th

Tower Hamlet(14 floor);16 Kemal Ataturk Avenue

Banani C/A ; Dhaka-1213, Bangladesh
Phone: +88-02-986 2574;+88 0666-2301160
Fax: + 88-02- 986 2574
E-mail: arazzaque@axisdgi.com
Web site: www.axisdcl.com

Axis Design Consultants Ltd
USA:
th
744 Broad Street, 14 floor ; Newark, NJ 07102
NJ +1.973.792.9194 ;NY +1.212.288.7120
Fax +1.973.792.9499 ;Web site: www.axisdgi.com

STRUCTURAL DESIGN CONCEPT PAPER

Project Title : Franco German Embassy, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Project # : BD 10050
Date : December 14, 2010

01.
01. Structural Philosophy:
A new embassy building is planned for a site at Baridhara, Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is a 6
storied building which will house French and German embassy in Bangladesh. Proposed
structure is in RCC walls, exposed or with brick lining as per elevations. There is a central
rotunda supported by steel pipes and enclosed by ornamental steel sections. A panoramic lift
is planned to be located at this rotunda for vertical transportation.

Ground Floor of the building accommodates parking, service area, office, machine room etc.
Mezzanine floor is purposed for electro-mechanical equipments while 1st floor is dedicated for
office space, 2nd floor as main floor for diplomats, 3rd floor as floor for Ambassadors, and
4th floor as coding and network floor. There are 4 stairs in the building. 2 numbers of two
flight stairs are from Ground to Mezzanine floor whereas the other 2 numbers of four flight
stairs serve Ground floor to roof of 6th Floor. Gross build up area is approximately 7288 sqm.

02.
02. Structural Design Consideration:
a) Structural system
Proposed building is a reinforced cement concrete structure. Basic structural system
would be Building Frame System. Gravity load resisting system of the structure is
suggested preferably to be Flat Plate with edge beams supported on RCC walls while
lateral load resisting system is recommended to be RCC shear walls considering fully
braced system. Width of edge beams at flat plate slabs would preferably be same as
that of RCC wall supporting the slab.

b) Substructure
Geotechnical investigation report suggests shallow foundation at a depth of 1.5 m
from existing ground level (EGL). Strip footings, isolated footings and combined
footings are recommended for the structure.

c) Superstructure
Superstructure shall be framed structure comprising of flat plate with edge beams
supported on RCC walls. Ground floor would be slab on grade.
Floor heights: Ground Floor = 4225mm
Mezzanine Floor = 3825mm
1st Floor = 3800mm
2nd/3rd/4th Floor = 3600mm
1
 Page 02 of 04
Structural design concept paper- Franco German December 14, 2010

03.
03. Design Codes:
Design codes to be used are:
a) Bangladesh National Building Code – 2006 (BNBC-2006)
b) ACI 318-08
c) UBC 94
04.
04. Materials:
Material strengths will be typically as under:
a) Concrete:
Specified compressive strength at 28 days, Cylinder specimen, should be as follows:
Minimum Strength Structural Element
’
f c = 28 MPa Shear wall, beam, slab and other structural elements
f’c = 25 MPa Foundation

b) Reinforcing bars
Deformed bar reinforcement with minimum fy = 415 MPa conforming to the following
specifications.
i) BDS 1313:1991
ii) ASTM A615M
c) Structural Steel
i) Steel Pipes = A36 conforming to ASTM A 501
ii) Base plate, Column cap plate = ASTM Standard A36
05.
05. Design
Design loads:
a) Superimposed load
Floor Usages (kN/m2)
Load (kN/m
Ceiling Partition Floor Live Load Remarks
Finish (LL)
Mezzanine Electro-Mechanical LL as per BNBC 2006
0.30 0 1 7.5
Floor equipment
LL as specified but
Office Room 0 2.5 1 4 according to BNBC 2006,
LL= 3 kN/m2
LL as specified but
Network/Coding
0.30 2.5 1 4 according to BNBC 2006,
Room
st th LL= 3.5 kN/m2
1 –4
LL as specified but
Floor
File Room/ Archive 0 2.5 1 12 according to BNBC 2006,
LL=6 kN/m2
Corridor, staircase 0.30 0 1 4 LL as per BNBC 2006
LL as specified but
Sanitary Block 0 0 1 2.5 according to BNBC 2006,
LL= 2 kN/m2
Roof Open space 0 0 2.25 1.5 LL as per BNBC 200

2
 Page 03 of 04
Structural design concept paper- Franco German December 14, 2010
b) Lateral loads
i) Wind load (Based on Bangladesh National Building Code – 2006):
Basic Wind Speed, Vb = 210 km/h
Exposure Category = Exposure A
Structure Importance Coefficient, CI = 1.00
Use Gust Response Factor, Gh for Non-Slender buildings and Structures from
Table 6.2.11 of BNBC 1993.
Use Overall Pressure Coefficients, Cp for Rectangular Buildings with flat roofs from
Table 6.2.15 of BNBC 1993

ii) Seismic Load (Based on Bangladesh National Building Code – 2006):

Seismic Zone =2
Seismic zone coefficient, Z = 0.15
Structure Importance coefficient, I = 1.00
Numerical coefficient, C ≤ 2.75
Response modification coefficient, R =8
Total Seismic dead load, W = Total dead load including
Superimposed dead load,
25% of floor live load
in storage and warehouse
occupancies, total weight
of permanent equipment
Site Soil Type = S3
Site coefficient, S = 1.5
Numerical coefficient, Ct = 0.049 (BNBC 2006)
= 0.03 (UBC 94)
06.
06. Load combinations:
combinations:
Load combinations are as below:
Sl. No. Load combinations
01 1.4 DL
02 1.2 DL + 1.6 LL
03 0.9 DL ± 1.3 WX
04 0.9 DL ± 1.3 WY
05 0.9 DL ± 1.4 EQX
06 0.9 DL ± 1.4 EQY
07 0.9 DL ± 1.4 EQXPE
08 0.9 DL ± 1.4 EQYPE
09 0.9 DL ± 1.4 EQXNE
10 0.9 DL ± 1.4 EQYNE

3
 Page 04 of 04
Structural design concept paper- Franco German December 14, 2010

07.
07. Limitations
Limitations:
ations:
a) Deflection
Beams and Slabs = L/480
b) Drift
Global Drift = H/500
Storey Drift ≤ 0.04 h/R ≤ 0.005h (for structures having a
fundamental period of less than 0.7 second)

≤ 0.03 h/R ≤ 0.004h (for structures having a

fundamental period of 0.7 second or greater)

Where, h = height of the building

R = response modification coefficient for
structural systems
c) Torsion

1st Mode ≤ 5%
nd
2 Mode ≤ 10%
rd
3 Mode >10%

08.
08. Stability:
Stability of the structure shall be checked for non factored loads. Following safety factors shall
be applied to the design:
Overturning : 1.5
Sliding : 1.5
Uplift : 1.1