Received: 21 March 2020 Revised: 9 August 2020 Accepted: 25 August 2020

DOI: 10.1002/tal.1809

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Lateral stiffness and preliminary design methodology of

twisted diagrid tube structures

Sirui Song | Chonghou Zhang

Department of Civil Engineering, Tsinghua

University, Beijing, China
Correspondence
Chonghou Zhang, Department of Civil
Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing
100084, China.
Email: zhch@tsinghua.edu.cn
Summary
Twisted forms have been widely employed in high-rise buildings in recent years. The
diagrid structural system is particularly suitable for twisted buildings because of its
large lateral stiffness and unique architectural esthetics, but little research on twisted
diagrid tube structures is currently available. This paper studies the influence of diag-
onal angle, twist rate, aspect ratio, corner column, and plan form on the lateral stiff-
ness of twisted diagrids, and the optimal diagonal angle range is determined.
Considering the stiffness and strength criteria, the design methodology of diagonal
sizes of twisted diagrids is proposed, and the methodology is validated by finite ele-
ment analysis. In addition, this paper presents a novel configuration of twisted dia-
grid, that is, the twisted diagrid with asymmetric diagonal angles. The influence of the
left- and right-inclined diagonal angle on the lateral stiffness of twisted diagrids is
investigated. It is found that twisted diagrid structure with asymmetric diagonal
angles exhibits larger lateral stiffness than the symmetric case. The results in this
paper are useful for engineers to determine the configuration and diagonal sizes of
the twisted diagrid tube structures.

KEYWORDS

aspect ratio, asymmetric diagonal angle, design methodology, lateral stiffness, twist rate,
twisted diagrid

1 | I N T RO D UC TI O N

In recent years, a large number of high-rise buildings with complex architectural forms, especially twisted forms, have appeared as city landmarks.
Twisted forms are widely used in buildings for their unique architectural esthetics, such as the Turning Torso in Malmo (see Figure 1a) and the
Cayan Tower in Dubai (see Figure 1b). Diagrid structure is composed of inclined diagonals, whereas the vertical columns are eliminated. It resists
gravity loads as well as horizontal forces by the axial deformation of diagonals and therefore has large lateral stiffness.[1] In addition, the structural
arrangement of the diagrid system is particularly flexible, making it ideal for twisted buildings,[2] and the Canton Tower is a typical case (see
Figure 1c).
Regarding the structural performance of twisted diagrid tube structures, a few studies were initially conducted by Moon.[3,4] Moon[3,4] investi-
gated the effect of twist rate on the lateral stiffness of twisted diagrids and compared the lateral stiffness of twisted diagrids and twisted braced
tubes. He found that the lateral stiffness of twisted structure decreases with the increase of twist rate, and the stiffness reduction of the twisted
braced tubes is more pronounced than that of the twisted diagrids. In addition, he pointed out that the design of twisted structures should also
consider other factors such as construction. Kwon and Kim[5] studied the progressive collapse potential of twisted diagrid structures, and they
found that the collapse resisting capacity of diagrid structures increases as the twist rate increases. Yang et al.[6] investigated the influence of
material property, diagonal angle, and axial rotation angle on the sensitivity of twisted diagrids. They found that a diagonal angle of at least 67.4

Struct Design Tall Spec Build. 2020;e1809. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/tal © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 1 of 16
https://doi.org/10.1002/tal.1809
2 of 16 SONG AND ZHANG

FIGURE 1 Examples of twisted high-rise buildings

tends to reduce sensitivity with increasing rotation angle. However, their research was limited to 60-story twisted diagrid tube structures. The lat-
eral stiffness of twisted diagrid tube structures is related to many factors, such as diagonal angle, twist rate, and aspect ratio, but the current rele-
vant research only selects one or two factors to study. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive parametric analysis considering
geometric factors. Besides, this paper proposes a novel twisted diagrid tube structure with asymmetric diagonal angles, which shows larger lateral
stiffness than the traditional twisted diagrid.
Other studies focused on the design methodology of diagrid tube structures. Moon et al.[7] put forward a simple methodology for calculating
section sizes of diagonals based on lateral stiffness and investigated the optimal diagonal angles of diagrid structures. Zhang et al.[8] proposed a
preliminary design method that considers both strength and stiffness criteria for diagrid structures with gradually varying diagonal angles. Based
on previous research, Zhao and Zhang[9] presented diagrid structures with curved diagonals. Montuori et al.[10] compared the stiffness and
strength design methodology for diagrid structures. They found that the design of diagrid structures should be primarily based on strength criteria
when the diagonal angle is small and stiffness criteria when the diagonal angle is large. Liu and Ma[11] proposed a method for calculating lateral
stiffness of diagrids of arbitrary polygonal plane, and the cross-section of diagonals were determined based on stiffness. Angelucci and
Mollaioli[12] examined Moon's stiffness-based methodology; they found that the methodology was effective in determining the optimal
section size only for the diagonal angle range of 60
–70
. The abovementioned design methods are all for diagrid structures, and there is currently
no design method for twisted diagrid structures.
In this paper, the effects of diagonal angle, twist rate, aspect ratio, corner column, and plan form on the lateral stiffness of twisted diagrid tube
structures are studied. Based on the stiffness and strength criteria, the design methodology for calculating the diagonal sizes of twisted diagrid
structures is presented. And the design methodology is verified by finite element analysis. In addition, this paper presents a novel configuration of
the exterior diagrid tube, that is, the twisted diagrid structure with asymmetric diagonal angles, which exhibits larger lateral stiffness. And the
influence of the left- and right-inclined diagonal angle on lateral stiffness of twisted diagrids with asymmetric diagonal angles is investigated.

2 | P R OTO TY P E OF TWI S TE D D I A GR I D TU BE STR U CTU R ES

The diagonal angle has the foremost influence on the architectural form and the structural behavior of diagrid tube structures. For twisted diagrid
tube structures, each floor rotates counterclockwise gradually at the twist rate ω, as shown in Figure 2. Therefore, for the configuration of twisted
diagrids, both the twist rate and the diagonal angle need to be considered. Obviously, the diagonal angle of diagrid structures will change after
rotation. It should be noted that in previous studies and this paper, the diagonal angle refers to the straight diagrids.
SONG AND ZHANG 3 of 16

F I G U R E 2 Configuration of twisted
diagrid tube structures

FIGURE 3 Plan of the twisted diagrid

model

The structural plan in this investigation is square, and the story height is 3.6 m. Same to Zhao and Zhang,[9] the exterior diagrid tube plan is
30 × 30 m with a bay length of 10 m, and the inner frame plan is 15 × 15 m, as illustrated in Figure 3. The exterior diagrid tube rotates, whereas
the inner frame remains constant along the height of the building. The floor uniform dead and live loads are 2 and 3 kN/m2, respectively. The floor
slabs of structures are 120-mm C30 concrete. All the diagonals, beams, and columns are made of Q345 steel, and the material properties are listed
in Table 1.[13] The earthquake and wind loads acting on structures are determined by Chinese codes.[14,15] For earthquake loads, all the buildings
are assumed to be in a seismic intensity Degree-8 region with Characteristic Period of 0.35 s, and the max influence factor is 0.16. These parame-
ters are determined according to the location of the building, and the seismic design response spectrum is determined based on these parameters.
The parameters in this paper indicate that the buildings are located in a high seismic intensity area.[14] For wind loads, the basic wind pressure is
assumed to be 0.45 kN/m2 in a ground roughness Category C region (an urban area with dense buildings).[15]

3 | P A R A M E T R I C A NA L Y S I S

In this chapter, four important geometrical factors (diagonal angle, twist rate, aspect ratio, and plan form) are considered for comprehensive parametric
analysis. A series of twisted diagrid models are designed and evaluated by finite element analysis to study the effects of these factors on lateral stiffness.

T A B L E 1 Main material properties of

Thickness (mm) Yield strength (MPa) Poisson ratio Elastic modulus (GPa)
Q345 steel[13]
≤16 345 0.3 206
>16, ≤40 335
>40, ≤63 325
>63, ≤80 315
4 of 16 SONG AND ZHANG

FIGURE 4 Elevation of 60-story models (ω = 0
/floor)

3.1 | Diagonal angle and twist rate

Diagonal angle and twist rate have a significant effect on lateral stiffness of twisted diagrid tube structures. Moon et al.[7] pointed out that the
bending stiffness of the diagrid structure is the largest when the angle of the column is 90
, whereas the shear stiffness of the structure is the
largest when the diagonal angle is about 35
. The optimal diagonal angle range of the actual diagrid structure is between 35
and 90
, determined
by finite element analysis of diagrids with different diagonal angles.[7] A series of 60-story twisted diagrid models with different diagonal angles θd
(36
, 55
, 65
, 71
, 77
) and twist rates ω (0
/floor, 1
/floor, 2
/floor, 3
/floor) are designed and evaluated by ETABS. Figure 4 illustrates the ele-
vation of the structures when the twist rate ω = 0
/floor. In general, the lateral stiffness of diagrids is mainly provided by the exterior diagrid.[7]
Therefore, the member size of diagonals has a great influence on the lateral stiffness, whereas the size of beams and inner columns has little influ-
ence. It is assumed that the member sizes of beams and inner columns are the same in all models, and each model had the same diagonal size from
the bottom to the top.[16] The diagonal members are made of Q345 steel pipes. As to the diagonal sizes, the straight diagrid structure with a diag-
onal angle of 36
is designed first. Then the diagonal sizes of straight diagrid structures with other diagonal angles (55
, 65
, 71
, 77
) are deter-
mined according to the principle of approximately equal material amount.[16] For the sake of comparing lateral stiffness, twisted structures adopt
the same diagonal sizes as straight diagrids,[3] and member sizes of all models are examined for strength. The member sizes of the 60-story
twisted diagrid models are listed in Table 2. Three-dimensional structures are modeled in ETABS for linear analysis, in which, the diagonals, beams,
and columns are modeled as frame elements, and the floor slabs are modeled as membrane elements. The top lateral displacement of the struc-
ture under seismic and wind loads is obtained by finite element method (FEM) analysis using ETABS.
Figure 5 shows the top lateral displacement of all structures, which reveals that the lateral stiffness of twisted diagrids decreases as the twist
rate ω increases from 0
/floor to 3
/floor. It is found that when the diagonal angle is less than 55
, the stiffness reduction due to twist is not sig-
nificant. In addition, it can be observed that the optimal diagonal angle decreases as the twist rate ω increases. Specifically, the optimal diagonal
angle range is 65
to 77
when the twist rate is 0
/floor, 55
to 71
when the twist rate is 1
/floor and 2
/floor, and 55
to 65
when the twist
rate is 3
/floor. Compared with the straight diagrid structure, the shear stiffness of the twisted diagrid decreases significantly after the diagrid

TABLE 2 Member sizes of the 60-story twisted diagrid models

Diagonal angles Diagonals Ring beams Inner beams Inner columns

36 Φ900 × 36 H400 × 250 × 10 × 18 H600 × 300 × 14 × 22 Φ900 × 70
55
Φ900 × 52
65
Φ900 × 57
71
Φ900 × 60


77 Φ900 × 62
SONG AND ZHANG 5 of 16

FIGURE 5 Top displacement of 60-story models

FIGURE 6 Top torsional rotations of 60-story models

FIGURE 7 A module of diagrid with corner columns

structure is twisted. Therefore, the optimal diagonal angle range of the twisted diagrid is shifted downward as the twist rate ω increases from 1
/
floor to 3
/floor.
The torsional stiffness of diagrids is dominated by the shear stiffness,[17] which becomes largest when the diagonal angle is about 35
.[7] For
twisted diagrid structures, torsional deformation will occur under lateral loads. Therefore, it is necessary to study the effect of twist rate and diag-
onal angle on the torsional deformation of twisted diagrids. Figure 6 shows the top torsional rotations of the 60-story twisted diagrids, and it can
be found that the torsional stiffness of twisted diagrids decreases as the twist rate ω increases from 1
/floor to 3
/floor. In addition, the torsional
stiffness of twisted diagrids decreases as the diagonal angle increases. This is because the shear stiffness of twisted diagrids decreases as the diag-
onal angle increases from 36
to 77
.
For twisted buildings, corner columns may affect lateral stiffness. Figure 7 depicts a module of diagrid with corner columns. Corner columns
are added to the aforementioned 60-story twisted models to investigate their effect on lateral stiffness, and the sizes of corner columns are the
same as diagonals. Figure 8 compares the top displacement of 60-story twisted models with and without corner columns. The results illustrate
that the lateral stiffness of structures with corner columns is larger, whereas the effect of corner columns on stiffness is not significant for the
diagonal angle greater than 55
. For twisted diagrids with corner columns, the optimal diagonal angle range is 55
to 71
when the twist rate is
6 of 16 SONG AND ZHANG

FIGURE 8 Comparison of the top displacement of 60-story twisted models with and without corner columns

1
/floor, and 55
to 65
when the twist rate is 2
/floor and 3
/floor. It can be noticed that the optimal diagonal angles for twisted diagrids with
corner columns are almost the same as those without corner columns, which implies that corner columns are not structurally essential.

3.2 | Aspect ratio

In general, structures with a small aspect ratio are mainly dominated by shear deflection, whereas structures with a large aspect ratio are governed
by bending deflection.[8] In order to study the effect of the aspect ratio on the lateral stiffness of the twisted diagrids, a series of 42- and 24-story
models are established in the same way as the 60-story models described above. The aspect ratio of the 60-, 42- and 24-story model is 7.2, 5.04,
and 2.88, respectively. The member sizes of the 42- and 24-story twisted diagrid models are listed in Tables 3 and 4, respectively.
The mechanical properties of structures with a large aspect ratio are similar to bending beams, whereas those with a small aspect ratio are
similar to shear beams.[7] Figures 9 and 10 show the top displacements of the 42- and 24-story models, respectively. It can be noticed that for
structures with different aspect ratios, the stiffness reduction due to twist is not significant when the diagonal angle is less than 55
. In the case
of the same twist rate, the smaller the aspect ratio, the greater the stiffness reduction compared with straight diagrids. Besides, the optimal diago-
nal angle of twisted diagrids decreases with the decrease of aspect ratio. This is because the influence of shear stiffness increases with the
decrease of aspect ratio. For 42-story structures, the optimal diagonal angle range is 65
to 75
when the twist rate is 0
/floor, 55
to 71
when
the twist rate is 1
/floor and 2
/floor, and 50
to 65
when the twist rate is 3
/floor. For 24-story structures, the optimal diagonal angle range is
55
to 71
when the twist rate is 0
/floor, and 55
to 65
when the twist rate is 1
/floor to 3
/floor.

TABLE 3 Member sizes of the 42-story twisted diagrid models

Diagonal angles Diagonals Ring beams Inner beams Inner columns

36 Φ700 × 28 H400 × 250 × 10 × 18 H600 × 300 × 14 × 22 Φ900 × 45
55
Φ700 × 40
65
Φ700 × 45
71
Φ700 × 47


77 Φ700 × 48

TABLE 4 Member sizes of the 24-story twisted diagrid models

Diagonal angles Diagonals Ring beams Inner beams Inner columns

36 Φ500 × 20 H400 × 250 × 10 × 18 H600 × 300 × 14 × 22 Φ700 × 32
55
Φ500 × 29
65
Φ500 × 32
71
Φ500 × 33


77 Φ500 × 34
SONG AND ZHANG 7 of 16

FIGURE 9 Top displacement of 42-story models

FIGURE 10 Top displacement of 24-story models

3.3 | Plane form

In order to investigate the influence of plan forms, 60-story twisted diagrid models (the twist rate ω = 1
/floor, 2
/floor, 3
/floor) with hexagonal
and dodecagonal plans are established respectively. Figure 11 depicts the configuration of structures with different plans. The plan area and the
material usage of different models are similar. The diagonal angles of the twisted square, hexagonal, and dodecagonal structures are 65
, 67
, and
67
, respectively, which are also approximately equal. Figure 12 shows the top displacement of 60-story twisted structures with different plans
and different twist rates. It is found that the lateral stiffness of twisted diagrid with different plans decreases as the twist rate increases. Besides,
it can be observed that the lateral stiffness of twisted diagrids increases with the number of plan sides, though the influence of the plan form on
stiffness is not significant. When the number of plan sides increases, the corners of the structure turn more smoothly, and the load transfer path
becomes more continuous and direct. Therefore, the closer the plan form is to a circle, the greater the lateral stiffness of the twisted diagrids.

FIGURE 11 Sixty-story structures (the twist rate ω = 1
/floor) with different plans
8 of 16 SONG AND ZHANG

FIGURE 12 Top displacement of 60-story twisted diagrid tube

structures

FIGURE 13 Two parts of twisted diagrid

structures

3.4 | Stiffness distribution

Generally, the lateral stiffness of diagrid structures is mainly provided by the exterior diagrids.[7] To investigate the stiffness distribution of twisted
diagrids, each 60-story model in Section 3.1 is divided into two parts: the exterior diagrid and the inner frame, as shown in Figure 13. Then each
part is applied with the same wind load as in Section 3.1, and the relative stiffness of twisted diagrids is obtained by the top displacement of each
part.[7] Figure 14 shows the relative stiffness of the exterior diagrid and the inner frame. It can be observed that the stiffness of the exterior dia-
grid within the optimal diagonal angle range is five to eight times that of the inner frame. Therefore, the lateral stiffness of twisted diagrids is
mainly provided by the exterior diagrid, and the influence of the inner frame can be ignored.

4 | P R E L I M I N A R Y D E S I G N M E T H O D O L O G Y O F T WI S T ED D I A G RI DS

4.1 | Preliminary design methodology

The lateral stiffness of diagrid structures is mainly provided by the diagonals. Therefore, engineers focus on the determination of the diagonal
sizes of diagrids in the preliminary design. Although there are many design methods for calculating the diagonal sizes of diagrids, there is currently
no design method for twisted diagrids. In this section, the design methodology of straight diagrids proposed by Zhang et al.[8,9] is extended to the
design of twisted diagrid structures.
The twisted building is divided into a series of modules along the height direction and numbered from 1 to n from the bottom to the top,
where n is the total number of modules. Figure 15a depicts a typical m-story module, where m = 6 as an example. Within each module, each floor
rotates gradually at the twist rate ω. Figure 15b illustrates the calculation model of the twisted diagrid module in Figure 15a. It is supposed that
the floor is rigid, and the module resists gravity and lateral loads through the axial deformation of diagonals. In addition, the calculation model
SONG AND ZHANG 9 of 16

FIGURE 14 Relative stiffness of the exterior diagrid and the inner

frame

F I G U R E 1 5 Schematic diagram of the

twisted diagrid module

assumes that there is no relative rotation between floors inside the module, and the rotation angle of the module is the average value of each
floor. The rotation angle of the ith module is

ϕi = ði −1=2Þmω ð1Þ

where m is the number of floors within a module.

Assume that the diagonals in the ith module have the same cross-sectional area Ai. As illustrated in Figure 16a, Zhang et al.[8,9] derived the
strain of the diagonal due to gravity loads as follows:

P
n
Gdj
ΔGi sinθd ΔGi j=i
εGk = h
= sin2 θd = ð2Þ
sinθd
h NAi Esinθd

where ΔGi is the vertical deformation of the ith module caused by gravity load, h is the height of the module, θd is the diagonal angle, Gdj is the
gravity load on diagonals in the jth module, N is the number of diagonals in the module, and E is the elastic modulus of diagonals.
The shear deformation of the ith module ΔVi is decomposed into two directions. The deformation in the direction parallel to the facade ABFE
(or CDHG) is ΔVi cosϕi , and the deformation in the direction parallel to the facade BCGF (or DAEH) is ΔVi sinϕi .
As shown in Figure 16b, the strain and axial force of the diagonals in the ith module due to shear in the facade ABFE (or CDHG) are

ΔVi cosϕi cosθd ΔVi

εV1 = h
= cosϕi sinθd cosθd = γ i cosϕi sinθd cosθd ð3Þ
sinθd
h

F V1 = Ai EεV1,i = Ai Eγ i cosϕi sinθd cosθd ð4Þ

Similarly, the strain and axial force of the diagonals due to shear in the facade BCGF (or DAEH) are

ΔVi sinϕi cosθd ΔVi

εV2 = h
= sinϕi sinθd cosθd = γ i sinϕi sinθd cosθd ð5Þ
sinθd
h
10 of 16 SONG AND ZHANG

FIGURE 16 Deformation of the ith

module[8]

FV2 = Ai EεV2 = Ai Eγ i sinϕi sinθd cosθd ð6Þ

where γ i is the shear strain of the ith module.

Considering the force equilibrium, the shear of the ith module is

V i = ðF V1 cosϕi + FV2 sinϕi ÞðN=2Þcosθd = NAi Eγ i sinθd cos2 θd =2 ð7Þ

As illustrated in Figure 16c, the strain and axial force of the diagonals due to overturn moment are

ΔM
i,k sinθ d sin2 θd M
εMk = h
= Δi,k ð8Þ
sinθd
h

EAsin2 θd M
F Mk = EAi εMk = Δi,k ð9Þ
h

where εMk is the axial strain of the kth diagonal due to overturn moment, ΔM
i,k is the vertical deformation of the kth diagonal in the ith module due
to overturn moment, and FMk is the axial force of the kth diagonal due to overturn moment.
The diagrid module resists overturn moment by the axial force of diagonals, as shown in Figure 17. Liu et al.[11] derived the overturn moment
of each diagonal as follows:

EAi sin3 θd ΔM EAi sin3 θd 2

Mk = F Mk sinθd Bk = Bk i,k Bk = Bk Δβi = EAi χ i sin3 θd B2k ð10Þ
h Bk h

FIGURE 17 The ith module under overturn moment

SONG AND ZHANG 11 of 16

where Mk is the overturn-resisting moment of the kth diagonal, Bk is the distance from the neutral axis to the kth diagonals, and Δβi and χ i are
respectively the ith module rotation and curvature due to the overall overturn moment.
Then the overall overturn moment of the ith module is

X
N X
N
Mi = Mk = EAi χ i sin3 θd B2k ð11Þ
k=1 k=1

According to Equations 7 and 11,

χi NMi cos2 θd
= ð12Þ
γi P
N
2V i sin2 θd B2k
k=1

Lateral displacement at the ith module is calculated by the following formula:

X
i X
i  
uðHi Þ = γj h + χ j h Hi −Hj− 1 ð13Þ
j=1 j=1

where Hi is the height from the top of the ith module to the bottom of the whole structure, and let H0 = 0.
The ith module drift can be expressed as

Δui uðHi Þ−uðHi− 1 Þ X

i− 1
= = γi + χi h + χ j h ≤ α and γ i ≤ β ð14Þ
h h j=1

where the values of α and β are determined by building codes, such as α = 1/500 and β = 1/800 in the previous study.[8] The values of γ i and χ i
can be solved sequentially from the bottom to the top of the building by Equations 12 and 14.
From Equations 7 and 11, we have

2V i Mi
Ai = or Ai = ð15Þ
NEγ i sinθd cos2 θd 3 P
N
Eχ i sin θd B2k
k=1

The above equation is based on the simplified model shown in Figure 15. In order to meet the requirements of stiffness and strength, the diagonal
sizes obtained by the aforementioned stiffness-based method also need to be examined for strength under gravity and horizontal loads. After cal-
culating the diagonal size Ai in the ith module, εGk, εV1, εV2, and εMk can be obtained through Equations 2, 3, 5, and 8, respectively. Then the maxi-
mum stress of the diagonals is

σ i = EmaxðεGk + εV1 + εMk , εGk + εV2 + εMk Þ ≤ ½σ  ð16Þ

where [σ] is the allowable stress of the diagonals. Considering the buckling of diagonals and the deviations of steel strength, the allowable stress
is assumed as 0.6 of the material yield strength.[8]
If σ i is greater than [σ], it means that the section size of the diagonals does not meet the strength requirement, and the section size is modified
as

σi
ðAi Þnew = Ai ð17Þ
½σ 

4.2 | Case study

This paper presents a preliminary design methodology for twisted diagrid structures that takes into account strength and stiffness criteria. In order to
validate this method, the 60- and 42-story twisted diagrid structures with the diagonal angle θd = 65
and the twist rate ω = 1
in Section 3 are
designed accordingly. Each module includes six floors, and the diagonals in each module have the same cross-sectional area. The diagonal sizes of the
12 of 16 SONG AND ZHANG

T A B L E 5 Diagonal sizes of the

Story Diagonal sizes Story Diagonal sizes
60-story twisted diagrid structure
1–6 Φ1800 × 60 31–36 Φ1120 × 45 (θd = 65
, ω = 1
)
7–12 Φ1680 × 60 37–42 Φ1100 × 40
13–18 Φ1650 × 55 43–48 Φ1050 × 40
19–24 Φ1600 × 50 49–54 Φ1050 × 40
25–30 Φ1560 × 45 55–60 Φ850 × 35

T A B L E 6 Diagonal sizes of the

Story Diagonal sizes Story Diagonal sizes
42-story twisted diagrid structure
1–6 Φ1200 × 45 25–30 Φ760 × 32 (θd = 65
, ω = 1
)
7–12 Φ1050 × 40 31–36 Φ760 × 32
13–18 Φ920 × 35 37–42 Φ680 × 30
19–24 Φ820 × 32

60- and 42-story twisted diagrids are listed in Tables 5 and 6, respectively. The sizes of ring beams, inner beams, and columns of the 60- and 42-story
twisted diagrids are the same as those in Tables 2 and 3, respectively. The modeling of twisted diagrids in ETABS follows the same procedure in Sec-
tion 3. For the designed structure, the drift limit is 1/500. The diagonals are made of Q345 steel pipes, and the material yield strength is listed in
Table 1.[13] Figure 18 shows the drift of the designed structure obtained by ETABS, and it can be found that the drift does not exceed the limit of
1/500. The maximum stress of each module of the 60- and 42-story twisted diagrids is listed in Tables 7 and 8, respectively. When the drift limit is
taken as 1/500, the diagonal sizes are mainly determined by the stiffness criterion, and it can be observed that the diagonal sizes meet the design
requirements. The design results are examined by ETABS and found to be suitable, which illustrates the applicability of the design methodology.
Assuming that the 60- and 42-story twisted diagrids are subjected to a lateral force of 100 kN per floor, the displacement results of the sim-
plified method and the finite element analysis are compared, as shown in Figure 19. The lateral forces are all in the same direction in ETABS, and
it can be observed that the lateral displacement curve of the simplified method is close to that of ETABS.
The preliminary design methodology in this chapter can help engineers estimate the cross-sectional sizes of diagonals. It should be pointed
out that the final diagonal sizes of twisted diagrids need to be determined by other more accurate methods such as the FEM.

5 | TWI STED D IAGRID TUBE STRU CTURES W I T H A S Y M M E T R I C D I A G O N A L A N G L E S

5.1 | Geometric configuration

The current diagrid tube structure generally adopts the configuration in which the left-inclined diagonal angle θ1 is equal to the right-inclined
angle θ2, as shown in Figure 20a. For twisted diagrid tube structures, each floor rotates counterclockwise gradually at the twist rate ω, and the

F I G U R E 1 8 The drifts of the 60- and

42-story twisted diagrid structures
SONG AND ZHANG 13 of 16

T A B L E 7 The stress of the 60-story

Story Maximum stress (MPa) Story Maximum stress (MPa)
twisted diagrid structure
(θd = 65
, ω = 1
) 1–6 138.30 31–36 121.98
7–12 128.26 37–42 108.73
13–18 118.22 43–48 81.20
19–24 113.00 49–54 60.06
25–30 105.69 55–60 45.54

T A B L E 8 The stress of the 42-story

Story Maximum stress (MPa) Story Maximum stress (MPa)
twisted diagrid structure
(θd = 65
, ω = 1
) 1–6 143.88 25–30 126.63
7–12 146.91 31–36 84.43
13–18 156.44 37–42 57.61
19–24 154.16

diagonal angle changes correspondingly. After the diagrid structure is twisted, the left-inclined diagonal angle θ1 decreases and the right-inclined
angle θ2 increases. Table 9 lists the actual diagonal angles after the diagrid tube is twisted. Herein, the twisted diagrid tube structure with asym-
metric diagonal angles (θ1 ≠ θ2) is introduced. The configuration of the exterior diagrid tube is determined by diagonal angles θ1 and θ2, as shown
in Figure 20b. Likewise, the diagonal angles θ1 and θ2 have an important influence on the lateral stiffness of the twisted diagrid building.

F I G U R E 1 9 Lateral displacements of the 60-

and 42-story twisted diagrid structures

FIGURE 20 Schematic of diagrid tube structures

14 of 16 SONG AND ZHANG

T A B L E 9 The actual diagonal angles

ω = 0
/floor ω = 1
/floor ω = 2
/floor ω = 3
/floor
after the diagrid is twisted
θ1 65 62 58 55
71 67 63 59
77 73 68 64
θ2 36 37 39 40
55 58 61 63
65 68 71 72
71 74 76 76

5.2 | Lateral stiffness

In order to study the effect of the left- and right-inclined diagonal angles on the lateral stiffness of twisted diagrids, a series of models with various
θ1–θ2 combinations are established. It should be noted that the diagonal angles refer to the straight diagrid structures (ω = 0
/floor). The values of
θ1 and θ2 are within the optimal diagonal angle range presented in Section 3.1. For 60-story twisted diagrid models with the twist rate ω = 1
/
floor, the left-inclined diagonal angle θ1 = 65
, 71
, 77
, and the right-inclined angle θ2 = 55
, 65
, 71
. For 60-story twisted diagrids with the twist
rate of 2
/floor and 3
/floor, the left-inclined angle θ1 = 65
, 71
, 77
, and the right-inclined angle θ2 = 36
, 55
, 65
. The design of 60-story
twisted diagrid structures with asymmetric diagonal angles follows the same process as in Section 3.1.
Figure 21 shows the top lateral displacement of 60-story twisted diagrids with asymmetric diagonal angles. It can be observed that the opti-
mal θ1–θ2 combinations when the twist rate ω = 1
/floor, 2
/floor, 3
/floor are 77
–65
, 77
–55
, 77
–55
, respectively. Comparing Figures 5

FIGURE 21 Top displacement of 60-story twisted diagrids with asymmetric diagonal angles

FIGURE 22 Comparison of the top displacement of 60-story models (θ1 = 77
) with and without corner columns
SONG AND ZHANG 15 of 16

FIGURE 23 Top displacement of 42-story twisted diagrids with asymmetric diagonal angles

and 21, it is found that when the left-inclined diagonal angle θ1 is greater than the right-inclined angle θ2, the lateral stiffness of twisted diagrids
with asymmetric angle is always larger than that of the structures with symmetrical angle. This is because the diagonal angle θ1 decreases and θ2
increases after the structure is twisted, for example, the diagonal angle θ1 of the above model reduces from 77
to 73
, whereas θ2 rises from 65

to 68
for the twist rate ω = 1
/floor. Consequently, after diagrid structures are twisted, θ1 and θ2 become closer to each other for the original
structure with θ1 > θ2; however, for the original structure with θ1 = θ2, θ1 gets much smaller than θ2, which is unfavorable to the lateral stiffness
of twisted diagrids. Therefore, for twisted diagrid tube structures, it is recommended that the left-inclined diagonal angle θ1 be greater than the
right-inclined angle θ2.
Corner columns are added to the above-mentioned 60-story models with the left-inclined diagonal angle θ1 = 77
to study their effect on
twisted diagrids with asymmetric diagonal angles. Figure 22 compares the top displacement of 60-story models (θ1 = 77
) with and without corner
columns. It can be observed that structures with corner columns exhibit larger lateral stiffness, whereas the effect of corner columns on stiffness
is not significant.
Forty-two-story twisted diagrid models are established in the same procedure as the 60-story models described above. Figure 23 presents
the top lateral displacement of 42-story twisted diagrids with asymmetric diagonal angles, which reveals that the optimal θ1–θ2 combinations
when the twist rate ω = 1
/floor, 2
/floor, 3
/floor are 77
–65
, 77
–55
, 77
–55
, respectively. Comparing Figures 9 and 23, it can be observed
that, when θ1 is greater than θ2, the lateral stiffness of twisted diagrid structures with asymmetric angles keeps larger than that of the structures
with symmetrical angles.
Twisted diagrid tube structures with asymmetric diagonal angles exhibit significant lateral stiffness and provide a new configuration for
twisted buildings. For the preliminary design, this paper recommends that the left-inclined diagonal angle θ1 is greater than the right-inclined angle
θ2. In addition, the determination of diagonal angles θ1 and θ2 also needs to consider factors related to architecture and constructability.

6 | CO NC LUSIO NS

This study investigates the influence of diagonal angle, twist rate, aspect ratio, and plan form on the lateral stiffness of twisted diagrid tube struc-
tures. It is found that the lateral stiffness of twisted diagrids decreases as the twist rate increases. Besides, the optimal diagonal angle range is
determined. For 60-story twisted diagrids with aspect ratio of 7, the optimal diagonal angle ranges from 55
to 71
when the twist rate is 1
/floor.
For 24-story twisted diagrids with aspect ratio of 2.88, the optimal diagonal angle lies in a lower range. Furthermore, corner columns can increase
the lateral stiffness of twisted diagrids, but the effect is not significant when the diagonal angle is greater than 55
. The lateral stiffness of twisted
diagrids increases with the number of plan sides, yet the influence of the plan form on stiffness is not obvious. In addition, the torsional deforma-
tion of twisted diagrids increases as the diagonal angle increases.
Based on the stiffness and strength criteria, the preliminary design methodology for calculating the diagonal sizes of twisted diagrids is
proposed. The methodology is used to design the 60- and 42-story twisted diagrid buildings, and the design results are checked by finite element
analysis to validate this method.
This paper also presents an innovative geometric configuration of twisted diagrid, that is, the twisted diagrid structure with asymmetric
diagonal angles. The influence of the left- and right-inclined diagonal angles on lateral stiffness of twisted diagrids is studied. It is found that
twisted diagrid structure with asymmetric diagonal angles shows larger lateral stiffness than the symmetric case. In addition, it is recommended
that the left-inclined diagonal angle be greater than the right-inclined angle for counterclockwise twisted diagrid structures.
16 of 16 SONG AND ZHANG

ORCID
Sirui Song https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8448-238X

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How to cite this article: Song S, Zhang C. Lateral stiffness and preliminary design methodology of twisted diagrid tube structures. Struct
Design Tall Spec Build. 2020;e1809. https://doi.org/10.1002/tal.1809