and design of tall buildings
Prof M.T.R. Jayasinghe, Department of Civil Engineering,
University of Moratuwa, Moratuwa, Sri Lanka

Abstract
In Sri Lanka majority of tall buildings with 20 floors or more would generally be planned
with reinforced concrete super structure and insitu cast bored pile sub structure.
However, the need to provide basements and car parking facilities using few lower floors
pose a considerable challenge to structural analysis and design of such buildings. This
paper highlights the typical features that can be expected and the ways and means
available for incorporating such features for three dimensional analysis of superstructure
considering it alone or combining with sub structure. It also highlight the aspect that
would need special attention during the design of main members when resisting loads
resulting.from vertical and horizontal loads.

1. Introduction

In Sri Lanka, the provision of adequate number of car parking facilities is a pre-requisite
to obtain necessary approvals [1,2). The needs of car parking that dictate the grid spacing
may not be the ideal for main structural elements of the main occupied spaces in the
upper floors. This is true for both commercial and apartment buildings. This change of
grid often leads to provision of transfer girders or transfer floors at about 5th or 6th floor
levels depending on the number of car parking levels required. For commercial buildings,
there is a reasonable chance to match the main grid of car parking with upper floors with
some loss of efficiency or as a compromising solution. However, apartment buildings
may not allow such a solution unless special attention has been placed at the initial
planning stage to avoid transfer plates. Figure 1 presents an apartment building where car
parking need has been matched with the grid spacing of commercial space. Figure 2
highlights an apartment building provided with a transfer plate. The existence of such
complicated features will make it essential to have sophisticated 3-0 modeling for
analysis which will result in buildings that appears as shown in Figures I and 2 when
modeled with SAP 2000. Such models will be able to provide the data needed for lateral
load analysis [3] in addition to providing forces and moments needed for structural design
purposes.

The super structure is generally constructed with grade 30 or stronger concrete [4]. In
many parts of Sri Lanka, bed rock can be found at a depth less than 40.0m [5). The
availability of somewhat weaker soil with pocket of peat or layers or alluvial soils has
encouraged the structural engineers to rely on both end bearing and skin friction of piles
rather than only on skin friction or end bearing. Thus, the use I .Orn, 1.2m, 1.5m and 1.8m
cast in-situ bored piles provided with an adequate socket into strong rock is a common
practice. When there is a considerable depth of partially weathered rock (2.0 to 3.0 m), a
socket depth of equal to the pile diameter would be adequate into good quality bed rock
giving RQD values above 30-40. This is because of high skin friction that could be
developed. When the rock is fractured to result in low RQD values (15-25), it may be
advisable to have greater socket depths such as 2.0 m or more. The grade of concrete
used for piles would be about 30, but generally would be provided with 25% extra
cement to allow for the fact that the concrete will not be vibrated. The piles are provided
with 0.7% to 1.0% reinforcement. The provision of minimum amount such as 0.4% of
reinforcement may not be advisable due to creep induced stresses and deformations that
occur in piles. This reinforcement of 0. 7% or above is expected to serve an important
role in the event of earthquakes. In order to ensure sufficient ductility at the top of the
piles, it is essential to have a closer link spacing such as 100-150 mm at the top part of
the pile.

Since the loads on columns can be about 20000kN, each column may be supported by a
group of piles. Generally, it is advisable to maintain a centre to centre spacing of about
2.5 x diameters when the contribution from the skin friction is also taken into account. In
some instances, it may be necessary to limit the pile spacing to a value between 2.0 - 2.5
x diameters especially with large diameter piles such as 1.5 m and 1.8 m. Such a
reduction is unlikely to affect the skin friction based bearing capacity since the rule of
thumb that indicate 2.5 x diameters is most likely to based on smaller diameter piles.
Generally, a settlement of the pile of 2-3 mm with respect to the adjoining soil would be
sufficient to mobilize the skin friction provided that the pile has been construction with a
sufficient speed so that Bentonite slurry has not been retained within the bored pile shaft
for excessively longer duration (more than 24-36 hours). Prolonged retention of
Bentonite can lead to the formation of a relatively thick layer that will not allow proper
friction between the pile and the soil. The elastic shortening of the pile that occur with
the gradual build up of loads will be able to initiate a shortening greater than this.

The need for about 4 piles per column will need a pile cap of adequate capacity,
especially with respect to shear failure. It should be noted that pile caps generally fail in
shear rather than flexure since shear is considered as resisted by concrete [6]. Thus, the
provision of some nominal vertical reinforcement of 16-20 mm diameter at 400 mm to
500 mm spacing would be an ideal precaution against shear failure that may occur under
extreme forces generated during earthquakes or during unforeseen overloading that may
be triggered by the settlement of a weaker pile in the group.

In order to ensure that the whole building would behave as one unit, it is possible to
combine the pile caps with ground beams or a somewhat thick ground slab. All these
features can create a complicated structure that would need careful attention for three
dimensional modeling depending on the degree of sophistication needed. The techniques
available for such three dimensional modeling is presented with SAP 2000 structural
analysis and design software [7].

2. The car parking r~quirements

ln tall buildings, it is essential to provide adequate car parking spaces either within the
building or at a close-by multi-storey car park that can be shared with few other
buildings. For office buildings, it is necessary to have one car park for every 200 m2• For
apartment buildings, it is necessary to have one car park for each apartment. Each car
parking space will be 2.4 m x 4.8 m [l, 2]. For lorries, larger areas should be allocated, if
 access is allowed. When the car parking is provided within the building, it would be
necessary to reserve few floors as car parking areas. This will need access through ramps
of sufficient width, generally about 6.0 m of width when traffic is allowed in both
directions. All these requirements can make the requirements at car parking floors quite
different to those at upper floors of the building.

3. Typical features of tall buildings

Tall buildings can be broadly divided in to commercial (office) or apartment buildings.

The typical features are presented with two examples.

3.1. Commercial buildings

• A commercial building, where the car parking needs have been matched with the needs of
the column grid of commercial space, could look like Figure I. The columns can be
continued without a transfer plate. In commercial buildings, the partition may need
changes with occupancy and hence an open office architecture is preferred. The service
I core can be located at the centre as can be seen in the middle floors indicated in Figure 1..

I 3.2. Apartment buildings

I In apartment buHdings, matching the need of apartment floors with car parking floors

• would need considerable effort. A more practical solution is to provide a transfer floor
although it may have a cost penalty. The continuation of large columns through
apartment may lead to loss of valuable space of various rooms. Therefore, the selection of
an appropriate reinforced concrete wall system that can serve the dual purpose of
partition walls and load bearing walls would offer a better solution. Figure 2 indicates the
arrangement at car parking floors. Since apartment would have many solid partition
walls, it may be cost effective to use a beam and solid slab system than a flat slab system,
since there may be a need to accommodate drops needed at bathrooms although not
I essential with some new plumbing technologies.

4. Tran sfer of load on slab

Majority of slabs in beam-slab construction would be of two way spanning nature.

Therefore, it is important to consider a reliable load transfer mechanism on to the beams
supporting them. One possible solution is to allocate the load using the coefficients given
in Table 3.16 of BS8 I I 0: Part 1: 1985 [8]. Alternatively, it would be possible to transfer
the loads using the mesh facility available in SAP2000 [7]. However, the beams also
would have to be divided to ensure connectivity between beams and slabs. The use of
Table 3.16 coefficients would give a better control for the structural engineer since it
would be possible to explain the way loads have been transferred. It also follows the
traditional method that was followed prior to computer era or in the early days of
computer era. The loads transferred on to frame elements can be indicated as in Figure 3.

'
'
The existence of the slabs can be represented by using shell elements as shown in Figure
4. The thickness available for bending should be assigned a low value (about 50 mm) in
order to ensure that the shell elements will not give unduly high stiffness at the slab levels
that may not exist in the real structure and hence violate the normal load paths assumed in
structural analysis and design. It is considered that slabs will transfer loads on to beams
and then beams will transfer loads on to the columns. This must be accurately
represented in the Finite Element Model. These shell elements are expected to indicate
the exact location of mass that is important for determining the dynamic properties [7].
Since the self weight of the slab is represented as a load on the beams, it is essential to
ensure that the weight of the shell elements are made zero. This can be achieved by
defining a special concrete for slabs where a very low value could be allocated for
density.

5. Representation of important structural elements

5.1 Beams and columns

SAP 2000 has very good facility for representing structural members. Generally beams
and columns can be represented as shown in Figure 3 by using frame elements where
each end would have 6 degree of freedom. When columns are of rectangular shape as
generally occur in apartment buildings, it is also possible to use shell element to represent
the columns as shown in Figure 2. With shell elements, the designer would have to
consider axial stresses than axial force and bending moment as the out put.

5.2. Modelling of transfer plates and pile caps

The transfer plates are expected to connect the important members above it to those
below. One important aspect that needs considerable attention is connectivity. For SAP
2000, the ideal strategy is to connect them manually with a coarse mesh as shown in
Figure 5. In order to improve the accuracy, a finer mesh can be subsequently created with
the mesh generating facility available with software as shown in Figure 6. Since transfer
plate is an important structural member, it would be important to ensure that it has
sufficient ductility. This can be ensured by providing shear reinforcement within the
transfer plate.

The same modelling technique can be used to for modelling of pile caps as shown in
Figures 8 and 9 as used for the building shown in Figure 7. Generally, the thickness of
the pile cap should be at least 0.5 x distance between the centers of the piles. As far as
earthquake resistance is concerned, it would be ideal to have some nominal shear
reinforcement within the pile cap. When piles are represented as frame elements, they
would not have a finite size. Thus, the moments induced in the pile caps would be of
greater magnitude than the actual values. This can be rectified to a certain extent by
providing additional inclined members of nominal dimensions of about 300 mm x 300
mm starting at a depth of about 2.0 m below the top of the pile. These should be
connected to the pile cap shell element nodes to represent the actual dimension of the
pile. For this connection, meshing of the pile cap should have already been carried out.
 Such members can reduce the deformation around the pile and hence can reduce the
moment to be as close as possible to the actual moments that would occur in the pile cap.

If pile rafts are available, it is possible to use the same approach where the raft can be
placed on springs of appropriate stiffness. Generally, the stiffness of the soil is calculated
using the formula where k = 40 x bearing capacity x factor of safety. The factor of safety
is generally considered as 2.0. The unit of k will be kN/m 3• To represent each spring, k
value has to be multiplied by the area supported by each spring. Pile rafts can also be
provided with some nominal shear links. These can also act as stools for supporting the
reinforcement placed at the top level.

5.3 Modelling of lift walls and shear walls

These can be modeled using shell elements as shown in Figures I and I O [9]. It would be
important to represent shear walls with some sub-division at the floor above the pile cap
if it is necessary to represent the loads transfer on to the pile caps accurately.

6. Interpretation of results

The most important information that can be obtained from a three dimensional model is
the dynamic characteristics of the building and the loads on the vertical members such as
columns, walls and piles. An accurate model can also give moments on beams, but

- would not be accurate unless pattern loading has been carefully simulated. The forces
and moments on transfer plates and pile caps would be of reasonable accuracy.

- 7. Design of structural elements

- A tall building that is analyzed as above and detailed would be of sufficient safety.
However, the safety of the structure can be enhanced by providing over-strength at some
selected locations where the models may under-estimate the special effects that would not
have been fully captured by the basic assumptions. Such locations are where the columns
and shear walls meeting the pile caps, transfer plates, raft foundation, etc. The general
details for these locations can be coupled with earthquake resistant details to obtain a
highly robust structure that will be able to withstand many unforeseen effects or adverse
loads that would be difficult to estimate. The earthquake detailing guidelines can be

- obtained from many research papers specifically intended for Sri Lanka [I O] or from the
Society of Structural Engineers publication on earthquake resistant detailing. It may be
important pay some attention to blasts as well in the form of blast minimizing features
that can be coupled with good planning practices and structural detailing [11]

8. Conclusions
With the irregular shaped modern day tall buildings that have to satisfy the special needs
that arise due to car parking, it is essential to use three dimensional finite element
analysis for structural design. Since it is essential to produce optimum designs, it is of
significant importance to ensure that the actual loads on floors are accurately taken into
account with realistic load transfer mechanisms. This will need close attention to details
such as connectivity of members, load transfer due to one way and two way spanning
slabs, representation of finite size of elements such as rectangular columns, etc. Since
large pile caps may be involved in these structures, sometimes, it would be useful to
model the pile caps and piles along with the super-structure. Various techniques that can
be used in such situations have been shown with sufficient details in order to ensure
wider use of such details and also to represent a situation as close as possible to the actual
structure with the SAP 2000 based mathematical model. Various important design details
pertaining to tall buildings also have been presented.

References

[1] Building Regulations, City of Colombo Development Plan, Volume II, Colombo
Municipal Council, 74 p, 1985.

[2] Building Regulations, City of Colombo Development Plan- Planning and Building
Regulations, Vo/ 11, Colombo Municipal Council, 59 p, 1999.

[3] Wijeratne, M.D., Jayasinghe, M.T.R., "Wind loads for high-rise buildings constructed
in Sri Lanka",Transactions Part 2, 1998, pp 58-69.

[4] Jayanandana, A.D.C., Jayasinghe, M.T.R., "Usage of local materials for high strength
concrete",Transactions, 1998, pp

[5] Wijeratne, M.D., Jayasinghe, M.T.R., "Earthquake resistance of loadbearing

brickwork structures", Research for industry,
1999.

[6] Clark, L.A., Concrete Bridge Design to BS5400, Longman, New York, 1983, 186 p.

[7] SAP 2000, Integrated finite element analysis and design of structures, Computers and
Structures Inc., Berkeley, California, USA.

[8] BS 8110: Part 1: 1985, Structural Use of Concrete - Code of practice for design and
construction, BSI, London.

[9] Smith, S.S., Coull, A., Tall Building Structures: Analysis and Design, John Wiley &
Sons, New York, 1991.

[10] Perera, D.F.U., Jayasinghe, M.T.R., "Earthquake resistant detailing for reinforced
concrete buildings constructed in Sri Lanka", Transactions - Part 2 ,1999.

[11] Perera, D.F.U., Jayasinghe, M.T.R., "A comparison of blast and earthquake resistant
detailing concepts adopted for reinforced concrete buildings", Proceedings of
symposium, Research for industry - I 999, University of Moratuwa, December, 1999, pp
161-172.
 Reinforced concrete shear cores
provide the lateral stability

Upper floor columns have been

continued within the car parking
~ floors located within first six floors

~ Some beams of nominal size used to

anchor the building to simulate the
actual condition that the building would
not mover at the ground floor level

The piles have also been modeled

with the superstructure along with the
pile rail

Figure I: A 30 model of an apartment building created with SAP2000 where the columns

- have been continued throughout the height of the building without using a transfer floor
 Upper floors are supported by using a
combination of reinforced concrete
columns and beams to ensure minimum
loss of valuable space within the
aoartmerits

Transfer floor of 1.2 to 1.5 m thickness that transfers

/ the upper level loads on the large columns located at
lower floors

The car parking at lower floors are supported by large

columns that are modeled as frame elements

A SAP 2000 model without pile foundations being

modeled with the super structure

Figure 2: An apartment building with transfer plate at 6th floor level, which is supported
by the large columns located at lower levels
 ' '
1 .... t

T f l r ,..-n

r-:r i-T -1 rTTT-

r
• f f j 1 r i l 1

' r I 1 r· r-:-: 1

I r -·,

' j r T

,
' . '
.-
. '

Figure 3: The slab loads transferred on to the beams within 0.125 Land 0.875 L (a length
of 0.75 L)

-
-
-

- Figure 4: The slabs represented using the shell elements where the bending thickness has
- been adjusted to ensure proper load paths for transfer of loads

-
-
•
Figure 5: A transfer plate created manually with shell elements to ensure proper
connectivity of the walls above it with large columns below it

Figure 6: The transfer plate after meshing of the elements

•
•
Upper part of the structure with
rectangular columns modeled as walls

,._ The car park mg at lower floors are supported by large

columns that are modeled as frame elements

-
...

Figure 7: A tall building with large pile caps and a transfer plate Beams with pm
-------- ends and of
~ nominal
dimensions to
si mulate very
small movement
at the ground floor
level

__,."1'T-rt-r--t---t"'-J ...--.._ Pile caps modeled

with shell
elements

.. Figure 8: The pile caps before meshing and also showing the connectivity between the
pile caps that represent the presence of a ground floor slab
Figure 9: The pile caps of Figure 8 after meshing

L._.. .._
Figure I 0: A frame with shear walls represented by shell elements
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