3.

Comparing lateral drift between model A and model B

Model A and model B are two different structural systems where model A is a rigid frame
system while model B is a wall-frame system. Model B has the exact same structure as model
A but added shear wall to reduce the lateral drift resulting from wind horizontal load. The
table below illustrates the maximum lateral drift difference between model A and model B.

Maximum lateral drift

(mm)
59.81
22.79

Model
A
B

Table 3.1.1 : Maximum lateral drift of model A and model B

From the table above shows that model A has maximum lateral drift of 59.81mm and model
B has maximum lateral drift 22.79mm. The lateral drift of model A is much more higher
compared to model B which is 66 percent difference. The shear wall added in model B serves
the purpose to resists horizontal load. The figure below illustrates the lateral drift for all the
floors of model A and model B.

Model A and Model B Lateral Drift

70
60
50
Lateral Drift (mm)

40

Model A

30

Model B

20
10
0
0

Floor

Figure 3.1.1: Lateral drift for every floor

From the figure above, the lateral drift for model A is much higher for all the floors compared
to model B. The lateral drift is highest at the highest floor of the model. The lateral drift
difference between model A and model B gradually increase as the number of floor increases.
Therefore, the higher the model the larger is the lateral drift. The figure below shows the
lateral drift of model A and model B at scale 200.

Model A

Model B

Figure 3.1.2: Lateral drift of model A and model B

3.1.1

Reducing lateral drift of model A

The lateral drift of model A is about more than twice of the lateral drift of model B. The large
difference is due to model B has shear wall which reduces the lateral drift significantly. To
reduce the lateral drift of model A, there are two properties which can be modified which are
moment of inertia of section and modulus of elasticity of the sections.

3.1.1.1

Moment of inertia

The first method to reduce lateral drift is to increase the moment of inertia of certain
members of the model. For this case, all columns have been increase to a size of 750 mm x
450 mm. Next member to be modified is 200mm x 600mm beam to 250mm x 750mm for all
floors. increasing the size of the columns affects the results drastically to resists lateral loads.
The reason to increase the size of member 200mm x 600mm is due to the position of the
beam which lies in the critical direction of the wind. The position of beam 200mm x 600mm
is highlighted as shown in the figure below.

Figure 3.1.3: Location of beam section 200x600

After modifying the beams and columns as mentioned previously, the lateral drift has been
significantly reduced to almost similar to lateral drift of model B. The maximum lateral drift
of model A has been reduced to 21.18mm. The percentage difference of lateral drift now is
7.6 percent compared to model B. The table below illustrates the summary of difference of
maximum lateral drift between model A after modification and model B.

Model
A
B

Maximum lateral drift (mm)

21.18
22.79

Table 3.1.2: Maximum lateral drift of model A and model B

Theoretically, by increasing the moment of inertia of a section, the deflection about its axis
will be reduced. The formula to calculate the moment of inertia of a section is as shown
below:
Moment of Inertia, I =

b h3
12

From the formula above, the moment of inertia of a section can be significantly increase by
increasing the height of the section. As to apply this principal to the model, major
modification of the height of section will significantly affect the deflection of the member.
The figure below shows the difference of lateral drift between model A after modification and
model B for every floors.

Model A and Model B Lateral Drift

25.00
20.00
Lateral Drift (mm)

15.00

Model A

10.00

Model B

5.00
0.00
0

Floor

Figure 3.1.4: Lateral Drift of every floor

From the Figure shown, the gap of lateral drift between model A and model B has been
significantly reduced. However, the lateral drift of the lower floors of model A are still higher
compared to model B. The maximum lateral drift of model A which is at the highest floor is
lower compared to model B. Figure below shows the comparison of lateral drift of model A
and model B after modification at scale of 200.

Model A

Model B

Figure 3.1.5: Lateral drift of model A and model B

From the figure shown above, the overall structure of model B is more rigid compared to
model A. Model B sway lesser compared to model A although the maximum lateral drift is
lesser compared to model B. Table below summaries the moment of inertia of the section
before and after modification of section.

Column section (mm)

450 x 450
450 x 750

Moment of inertia (mm4)

3.42 x 109
15.8 x 109

Table 3.1.3: Moment of inertia of column section

Beam section (mm)

200 x 600
250 x 750

Moment of inertia (mm4)

3.60 x 109
8.79 x 109

Table 3.1.4: Moment of inertia of beam section

3.1.1.2

Modulus of Elasticity

The next parameter to be modified is the modulus of elasticity of the material used in the
model. In sap 2000, the modulus of elasticity of the material can alter by changing the
concrete grade. Table below shows the modulus of elasticity of concrete at different grades
available in sap 2000.

Concrete grade, fcu

(N/mm2)
40
50
60
70
80
90

Modulus of Elasticity, E
(kN/mm2)
35
37
39
41
42
44

Table 3.1.5: Modulus of elasticity of different concrete grade

Theoretically, the deformation of the model will be decrease when the modulus of elasticity
increased. Higher modulus of elasticity requires more load to create large deformation. Table
below compares the maximum lateral drift at different modulus of elasticity for model A for
all members.

Modulus of Elasticity, E
(kN/mm2)
35
37
39
41
42
44

Maximum lateral drift

(mm)
59.81
53.82
51.36
49.12
48.07
46.11

Table 3.1.6: Maximum lateral drift at different modulus of elasticity

For this case of changing the modulus of elasticity, from the table above the elastic modulus
of concrete does not affect the maximum lateral drift so much. Even at the highest concrete
grade, the gap of maximum lateral drift between model A and model B does not close.
Therefore, the moment of inertia of section of model A has to be modified as well to get a
maximum lateral drift almost similar to model B.
To further reduce the maximum lateral of model A while increasing the modulus of elasticity
column and beam, the size of the column has to be increased as well to increase the moment
of inertia of the section. For this case, the column size will be increased to 450mm x 750mm.
The modulus of elasticity of 44kN/mm2 will be assign to all column and all beam section
200mm x 600mm. The comparison of modified model A with model B of maximum lateral
drift is summaries in the table below.

Model
A
B

Maximum lateral drift (mm)

27.63
22.79

Table 3.1.7: Maximum lateral drift of model A and model B

Figure below illustrates the lateral drift of every floor for model A and model B. From the
Figure below, the gap between model A and model B has also been reduced significantly.

30.00
25.00
20.00
Lateral Drift (mm)

15.00
Model A

10.00

Model B

5.00
0.00
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Floor

Figure 3.1.6: Lateral drift of every floor

Figure below compares the lateral drift between model A after modification and model B at
critical section. The lateral drift of model A is still larger compared to model B after
modification of model A at scale 200. The shear wall of model B significantly reduces the
lateral drift which resists lateral loads.

Model A

Model B

Figure 3.1.7: Lateral drift of model A and model B