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Monitoring and time‐dependent analysis of vertical deformations of the

tallest building in China

Article  in  Structural Control and Health Monitoring · September 2016

DOI: 10.1002/stc.1936

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Received: 18 August 2015 Revised: 20 May 2016 Accepted: 16 August 2016
DOI 10.1002/stc.1936

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Monitoring and time‐dependent analysis of vertical deformations

of the tallest building in China
Qiusheng Li* | Yinghou He | Hui Wang | Kang Zhou | Bowen Yan

Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering,

City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Correspondence
Qiusheng Li, Department of Architecture and Civil
Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong
Kong.
Email: bcqsli@cityu.edu.hk
Summary
Ping‐An Finance Center (PAFC) in Shenzhen, with a structural height of 597 m and
a total height of 660 m, is currently the second tallest building in the world and the
tallest in China. In this paper, based on the outputs of a structural health monitoring
system installed in PAFC, a combined study of both on‐site measurements and
numerical analysis of the vertical deformations (axial shortenings) of the super tall
building during its various construction stages is carried out. It is worth noting that
a novel strategy to adjust the elevation of each floor of PAFC was implemented in
the design and construction of the super tall building, in which the floor‐to‐floor
height is modestly increased to compensate for the axial shortenings of gravity load
bearing elements during the construction process and in‐service stage. This design
strategy is referred to as elevation reservation, and its effectiveness is verified
through the field measurements of the vertical deformations in this study. A good
agreement is found between the numerical results and the field measurements,
which validates the finite element models of PAFC at different construction stages.
The finite element models are further used to investigate the time‐dependent effects
due to the construction sequence and the shrinkage and creep of concrete on the ver-
tical deformations. The numerical results show that the vertical deformations would
be seriously underestimated without consideration of the time‐dependent effects.
The outcomes of this study would be of interest and practical use for engineers
and researchers involved in the structural design, construction, and structural health
monitoring of super tall buildings.

KE YWO RD S

construction sequence, construction simulation, finite element method, field

measurement, shrinkage and creep of concrete, structural health monitoring, super tall
building, time‐dependent analysis, vertical deformation

1 | IN T RO D U C T IO N reinforced concrete buildings are featured with vertical defor-

The development of new lightweight materials and advanced
construction techniques in recent years has resulted in the
emergence of numerous super tall buildings (building height
>300 m) throughout the world. Reinforced concrete has been
widely adopted for the gravity load bearing systems of these
buildings. Concrete has inherent advantages of fireproofing,
soundproofing, and good resistance to wind actions, which
would improve the serviceability and safety of super tall
buildings. However, it has been well recognized that
mations comprising of elastic deformations caused by short‐
term service loads and inelastic deformations due to concrete
rheology (creep and shrinkage). Moreover, the use of various
structural systems with different levels of stiffness may cause
noticeable differences in axial shortening between gravity
load‐bearing elements (differential axial shortenings). The
vertical deformations and differential axial shortenings may
result in unacceptable cracking and unexpected distortions
of floor plates, beams, and secondary structural elements.
They can cause not only the damages of facade and finishes

Struct. Control Health Monit. 2016; 1–16 wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/stc Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 1
2 LI
but also the difficulties in mechanical and plumbing installa-
tions and elevator operation.[1] These adverse effects escalate
with the increasing height of tall buildings. Therefore, miti-
gating differential axial shortenings and controlling the verti-
cal deformations of super tall buildings are becoming an
important issue for the design and construction of super tall
buildings.
The finite element method has been widely used in
structural analysis of tall buildings, in which permanent
and variable gravity loads are usually applied on a com-
pleted building or constructed structural components with-
out considering the construction sequence. Tall buildings
are commonly constructed with perimeter and interior col-
umns as well as cores and shear walls. Different construc-
tion systems such as climbing and jumping forms are
usually used for the construction of cores and shear walls,
while manually operated formworks are generally adopted
for building columns. Therefore, the construction age gap
and different loading history exist between the perimeter
columns and core on the same floor. The necessity of
time‐dependent analysis has been emphasized for reliable
and accurate estimations of structural performances of tall
buildings.[2] Currently, several numerical models have been
developed to take into account the effects of construction
sequence. Bazant and Wittmann[3] proposed the step by step
method, in which the complete construction process for a
tall building was divided into segmental time steps. The step
by step method is a useful tool but would cost considerable
computational time and require much of computer memory
for complex tall buildings. Therefore, for a reduction in the
computational cost and computer memory demand, Kim
and Shin[4] lumped several building stories into a unit and
assumed that the unit is constructed at a time and, conse-
quently, the total construction process of a tall building
was composed of several construction units from bottom to
top. They also studied the effects of the size of lumped
unit and suggested that the construction unit with approximate
1/15 of the total building can reach the compromise between
the accuracy and computational efficiency. Baker et al.[5]
performed the construction sequence analysis of Burj Tower
to calculate the differential axial shortenings between vertical
load‐bearing members. They divided the construction
sequence into 15 consecutive stages and established the corre-
sponding finite element models from foundation to top spire.
In contrast to the sequential analysis of the construction from
bottom to top, Choi and Kim[6] established a complete build-
ing model and bunched several floors to form a substructure.
When a specific substructure is active, its gravity load is car-
ried by the other substructures below it, together with those
gravity loadings activated in the earlier stages. Meanwhile,
the substructures above it are still inactive, and their gravity
loads are not transferred to the below levels. Following the
similar idea, Njomo and Ozay[7] adopted the substructuring
technique in time‐dependent analysis to determine the opti-
mized size of the substructure. They compared the
ET AL.
conventional method of linear elastic analysis with the time‐
dependent analysis, which revealed that the time‐dependent
analysis offered more accurate results for the structural
response of tall buildings under both gravity loads and earth-
quake excitations.
Although a number of numerical simulation studies
were performed to investigate the effects of construction
sequence and creep and shrinkage of concrete on the verti-
cal deformations of high‐rise buildings, there have been rare
cross‐validation studies between numerical simulations and
field measurements for a complete construction process of
a super tall building. One important reason that accounts
for this research gap is the lack of high‐quality field mea-
surements acquired during the construction process of tall
buildings. In recent years, structural health monitoring
(SHM) systems have been increasingly used for high‐rise
buildings, which enable the real‐time monitoring of struc-
tural performance and assessment of structural safety and
serviceability at both construction and service stages.
SHM, which includes measurements of local and global
structural responses, diagnosis of structural damages, and
evaluation and forecasting of structural serviceability and
safety conditions, has been found to be effective in
detecting anomalies during construction, and in protecting
structures from failures and damages during their service
periods. It has been reported that strong motion monitoring
systems for seismic excitation/response measurements, and
post‐earthquake damage assessment have been installed in
more than 150, 100, and 40 buildings in the USA, Japan,
and Taiwan, respectively.[8–10] The SHM systems in tall
buildings have predominantly been concerned with protec-
tion against seismic damages and have mainly been
operated or owned by private companies so that the
recorded data were generally not released to the public
owing to confidentiality concerns.[11] Nevertheless, it is
noted that monitoring of structural performance of high‐rise
structures during both construction and service stages,
especially under extreme conditions such as typhoons and
earthquakes, has been attracting more and more attentions
in recent years. Notable examples include in‐construction
and in‐service monitoring of the 610‐m‐high Canton
TV tower[12,13] and in‐construction monitoring of stress
and deformation of critical structural members of the
632‐m‐high Shanghai Tower.[14,15] The monitoring data
gathered by SHM systems installed in high‐rise buildings
during construction process can provide useful information
on improvements to numerical techniques for construction
simulation, structural design, and construction.
A design strategy named as elevation reservation was uti-
lized at the design stage of Ping‐An Finance Center (PAFC)
to compensate for the axial shortenings of vertical load‐
bearing elements. A sophisticated sensing system deployed
on PAFC from the foundation to the building's top has been
used to monitor the structural performance during the con-
struction process of PAFC. And the field measurements at
LI ET AL.
various construction stages have been utilized to verify the
design strategy of elevation reservation and validate the
numerical analysis results. Moreover, the numerical simula-
tions are further adopted to investigate the time‐dependent
effects of construction sequence and shrinkage and creep of
concrete on the vertical deformations. The remainder of this
paper is arranged as follows. Section 2 describes the struc-
tural configuration of PAFC and the SHM system installed
in PAFC. Section 3 introduces the time‐dependent analysis
procedure for PAFC at various construction stages. The field
measurements and numerical analysis results of the vertical
deformations and differential axial shortenings during the
construction process of PAFC are provided in Section 4
together with comprehensive discussions on the comparison
between the on‐site measurements and the numerical predic-
tions. Finally, the main findings of this study are summarized
in Section 5.
2 | P I NG ‐ A N F I NA NC E C E N T E R A N D
ST RU C TUR AL HE ALTH MONITORING
SYST EM
2.1 | Ping‐An Finance Center
PAFC is of a 118‐story building with a structural height of
597 m and a total height of 660 m as shown in Figure 1(a),
which comprises a mega‐frame core tube structure. The super
tall building was structurally topped out in April 2015 as
depicted in Figure 1(b), which is currently the second highest
building in the world and the tallest in China. There are eight
composited steel‐reinforced concrete mega‐columns shown in
Figure 2(a) and four outrigger trusses shown in Figure 2(b).
The core tube consists of reinforced concrete shear walls
(Figure 2(c)), while the core tube and the mega‐frame are
connected by these outrigger trusses at four different levels
as shown in Figure 2(d) to improve the lateral stiffness and
the global integrity of the super tall building.
FIGURE 1 (a) Achitectural view of Ping‐An
Finance Center (PAFC). (b) The aerial view of
PAFC during construction
3
2.2 | Structural health monitoring system installed in
Ping‐An Finance Center
In order to monitor the performance of PAFC at the construc-
tion and service stages to ensure its safety and serviceability,
an SHM system comprising 548 sensors has been
implemented into the high‐rise structure by the authors of this
paper. The SHM system is a platform that integrates multi‐
disciplinary advanced technology including sensors, signal
transmission, data processing, and structural damage detec-
tion and diagnosis. Based on a modular design concept, the
SHM system consists of seven subsystem modules: a sensor
measurement system, a data acquisition and transmission sys-
tem, a data processing and estimation system, a data manage-
ment system, a support and protection system, a structural
health assessment system, and a software system, as illus-
trated in Figure 3. The sensor measurement system consti-
tutes 12 different types and a total number of 548 sensors,
of which 120 sensors were deployed in the foundation and
428 sensors on the superstructure. The installations of several
devices and sensors on PAFC are shown in Figure 4. The
fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors were embedded into the
reinforced concrete in Figure 4(a) and mounted on the surface
of structural elements in Figure 4(b) during the construction
process, while Global Position System was installed at the
top of the tower and elevated along with the construction pro-
cedure. The main monitoring items at the construction stage
are as follows:
1. Climate monitoring: A weather station was installed on
the top of the tower and lift up as the structure was raised
up during the construction process. The monitoring of
climate includes temperature, humidity, rainfall, and
pressure.
2. Load monitoring: Seismographs are placed in the base-
ment to monitor the earthquake or traffic excitations.
Anemometers are installed on the top of the tower to
monitor wind velocity.
4 LI
FIGURE 2 Schematic diagram of mega‐frame core tube structure. (a) Column and belt truss, (b) outrigger, (c) core tube, and (d) composite structure
3. Horizontal displacement: GPS is equipped atop the tower
to monitor the displacements of the superstructure.
4. Inclination: Fiber sensing inclinometers were used to mon-
itor the inclination of the building at the construction stage.
5. Vertical deformation: FBG sensors were embedded in
the concrete of the core tube and mega‐columns to
monitor their vertical deformations.
6. Internal stress and strain of critical elements: Surface‐
mounted FBG sensors were welded on the surface of out-
rigger truss and belt truss members to monitor the stress
and strains of critical steel structural elements.
ET AL.
FIGURE 3 Configuration of the modules in the
structural health monitoring system for Ping‐An
Finance Center
Besides the aforementioned monitoring items in the con-
struction process, the dynamic properties of the high‐rise
structure and the wind‐induced pressures on claddings will
be monitored at the service stage using accelerometers and
wind pressure transducers.
As shown in Figure 5, a total of 17 critical sections at ele-
vation of −0.950, 49.55, 54.95, 118.75, 123.75, 168.55,
228.35, 233.35, 305.65, 374.45, 379.45, 451.75, 530.05,
549.05, and 585.58 m were selected for the measurements
of strain and temperature. Eight measurement points (denoted
as Core 1–4 and Column 1–4) at one critical section, as
shown in Figure 6, were equipped with surface type and
LI ET AL.
FIGURE 4 Installation of the devices of the structural health monitoring system. (a) Weather station, (b) anemometer, (c) seismograph, (d) embedded fiber
Bragg grating (FBG) sensors, (e) surface mounted FBG sensors, and (f) Global Position System
embedded FBG strain sensors to measure the strains of the
core tubes and mega‐columns.
The implementation of a conventional wired and central‐
stationed SHM system in large and complex structures such
as PAFC is almost impractical and costly. Instead, a wireless
SHM system is developed using local area network in combi-
nation with 3G telecommunication to achieve the real‐time
data transmission. In addition, with the advantage of the wire-
less system, the modular design is adopted to provide the
flexibility in deployments and expansions of the SHM sys-
tem. In contrast with the conventional SHM system, this
SHM system of PAFC has the merits to allow the modular
and plug‐and‐play deployments, which is feasible and labor
free to implement the SHM system in the large‐scale struc-
ture. Signals from different types of sensor are processed by
the corresponding signal‐processing modules, and on‐site
data are switched to a standard digital signal within each data
acquisition unit before being transferred to a remote control
center through the data transmission module. Five equipment
layers were selected as the substation floors to collect the data
acquired from distributed sensors shown in Figure 5 and then
transmit the data to the control center by wireless local area
network. The structural health assessment system is the core
of the SHM system, which contains three modules: structural
security alarm module, structural condition and damage iden-
tification module, and structural safety assessment module.
5
Safety and serviceability of the super tall building are two
major indices for its condition assessment. Safety evaluation
at the element level can be achieved by calculating their
safety indices using the measured strains (or internal forces)
and structural element resistances. Safety of the building at
the system level is assessed by identifying the most likely
failure modes of the structure using the static increment
method. Serviceability of the building is ensured by monitor-
ing the displacements and accelerations at the upper floors as
compared with the criteria stipulated in the design codes of
China.
3 | T IM E ‐D E P E N DE N T ANALYS I S
3.1 | Staged construction sequence
In order to accurately simulate the construction process of
PAFC, FE models of PAFC at various construction stages
were built with Midas/Gen software. The numerical models
of PAFC were composed of four main parts including core
tube, core tube slabs, mega‐frame (including mega‐columns
and steel truss), and exterior frame slabs. During the con-
struction process, the core tube was constructed with 15
floors ahead of the mega‐frame, while the mega‐frame with
five floors ahead of exterior frame slabs and exterior frame
6 LI
FIGURE 5 Deployment of sensors and data acquisition unit for in‐construction monitoring
FIGURE 6 Strain and temperature measurement points at one critical
section
slabs with five floors ahead of core tube slabs. A typical con-
struction progress consisted of construction of one standard
floor in a 4‐day cycle and one truss floor in a 6‐day cycle.
ET AL.
According to the real construction sequence, 25 consecutive
construction stages were modeled from the bottom to the
top in the present numerical analysis as shown in Figure 7.
When developing the FE models of PAFC, the outriggers
and belt trusses were modeled using beam elements, while
the floor slabs, columns, and shear walls of the core tube
were modeled using plate elements. The total number of ele-
ments in the FE model of the final stage of PAFC is 68,331,
in which the number of beam elements is 37,018 and that of
plate elements is 31,313.
The construction started with the first construction unit
that carried the total gravity loads constituted by mechanical
and non‐mechanical effects. The deformations at this stage
were evaluated just before the beginning of the second con-
struction stage. When the second construction unit was com-
pleted, the deformations of the first unit had already occurred.
Each floor in the second unit was leveled at its ideal vertical
and horizontal positions instead of sustaining the original
structural element length. When the second construction unit
was completed, the gravity loads during the second construc-
tion stage were applied on the already completed building
stories. The vertical deformations would accumulate on the
constructed floors from the initial state. And then, the third
construction stage continued until the final construction
stage. Permanent gravity loads (dead loads) were determined
on the basis of the geometry of structural elements and
LI ET AL.
FIGURE 7 Numerical models at different construction stages
material density, while the variable gravity loads (construc-
tion loads, live loads) were specified with the value of
2.5 kN/m2 according to the suggestion by Zhao et al.[16]
3.2 | Axial shortening
For time‐dependent structural analysis of a tall building,
shrinkage and creep of concrete are of primary concern.
When the superposition principle is adopted, the total strain
is the sum of axial shortening due to elastic, creep, and
shrinkage of concrete as follows:
εT ¼ εE þ εC þ εS
where εT, εE, εC, and εS are total, elastic, creep, and shrinkage
strains, respectively, for any given element. The elastic strain
instantaneously occurs when the vertical load acts on the
building, while the shrinkage and creep strains gradually
grow due to the sustained loads over a long period. In this
study, these strains are calculated using the GL 2000
method[17] as follows:
 
1 ϕ
εT ¼ σ ðt n Þ þ þ εS ;
EC EC
where σ(tn) accounts for the axial stress of an element at
instant tn, EC is the concrete modulus of elasticity, and ϕ is
the creep coefficient. Both ϕ and εS can be determined by
the GL 2000 method with the relevant data pertaining to
the material being used. For an instance of C60 concrete,
its variations of creep coefficient and shrinkage strain with
7
time are illustrated in Figure 8 according to the material prop-
erties specified in China Code for Design of Concrete Struc-
tures.[18] The relative humidity at the construction site was
about 70%, and the age at the first loading was 3 days. To
include the effects of reinforcement, the effective Young's
modulus of the reinforced concrete E ′T is calculated using
the following equation.[19]
0 E R AR þ E C AC
ET ¼ ; (3)
AR þ AC
where E and A designate the Young's modulus and tributary
(1) area, respectively. The subscripts R and C indicate the rein-
forcement and cement, respectively.
The vertical deformation of an element ΔH(tn) at instant
tn can be determined as follows:
ΔH ðt n Þ ¼ LεT ðt n Þ; (4)
where L is element length.
To determine the cumulative vertical deformation during
a particular construction stage k at instant tn, the axial short-
ening of all the elements constructed in and before that given
(2)
construction stage k should be summed up to determine the
total vertical deformation as follows:
k
H k ðt n Þ ¼ ∑ ΔH j ðt n Þ; (5)
j¼1
where Hk(tn) represents the cumulative vertical deformation
during a particular construction stage k at instant tn.
8 LI
FIGURE 8 Creep and shrinkage behavior of C60 concrete18. (a) Creep coefficient and (b) concrete shrinkage
In the real construction process, a building floor would be
leveled at its ideal vertical position. The total vertical defor-
mation during a particular construction stage k at instant tn
relative to the foundation (HL(tn)) with the consideration of
leveling construction is determined as follows:
k 

H L ðt n Þ ¼ ∑ ΔH i ðt n Þ− max ΔH ði−1Þ ;
i¼1
where max(ΔH(i − 1)) represents the maximal vertical defor-
mation of a vertical element in the previous construction unit
(i‐1) that is just completed before the specific construction
stage i.
4 | RES ULT S A ND DISCU SSIONS
The strains measured by the surface ‐type and embedded
FBG sensors were used to determine the vertical deforma-
tions of the superstructure of PAFC. To reduce uncertainties
in the measurements from the SHM system, the measured
data that significantly deviated from the averaged values were
excluded. Because the lateral stiffness remains almost con-
stant at each floor, the linear assumption of the vertical defor-
mation was adopted to determine the vertical deformations of
the floors without installation of sensors by linear interpola-
tion of the field measurements obtained at the floors
equipped with sensors.
4.1 | Elevation reservation
To compensate for the vertical deformations of the super-
structure during the construction process, the design strategy
of reserving certain lengths for the vertical structural compo-
nents of the super tall building was implemented for the con-
struction of PAFC.
The reserved elevation of each floor was expected to be
equivalent to the corresponding accumulative vertical
ET AL.
deformation at the time of 1 year after the completion of
the building construction. The reservation elevation of each
floor was determined by numerical analysis considering the
shrinkage and creep of concrete and the construction
sequence. In other words, the floor elevations of PAFC would
reach the designed heights after the first service year. The
reserved elevations for the core tube and mega‐columns at
(6) each floor are shown in Figure 9. One can see that the
reserved elevations of the mega‐columns in Figure 9(a) are
smaller than those of the core tube in Figure 9(b). Mean-
while, the values of elevation reservation gradually increase,
and then drop in the upper floors.
To elucidate the variation of the vertical deformation of
PAFC, the last seven construction stages from construction
stage 19 (CS19) to construction stage 25 (CS25) are
selected, and their corresponding construction procedures
are summarized in Table 1. It is apparent that the construc-
tion of shear walls of the core tube was the fastest, while
that of the core tube slab was the slowest. Furthermore,
Table 2 lists the comparison between the measured vertical
deformations and the elevation reservations for the top
floor at the last seven construction stages. The ratios
between them are also presented, which enable the predic-
tion of the vertical deformation at each construction stage.
In the CS19, the ratios were 44.8% and 45.5% for the core
tube and columns, respectively. During the CS25, the ratios
have reached 85.2% and 74%, respectively. At that time,
the main structure of PAFC was completed, and most of
the mechanical loads had been carried by the gravity
load‐bearing elements except the self‐weight of claddings
and live loads at the service stage. Besides, the effects of
shrinkage and creep of concrete remain at the service
stage. From the above analysis of the vertical deformations
based on the field measurements, the elevation of each
floor can mostly reach the designed value at the time of
1 year after the completion of PAFC's construction, which
verifies the design strategy of the elevation reservation
for PAFC.
LI ET AL. 9

FIGURE 9 Reserved elevations of the (a) mega‐columns and (b) core tube

increment rate of 0.1 mm per each floor at every construction

TABLE 1 Construction schedule for the seven construction stages
stage. Consequently, the accumulative vertical deformations
Construction schedule (floor)
of the core tube and mega‐columns at different construction
Core wall Exterior frame stages can be predicted. Taking the 90th floor as an example,
Construction
stages Shear wall Slabs Mega‐columns Slabs the vertical deformation of the 90th floor at the CS19 is
CS19 90 62 77 67 80 mm, and then its vertical deformation at the CS25 can
CS20 95 68 85 73 be estimated as 80 + 90 × 0.1 × (7–1) = 134 mm, which is
CS21 99 76 92 78 in good agreement with the field measurement of 137 mm.
CS22 105 82 4 83 In addition, the vertical deformations of lower floors were
CS23 112 85 98 87 relatively small, while the maximum value occurred on the
CS24 116 93 100 95 top floor. At the time of the completion of the main tower,
CS25 118 98 110 100 the measured maximum vertical deformations of the core
tube and mega column were 152.5 and 126.6 mm,
respectively.
4.2 | Comparison between the numerical results and
Figure 11 shows the numerical results of the vertical
the field measurements
deformations of the mega‐columns and core tube from
In this section, to validate the numerical predictions at differ- CS19 to CS25. One can see that the predicted deformation
ent construction stages, the numerical results are compared distributions with height are consistent with the field mea-
with the field measurements including the vertical deforma- surements and the maximum vertical deformations of the
tions of the mega‐columns and the core tube as well as the core tube and mega‐column, respectively, reach 138.2 and
differential axial shortenings between them. 114.6 mm, which are slightly lower than the on‐site measure-
ments of 152.5 and 126.6 mm.
4.2.1 | Vertical deformations of the mega‐columns and core Detailed comparisons are made for the construction stage
tube 20 and CS25, as shown in Figures 12 and 13, respectively.
Figure 10 shows the field measurements of the vertical defor- The results illustrate that closer agreement is found at lower
mations of the mega‐columns and core tube from CS19 to floors, while the discrepancies gradually increase with the
CS25. It can be seen that the vertical deformations of the core rise of floor. This is attributed to the accumulative differences
tube and mega‐columns accumulated constantly with the in the vertical deformation during the construction process.

TABLE 2 Comparison of measured vertical deformation and elevation reservation (mm)

Core tube Columns
Stages Floor Measuring Reservation Ratio (%) Floor Measuring Reservation Ratio (%)

CS19 90 91.9 205 44.8 77 73.2 161 45.5

CS20 95 101.3 202 50.1 85 80.6 160 50.3
CS21 100 111.9 200 55.9 92 92.0 160 57.5
CS22 105 121.5 194 62.7 95 99.5 161 61.8
CS23 110 131.9 185 71.3 97 112.5 161 69.9
CS24 115 143.9 177 81.3 100 122.0 168 72.6
CS25 118 150.0 176 85.2 105 126.6 171 74.0
10 LI ET AL.

FIGURE 10 Field measurements of vertical deformations. (a) Core tube and (b) mega‐columns

FIGURE 11 Numerical predictions of vertical deformation. (a) Core tube and (b) mega‐columns

FIGURE 12 Comparison of vertical deformation in construction stage CS20. (a) Core tube and (b) mega‐columns

To further clarify the differences between the field
measurements and the numerical simulations, relative dis-
crepancies are listed in Table 3. It can be seen that the
numerical results of vertical deformations are fairly close
to the field measurements and the discrepancies are
around 10 mm with the largest value of 15.3 mm and
the smallest of 6.4 mm. The discrepancies between the
on‐site measurements and the numerical simulations may
result from the ambient excitations or wind loads that
were not included in this study. Furthermore, the variable
gravity loading in the numerical analysis is a posteriori
estimate, which could not exactly represent the real situa-
tions. In general, it can be concluded that the numerical
predictions of the vertical deformations during the con-
struction process reasonably agree with the field
measurements.
LI ET AL. 11

FIGURE 13 Comparison of vertical deformation in construction stage CS25. (a) Core tube and (b) mega‐columns

TABLE 3 Comparison of vertical deformation between the field measurements and numerical simulations
Core tube Mega‐columns
Construction
stages Measurement Simulation Difference Error (%) Measurement Simulation Difference Error (%)

CS19 89.3 82.9 6.4 7.1 73.2 63.0 10.2 13.9

CS20 102.4 91.8 10.7 10.4 80.6 71.2 9.3 11.6
CS21 109.1 101.9 7.2 6.6 92.0 80.7 11.3 12.3
CS22 117.4 111.0 6.4 5.4 99.5 88.7 10.8 10.9
CS23 136.2 120.9 15.3 11.2 112.5 97.7 14.8 13.1
CS24 147.3 132.4 14.9 10.1 122.0 107.5 14.4 11.8
CS25 152.5 138.2 14.3 9.4 126.6 114.6 12.0 9.5

4.2.2 | Differential axial shortening between the mega‐columns measurements from CS23–CS25. This indicates that the dif-
and core tube ferential axial shortenings by the numerical simulations
match the field measurements to some extent. Meanwhile, it
Figure 14 shows the field measurements and the numerical
demonstrates that the elevation reservations at the design
results of the differential axial shortenings between the core
stage effectively reduce the differential axial shortening
tube and mega‐columns. Some discrepancies between them
between the core tube and mega‐columns.
can be found. The field measurements constantly increase
with floors, while fluctuations of the numerical results exist
at middle floors. In addition, the differential axial shortenings
4.3 | Time‐dependent effects on the vertical
at the 60th and 70th floors are listed in Table 4. It is observed
that the numerical results of the differential axial shortenings deformations
at the 60th and 70th floors decreased during the construction In the previous section, the numerical models of PAFC at dif-
process, while a similar trend was also observed in the field ferent construction stages were validated through comparison

FIGURE 14 Differential axial shortenings of field measurements and numerical results. (a) Field measurements and (b) numerical predictions
12 LI ET AL.

TABLE 4 Comparison of differential axial shortening between the core

tube and the mega‐column
Measurements Simulations
Construction
stages 60th 70th 60th 70th

CS19 9.6 11.7 12.7 15.4

CS20 11.2 13.8 12.5 14.1
CS21 11.4 12.5 11.9 13.2
CS22 12.4 13.5 11.5 12.8
CS23 14.7 16.3 11.2 12.3
CS24 13.5 15.1 10.9 11.9
CS25 12.9 14.5 10.5 11.4

with the field measurements. In this section, the numerical

models are further used to investigate the time‐dependent FIGURE 16 Effects of construction sequence on differential axial
effects on the vertical deformations of the high‐rise structure shortening

at both the construction and service stages.

4.3.1 | Effects of the construction sequence on the vertical
deformations
Figure 15 shows the effects of the construction sequence on
the vertical deformations of the core tube and mega‐columns
at the construction completion stage. When the effects of the
construction sequence are considered, it is obvious that the
vertical deformations of both the mega‐column and core tube
are much larger than those without consideration of the con-
struction sequence. Also, the vertical deformation of the core
tube along with the construction process is faster than that of
the mega‐columns, which differs from the trend when the
effects of the construction consequence are neglected. For
the 114th floor, the largest vertical deformation of the core
tube considering the construction sequence is 164.32 mm,
which is 1.8 times larger than the value of 91.3 mm without
considering the construction sequence, while that of the
mega‐columns is 145.11 mm and 1.6 times the value of
90.7 mm without considering the construction sequence.
Figure 16 shows the effects of the construction sequence on
the differential axial shortening between the core tube and
FIGURE 15 Effects of construction sequence on vertical deformation
mega‐columns. The differential axial shortening without con-
sidering the construction sequence is below 2 mm and fluctu-
ates around 0, indicating the consistent vertical deformations
between the core tube and mega‐columns. However, the dif-
ferential axial shortening significantly increases in the case
of considering the construction sequence, and the maximum
is 19.2 mm.
From the above analysis, it can be concluded that the
effects of the construction sequence on the vertical deforma-
tions of the core tube and mega‐columns are quite significant
and the vertical deformations are severely underestimated if
the construction sequence is not considered in the numerical
analysis.
4.3.2 | Effects of shrinkage and creep of concrete on the ver-
tical deformations during construction
The effects of shrinkage and creep of concrete could exist at
both the construction and service stages, which further exac-
erbate the differential axial shortening between the core tube
and mega‐columns. This results in additional internal forces
in the linking elements. Therefore, it is essential to investigate
the vertical deformations of the high‐rise structure with con-
sideration of the effects of shrinkage and creep of concrete
at both the construction and service stages.
Figure 17 presents the effects of shrinkage and creep of
concrete on the mega‐columns and core tube, which also
takes into account the leveling construction during the con-
struction process. The total vertical deformations at each con-
struction stage are determined according to Equation 6. The
largest vertical deformation occurs at the middle floor, and
the magnitude of vertical deformations for both the core tube
and mega‐columns is significantly underestimated without
considering the shrinkage and creep of concrete. The maxi-
mum vertical deformation of the mega‐columns is
37.22 mm without considering the shrinkage and creep of
concrete. Nevertheless, the maximum is increased up to
64.45 mm with consideration of the shrinkage and creep of
concrete. Likely, the maximum vertical deformation of the
LI ET AL. 13

FIGURE 17 Effects of concrete shrinkage and creep on vertical deformation. (a) Mega‐columns and (b) core tube

core tube is enlarged from 43.17 to 77.39 mm when
taking into account the effects of shrinkage and creep of
concrete. It can be found that the vertical deformation
caused by shrinkage and creep of concrete almost accounts
for 40–50% of the total vertical deformations.
Figure 18 shows the effects of shrinkage and creep of
concrete on the differential axial shortening between the core
tube and mega‐columns. It is obvious that the concrete
shrinkage and creep effects could not only affect the vertical
deformations of the core tube and mega‐columns but also
increase the differential axial shortenings between them.
Consequently, the effects of concrete shrinkage and creep
should be included in numerical analysis to appropriately pre-
dict the vertical deformations of high‐rise buildings.

4.3.3 | Effects of long‐term loading on the vertical deforma-

tions at the service stage
During the service stage of a super tall building such as
PAFC, long‐term effects of gravity loads can result in signif-
icant vertical deformations of vertical load‐bearing elements.
TABLE 5 Vertical deformation of mega‐columns at service stage
Columns (mm)
Max Shrinkage and Ratio
Time deformation Floor creep (%)

Completion 64.45 64 27.22 42.2

1 year 77.12 64 39.90 51.7
5 years 97.70 64 60.47 61.9
10 years 108.72 74 74.87 68.9
20 years 121.05 79 89.31 73.8
FIGURE 18 Effects of concrete shrinkage and creep on differential axial
50 years 141.78 79 109.44 77.2
shortening

FIGURE 19 Vertical deformations of mega‐columns (a) and core tube (b) in service stage
14 LI ET AL.

TABLE 6 Vertical deformation of core tubes at service stage The elastic vertical deformation due to gravity shows slight
Core tube (mm) variation during the service stage, while the vertical deforma-
Max Shrinkage and Ratio tion caused by shrinkage and creep of concrete still takes
Time deformation Floor creep (%) effects. Therefore, the total vertical deformation remains
Completion 77.05 64 34.24 44.4 increase after the completion of the construction of PAFC.
1 year 89.28 74 48.01 53.8 Figure 19 presents the vertical deformations of the core
5 years 116.28 84 76.08 65.4 tube and mega‐columns in the 1st, 5th, 10th, and 20th service
10 years 129.91 84 89.70 69.1 year, which also considers the leveling construction during
20 years 144.28 84 104.08 72.1 the construction process. The total vertical deformation con-
50 years 167.40 94 132.41 79.1 tinues to grow after completing the construction of PAFC
because of the axial shortenings caused by shrinkage and
creep of concrete over a long period. The maximum vertical

FIGURE 20 Time‐dependent vertical deformations of columns and core tube on three typical floors. (a) columns at 15th floor, (b) core tube at 15th floor, (c)
columns at 60th floor, (d) core tube at 60th floor, (e) columns at 105th floor, and (f) core tube at 105th floor
LI ET AL.
TABLE 7 Ratios of vertical deformations to those in the 20th service year (%)
15th floor
Time Core tube Columns
1 year 85 80
2 years 88 86
3 years 91 90
5 years 95 92
10 years 99 97
deformations of the mega‐columns and core tube and the cor-
responding segments caused by the long‐term loading effect
are listed in Tables 5 and 6. When the construction of PAFC
is completed, the maximum vertical deformations of the
mega‐columns and core tube occur on the 64th floor with
deformations of 64.45 and 77.05 mm, respectively. During
the service period, the vertical deformations accumulate more
rapidly on the upper floors, while the floor on which the larg-
est deformation occurs also moves up. The largest vertical
deformations in the 10th service year are on the 74th floor
with the value of 108.72 mm for the mega‐columns and on
the 84th floor with the value of 129.91 mm for the core tube,
respectively. In the 20th service year, the largest vertical
deformations increase up to 121.05 mm for the mega‐
columns on the 79th floor and 144.28 mm for the core tube
on the 84th floor.
Tables 5 and 6 present the ratios of the vertical deforma-
tions caused by the shrinkage and creep of concrete to the
total vertical deformations. When completing the construc-
tion of PAFC, the shrinkage and creep of concrete‐induced
deformations of the mega‐columns and core tube account
for less than half of the total deformation (42.2% and
44.4%, respectively). As the elastic deformation caused by
gravity loads have already completed after the construction
stage, the ratio of the shrinkage and creep‐induced deforma-
tion gradually increases with time during the service period.
Until the 20th service year, the ratios are up to 73.8% for
the mega‐columns and 72.1% for the core tube, indicating
that the effects of the shrinkage and creep of concrete become
increasingly dominant on the vertical deformations of the
super tall building at the service stage.
In addition, the variations of time‐varying vertical defor-
mations of the 15th, 60th, and 105th floors are presented in
Figure 20 from the beginning of the construction to the
20th service year (about 8,000 days). Noticeable differences
can be found between different types of deformations. The
elastic deformation caused by a large amount of gravity load
increments surges at the construction stage, while the shrink-
age and creep‐induced deformation accumulates slightly
slower. After the completion of PAFC (about 700 days), the
elastic deformation has already been accomplished, while
the shrinkage and creep‐induced deformation is featured with
a gentle increase at the service stage and eventually exceeds
the elastic deformation on the 1,500th day (in the second
service year).
15
60th floor 105th floor
Core tube Columns Core tube Columns
75 71 60 59
82 78 69 67
87 84 75 73
90 88 80 79
93 90 85 85
Table 7 lists the ratios of the total vertical deformations in
the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 10th service years as compared
with that in the 20th year. In the third service year, the ratios
of the mega‐columns and core tube have reached 91% and
90% on the lower floors, 90% and 88% on the middle floors,
and 75% and 73% on the upper floors, respectively. As the
vertical deformations of most floors in the fifth service year
have reached approximately 80% of those in the 20th service
year, it is concluded that the development of the vertical
deformations has been almost accomplished.
5 | C O NC LU S I ON S
Based on the field measurements obtained from the SHM
system installed in PAFC during the construction period,
the design strategy of elevation reservation has been proved
effective to compensate for the axial shortenings of vertical
load‐bearing elements of the super tall building. Also, the
construction simulation was found to provide satisfactory
predictions of the vertical deformations of the super tall
building in comparison with the in situ measurements. The
findings of this study are summarized as follows:
1. The effectiveness and necessity of the design strategy,
elevation reservation, was verified through the field mea-
surements of the vertical deformations during the con-
struction process. When the main structure of PAFC
was completed, the ratios of the vertical deformations
to the reserved elevations had reached 85.2% for the core
tube and 74% for the mega‐columns, suggesting that the
elevation of each floor would meet with the design
expectations in the first service year of PAFC.
2. The shrinkage and creep of concrete and construction
sequence have significant effects on the vertical deforma-
tions of PAFC. The vertical deformations of the core
tube and mega‐columns and their differences could be
greatly underestimated without the consideration of these
effects. Also, the time‐dependent effects should be taken
into account in the numerical analysis of the vertical
deformations of super tall buildings.
3. The elastic deformation played a dominated role at the
construction stage. However, at the service stage, the
shrinkage and creep‐induced deformation will keep
increasing moderately over a long period and eventually
16
exceed the elastic deformation. Until the fifth service
year, the vertical deformation will be mostly completed.
AC KNOWLEDGEMENT
The work described in this paper was supported by a grant
from National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project
no: 51178179).
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How to cite this article: Li, Q.S., He, Y., Wang, H.,
Zhou, K., and Yan, B. (2016), Monitoring and time‐
dependent analysis of vertical deformations of the
tallest building in China, Struct. Control Health
Monit., doi: 10.1002/stc.1936