0.

Overview

The Shanghai Tower, located in one of the most important economical areas of Shanghai is without
a doubt an iconic structure. Standing at 632 meters tall, it is currently the second tallest building after the
Burj Khalifa. It posed a numerous challenges to architects and engineers, as it, as every mega-structure, is
unique for its architectural design, engineering methods, but also for the economic and cultural impact.
That is why it is worth studying and understanding how the whole process of conception and construction
went through. In the upcoming chapters, some main technical points shall be covered and discussed.

Fig. 01 http://skyrisecities.com/news/2016/01/ctbuh-marks-shanghai-tower-completion

The picture above shows the Shanghai Towers position in the list of ten highest buildings at the
moment. We also notice in the list the two neighboring towers, Jin Mao and the Shanghai World
Financial Center, which shows Chinas ambition to invest on high-rise buildings.

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 1. Client
The Shanghai Tower is the tallest structure in the famous
financial district of Lujiazui in Shanghai, China. Planning for this
special district began back in 1993, where three high rise
buildings were intended (Jin Mao Tower, finished in 1999,
Shanghai World Financial Center, finished in 2008 and the
Shanghai Tower, opened in 2015).

The owner of the skyscraper is the Yeti Construction and

Development, which is a consortium of development
companies, owned by the Chinese state. Some of these
companies include Shanghai Chengtou Corp., Shanghai Lujiazui
Finance & Trade Zone Development Co. and Shanghai
Construction Group. The means of financing the construction
of the tower were shareholders, bank loans and the Shanghai http://archinect.com/news/article/1189853
municipality. The estimated cost of construction was 2.4 billion 63/megataaaall-shanghai-tower-enters-
dollars. final-construction-phase

2. Architecture firm
The American architectural firm
Gensler was the designer of the Shanghai
Tower, with the Chinese architect Jun Xia
as the leader of the team.

M. Arthur Gensler Jr. & Associates,

Inc., or shorter referred to as Gensler is an http://www.gensler.com/
architectural firm based in San Francisco,
California. It was funded in 1965 and, today, it counts more than 3500 employees,
http://www.ctbuh.org/C
operating in 46 offices, in 16 countries worldwide. Some of the notable projects
ongressCommittees/Loc
alSteering/JunXia/tabid/ of Gensler include John F. Kennedy Airport in New York; Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Dubai
3013/language/en- International Financial Centre; Houston Ballet Center for Dance in Houston, Texas;
US/Default.aspx
Tower at PNC Plaza, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Facebook Inc., London.

http://www.gensler.com/projects

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 The leading architect, Jun Xia, is the Asia Regional Design Director of the Gensler firm. He was born in
Shanghai, studied in the Tongji University and then in the University of Colorado. His main goal was to aid
the architectural and urban development of his hometown, and as a local with great international
experience, was able to start a Gensler practice in China. The ability to render early designs into three
dimensional drawings, in order to give his clients a clear understanding of the projects, has made him very
well accepted by investors worldwide. Other works by Jun Xia include Beijing ChangAn International
Center, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, Chartered Tower, Dongyin Center, JW Marriot Hotel, BM
Plaza, Yangtze International Financial Center, and of course, the Shanghai Tower.

3. Structural Engineers

The structural design was provided by Thornton

Tomasetti and Tongji Architectural Design (Group) Co Ltd., as
the engineer on record.

Thornton Tomasetti is an American structural

engineering consulting firm, based in New York City. It
specializes on structural engineering, faade engineering,
construction, sustainability, renewal, forensics, https://www.thorntontomasetti.com/
transportation, etc and is responsible for some of the most
famous high-rise building. Taipei 101 (Taiwan), the Petronas Towers (Malaysia), New York Times Building
(USA), Americas Tower (USA) are just a few of the skyscrapers designed by Thornton Tomasetti. Other
works include stadiums and convention centers, such as American Airlines Arena, AT&T Park, Baku
International Stadium, Basra Sport City, Yankee Stadium, Ford Center; renewal works, such as the Faade
rehabilitation of the Chrysler Building, structural rehabilitation of the United States Capitol Dome and
works like investigation and property loss consulting.

https://www.thorntontomasetti.com/projects/

The firm has also numerous prestigious projects under construction, such as 102 Incheon Tower in
South Korea, the Federation Tower in Moscow, Russia; Wilshire Grand Tower in L.A, California; Ping An
Finance Center in China and, of course, the famous Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia, which is going to be,
when finished, the tallest structure in the world at 1008 meters.

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 4. HVA engineering
The planning and design of the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems in the Shanghai Tower is
done by Consentini Associates, a famous firm based in New York City and Aurecon, an Australian firm.

Consentini Associates was founded in 1951 and since then has taken over prestigious projects all over
the world. Some of the notable works are John F. Kennedy Library and Museum, John Hancock Tower,
Solow Building, Disney Animation Building, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Time Warner Center, Walt
Disney Concert Hall and New World Center.

Aurecon is an engineering firm based in Australia and South Africa. It was founded in 2009 as a merger
of three different companies, Africon, Connell Wagner and Ninham Shand. Their main focuses are
environmental design, telecommunications, water systems, energy, etc. Some of their most notable
projects include City of Dreams Casino in Macau; The Sail at Marina Bay in Singapore; Eureka Tower in
Australia; the Qatar Science and Technology Park in Qatar; Berg Water Project in South Africa, etc.

On the Shanghai Tower, Consentini Associates and Aurecon worked closely with the architects to
provide the towers sustainable design and technological innovation. The atrium buffering zone was used
to reduce cooling costs but also to minimize stack effects. There were also incorporated a numerous of
technological devices such as heat recovery systems, multiple central plants for low transport energy and
heat transfer and overhead variable air conditioning system with demand-control ventilation. Heating is
provided by geothermal systems in the basement.

5. Construction company

The construction manager company was Shanghai Jianke Engineering Consulting Co., Ltd., which is a
local firm of engineering and construction. Other firms involved in the construction of the tower were
Shanghai Construction Group; Aurecon for the Faade installation; Rolf Jensen & Associates for fire design;
STS Consultants, Ltd for foundation design; Arup, life Safety; Edgett Williams Consulting Group Inc. for
vertical transportation design.

6. Important numbers concerning the building

THE SHANGHAI TOWER
Construction started 29 November 2008
Completed 6 September 2015
Duration of planning 2006-2008
Estimated cost 2.4 billion $
Height to tip 632 m
Height occupied 561.3 m
Floors above ground 128
Floors below ground 5
Usable area 420 000 m2
Elevators 106

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 Max. elevator speed 20.6 m/s
Number of hotel rooms 258
Number of parking spots 1794
Heaviest damper 1200 tons

7. Architectural details

The main feature of the architectural design

of the tower is its spiraling effect, which
symbolizes the dynamic change and
development of modern China. That is why the
towers geometry is one of its main
architectural features.

As it is shown in the picture, the horizontal

profile of the building, has a shape derived from
an equilateral triangle. Two tangent curves
were drawn to create the curvature. There are
only two variables that drive the horizontal
geometry of the tower: the radius of the circle Fig. 7.1
and its location relative to the triangle. http://images.autodesk.com/flashassets/thegallery/galleries/shangha
i_tower/2.concept/images/Shanghai_Tower_Concept_1.jpg
The vertical profile is an extrusion of the
horizontal. For practical and stability reasons it was necessary to keep a wider area in the first third of the
towers height and to construct it slenderer as the height increases. Overall, there was a reduction of about
55% of the area in the upper part of the building. This also was a good factor in the functionality of the
building. The first third, with a larger area and span is
suitable for markets and offices, while the upper part
were practical for hotel rooms.

The rate of twist was also an important factor in the

design of the tower. The principal is to twist the main
shape to a certain degree. In the final design, after
testing different models, it was decided on a rotation
of 120o. This design also does a great job in reducing
the lateral wind load and this was the main condition
on the design. Figures 7.2 and 7.3 show different
models analyzed and the final and optimal design
chosen by the architects. Finding on optimal shape was
an architectural challenge, because it required lots of
considerations and testing, making the design not so
flexible in terms of geometry and spatial dimensions.
Fig. 7.2 http://www.arch2o.com/case-study-bim-
implementation-in-shanghai-tower/

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Fig. 7.3
http://www.arch2o.com/case-study-
bim-implementation-in-shanghai-
tower/

Fig. 7.4
http://www.arch2o.com/case-study-
bim-implementation-in-shanghai-
tower/

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 As shown in the images above, the final design was the result of many test and simulations. The most
significant ones were made in Wind Tunnels with scaled down models. Two different models were
constructed for this purpose, one in the scale of 1:500 and one on the scale of 1:85. The test took into
account the local climate and even typhoons. The results of these test showed that a shape 55% tapered
and 120o rotated would not only reduce the structural wind loading by 24%, but would also save 50 million
dollars from structure budget.

Fig. 7.5 http://www.arch2o.com/case-study-bim-implementation-in-shanghai-tower/

The Shanghai Tower is divided into 9 functional zones, with each zone taking 12-15 floors. There is a
public space or an atrium for each zone with balconies and social areas. The first zone is consist of stores,
shops and markets and it is connected to the commercial zone and to the activities of the district. In the
upper part of zone 1 there are mainly restaurants. The zones in the middle part of the building are office
spaces, while the hotel is situated in the top with the observation deck. The picture below shows a
schematic division of the building uses. The mixed use of the building was a key factor influencing on the
planning of interior spaces, but also the tapered profile required to constantly change the arrangement
of interior floor plans. In this fact, the zonal division of the tower helped, so floor plans for each zone
remain the same as the purpose of the floors also remain the same within one zone.

The idea of sustainability was also an important one. The architects had to think on how to make
reality the idea of a vertical forest in a building of this magnitude. They succeeded while implementing
the atrium areas, which are social common areas with green elements, such as flowers and plants. The
atriums are open to the general public and are expected to be one of the key touristic sites in Shanghai,

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 Fig. 7.6 http://www.arch2o.com/case-
study-bim-implementation-in-shanghai-
tower/

8. Structural details
The Shanghai Tower is currently the second tallest building in the world and the tallest in China,
therefore its structural design was a big challenge. The architects at Gensler worked closely with the
engineers at Thornton Tomasetti in order to specify the best shape and model. The final design was
obtained not only in terms of architectural standards, but, as shown above, mainly by the structural and
load-bearing requirements.

Being located in a geographical region with high risks, such as: powerful winds and typhoons, constant
earthquakes and clay-based soils typical of a river delta, this tower was not a conventional building and

8
the engineers had to work hard and sometimes to think out of the box in order to deliver a sound, reliable
and economical design.

Fig. 8.1 http://www.metalocus.es/en/news/shanghai-tower-last-step-construction

The structural system of the Shanghai Tower, as shown above, is made of a main core inner tube and
an outer mega frame consisting of composite super columns, outrigger trusses and eight two story high
double belt trusses. On the Khan chart, this building has an outrigger braced system. As in most mega-
structures, the core is the main lateral load bearing element. It is built in a reinforced concrete design,
with a base cross section of 30 square meters, gradually reducing as the height increases. Surrounding the
core, there are twelve steel-concrete composite super columns, two on each side and four additional ones
in the diagonal direction. The diagonal columns were
implemented in the design in order to reduce the
distance between the columns. In the final version,
each of these elements stands 25 meter away from its
neighboring column. The structure used the nine
functional zones to implement a wedding-cake
concept. In each of these zones an individual tower
starts. This is the way the slenderness of the tower is
achieved and it offers a structural stability due to the
reduced weight as the height increases. In between
these zones, there are two-story areas that are used to
house the technological equipment of the zone, such as
plumbing, heat and electrical. These floors serve also as
safe evacuation areas in cases of emergency. Enclosing
these areas, there are double belt steel trusses, which
serve as a connector between the columns. In a similar
way, there are outrigger trusses connecting the core to Fig. 8.2 http://www.arch2o.com/case-study-bim-
implementation-in-shanghai-tower/
the outer structural frame. These radial trusses serve

9
also as a support for the special glass faade. The main principal used to design these components was
the continuation of forces and the uniformity of stresses. This ensured the different zones to act as a single
structure.

The floors are constructed as composite components. They have a permanent steel formwork at the
bottom, which supports the concrete slab.

The seismic impact was also a very important issue in the design phase of the structure. As the
foundations lay on clay, a seismic analysis was crucial in order to evaluate the impact of an earthquake.
This was achieved via FEM based computational methods, most specifically using the Abaqus software to
generate a 3D FEM analysis. The final project was planned to meet the requirements of the China Seismic
Design Code.

a. Core inner wall system

Fig. 8.3 https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/shanghai-tower-how-designers-meet-challenges-narendra-shekhawat

If we have a closer look at the core, we can observe that it is not uniform throughout the
height. It begins as a square tube consisting of 9 cells, with a total area of 30 square
meters. This setting is uniform until the level of zone 4.
The shape gets modified by cutting the corners of the square as shown in the picture.
From zone 7 and upwards, the shape gets reduced even further into a cross arrangement
of 5 cells.
In the topmost part of the building, the core system is simplified into a rectangle made of
3 cells.

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 The thickness of these walls varies with the height. At the base, each wall is 1.2 meters
wide and this width reduces to 0.5 meters at the top zone. In the picture below, we can
clearly see the setting of the core system in each zone.

b. Outer frame system

As introduced above, the outer frame system consists of: 12 super columns, radial
outrigger trusses and double belt trusses.
The super columns have a cross section of 5.3 m x 3.7 m at the base and it reduces with
the height. At the top, their dimensions are 2.4 m x 1.9 m. The corner columns stop at
zone 5, while the other eight super columns go up until zone 8. All of the columns incline
gradually towards the center as the height increases. This enables the desired slenderness
of the structure.

9. Faade concept

The faade of the Shanghai Tower is one of the most interesting features of this structure. It gives it the
spiral iconic shape and form, but also makes the tower sustainable and eco-friendly, which is an important
feature of this building.

The faade is made of a double curtain wall system. The outer skin is cam-shaped in plan. This shape
is what gives the building its rotational effect, while the inner skin is circular. Both of them are made out
of glass, while a support system was constructed to carry the weight of the outer faade (skin). This
support system comprises of tube elements and horizontal trusses. The main element is a horizontal cam-
shaped ring that rotates around the inner skin. This ring is held away from the inner skin, by horizontal
trusses that change the position depending on the
shape needed for the section. The radius of the ring
pipe is 356 mm, while the radial elements have a
circumference of 219 mm. Included in this frame
there are also vertical steel tube elements with a
diameter of 356 mm, which are hung from the upper
mechanical floor. In the plan in figure 9.1, we can see
the different members of this support system,
including the eight expansion joints. An important
feature to be noticed is the cross bracing in the three
corners of the reduced triangular shape. The inner
curtain wall has a regular round shape, outlining the
structural plan of the tower and decreasing in its
radius with the height. Both curtain walls are
supported structurally by the slabs. The space
Fig.9.1http://www.ctbuh.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=a1pp
between the two faade elements is one of the main DY9UeqM%3D&tabid=1090&

11
attractions of the building: the atriums, which span from one
mechanical floor to the other create common areas for each zone
that include even green surfaces in the shape of inner gardens. The
last idea was a rather important one and was greatly inspired by the
Commerzbank building in Frankfurt. According to the final
architectural plans, 33% of each floor is green and breathes fresh
air into the citys atmosphere.

One of the most important things to solve during the design of

the faade is the type of glass to be used. This is particularly Fig.9.2http://www.gensler.com/uploads/
documents/Shanghai_Tower_Facade_Desig
challenging, because of the energy consumption requirements of n_Process_11_10_2011.pdf
the building and also for the implementation of the inner gardens.
After major considerations of energy restrictions, climate conditions, but also wind loading effects, most
of which were achieved by computational analyses, the final design of the outer skin had a total of 129
915 square meters of glass and about 28 315 panels were used in total. Because of the irregular shape of
the tower, 8 different panel shapes were needed, as shown in 9.2. For the inner skin, the individual panels
were in regular, rectangle shapes. The type of glass used offers sun shading due to the spectrally selective
properties. On the outer faade, fritted glass was also used.

Fig.9.3 Connection details of the outer curtain wall

http://www.gensler.com/uploads/documents/Shanghai_Tower_Facade_Design_Process_11_10_2011.pdf

Fig.9.3 Connection details of the inner curtain wall

http://www.gensler.com/uploads/documents/Shanghai_Tower_Facade_Design_Process_11_10_2011.pdf

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 10.Sustainable technologies

One of the initial goals of Gensler in the design of the Shanghai Tower, was to reach the Gold LEED
(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating. This would be a step forward in sustainable and
eco-friendly construction. The principal is that each zone is served by the mechanical floor below, so each
one functions independently from the others.

The Shanghai Tower has grey water treatment plants incorporated into the basement and podium
levels. These plants recycle collected rain water for irrigation and toilet flushing. Also, along the height,
there are storage tanks for domestic consumption that uses gravity to modify the water pressure in the
needed levels. These kinds of systems reduce the total consumption of water by about 38%.

The electrical supply is done by separate units located in the mechanical floors. Even though the
limitation of electrical energy consumption for a building of this scale is difficult, it is estimated that the
system incorporated into the Shanghai Tower will save about 21.59% in annual cost compared to the
baseline indicated by the standards. Also, the parapet of the tower has a twisted shape that is used to
collect rainwater. Just underneath the parapet, a turbine is located in order to generate electricity.

Air conditioning is achieved through two chiller plants while heating is provided by the same
cogeneration plant that is used for the electrical supply. The cogeneration plant itself is a way of reducing
costs and recycling energy.

Fig.10.1 http://www.arch2o.com/case-study-bim-implementation-in-shanghai-tower/arch2o-shanghaitower-gensler-04/

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 All the materials used in the construction of the Shanghai Tower were obtained within an 800 km
radius. This was an important policy, as it decreased environmental impact, but also transportation costs.

The double skin faade is also an environmental friendly solution. With this kind of faade, the building
acts as a thermos bottle: it preserves daylight, so there is no need for artificial light in the functional areas,
it preserves heat, so it reduces costs and the needs for heating and also works as an insulation barrier
between the living areas and the outside.

11.Elevators
The Shanghai Tower is innovative in this aspect
as well. It has the worlds fastest elevator. It reaches
a speed of about 18 meters per second. In total, there
are 106 elevators in the structure, including a record-
holding 578.5 meters high elevator. All the vertical
transportation systems were provided and installed
by Mitsubishi. They are energy efficient as well, their
incorporated converter systems save up to 30% of
electrical energy.

http://www.arch2o.com/case-study-bim-implementation-in-
shanghai-tower/arch2o-shanghaitower-gensler-04/
12.Building Erection

The construction of the Shanghai Tower began in November 2008 and was completed in September
2015. Following, there is a chronological list of the construction progress.

Fig.12.1 http://www.gensleron.com/cities/2010/7/15/shanghai-tower-construction-update.html

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 Fig.12.2 http://www.gensleron.com/cities/2010/7/15/shanghai-tower-construction-update.html

Fig.12.3 http://www.gensleron.com/cities/2010/7/15/shanghai-tower-construction-update.html

The three pictures above show the process of foundation construction. In the first picture it is clearly
visible the area where the mat foundation is being built, but also there is already a clear outline of the
core reinforcement extruding from the foundation. The second picture is a close-up, showing the process
of concrete-pouring over the already placed reinforcement. The mat slab is 6 meters thick and the
concrete was poured in a continuous manner over an uninterrupted 60-hour interval. It required 120

15
concrete trucks per hour, which poured 1 000 cubic meters of concrete per hour and about 61 000 cubic
meters in total. It is reported that a number of about 2 000 workers worked in double shifts to complete
the foundation in time and succeeded flawlessly. In the last picture there can be seen the building pit and
the slurry wall. Since the water table level was too high, it was necessary to build one in order to make
the building pit. The wall we see above is a temporary one, while the second and permanent wall,
enclosing the buildings perimeter is yet to be built.

Figure 12.4 shows the first meters of the buildings erection. It is clearly visible the core, also the
steelwork for the flooring system. On each side of the core there are cranes which eventually move up as
the building progresses. There can also be seen the steel encasing for a super-column. Figure 12.5 is the
Shanghai Tower as seen from the Jin Mao Tower in April 2011. It shows the process of slip forming of the
core. They used a single formwork for the core and it was moved vertically as the building progressed. In
figure 12.6, it is noticeable the magnitude of this project. The small red roofed structures in the left are
on-site housing for construction workers. Moving on to figure 12.7, we can notice two super-columns
being constructed, but also the steel beams with the duct openings for installations. Another interesting
detail about this image are the bamboo scaffoldings, which are still a standard in China. In figure 12.9 and
12.9 there are clearly visible the trusses which support the faade of the tower. On average, they are
about 12 meters deep and create spaces up to 20 meters. In figure 12.10, the nearly complete structure
can be seen and the zonal division as well, with the mechanical floors clearly visible. In the first zone, the
framework support for the outer skin is already installed. In the figures 12.11, 12.12, 12.13, is shown the
installation of the outer curtain wall, including some details from the inside of the building. We can notice
that the installation of this part of the faade is done simultaneously with the construction of the
structure, in order to optimize time.

Fig.12.4 http://www.gensleron.com/cities/2011/5/25/construction-update-shanghai-tower.html

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Fig.12.5 http://www.gensleron.com/cities/2011/5/25/construction-update-shanghai-tower.html

Fig.12.6 http://www.gensleron.com/cities/2011/5/25/construction-update-shanghai-tower.html

17
Fig.12.7 http://www.gensleron.com/cities/2011/5/25/construction-update-shanghai-tower.html

Fig.12.8 http://www.gensleron.com/cities/2011/7/18/shanghai-tower-sustainable-strategies-in-a-
super-tall-buildi.html

18
Fig.12.9 http://www.gensleron.com/cities/2011/7/18/shanghai-tower-sustainable-strategies-in-
a-super-tall-buildi.html

Fig.12.10 http://www.gensleron.com/cities/2012/9/4/the-new-urban-
planning-look-upward-not-outward.html

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 Fig. 12.11

http://www.gensleron.com/cities/2012/11
Fig. 12.13
Fig. 12.12 /27/shanghai-tower-the-curtain-wall.html

Fig.12.14 http://www.gensleron.com/cities/2014/9/4/shanghai-tower-counteracting-the-sway-
inherent-to-supertall.html

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 Fig.12.15 http://www.gensleron.com/cities/2014/9/4/shanghai-tower-counteracting-the-sway-
inherent-to-supertall.html

The two pictures above are taken in one of the last phases of the structural building process,
construction of the crown and the jewel that is of course the double damping system, consisting of the
Tuned Mass Damper and the Eddy Current Damper. This whole system is expected to reduce the
displacements roughly 20-40 percent. Figure 12.12 shows the shaft where this system will be placed.

Fig.12.16 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2714953/Touching-sky-Builders-celebrate-placing-truss-China-s-tallest-building-
121-storey-Shanghai-Tower.html

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 Fig.12.18 http://www.gensleron.com/cities/2015/2/2/shanghai-
tower-update-lighting-the-building-and-preparing-it.html

Fig.12.17http://www.gensleron.com/cities/2015/2/2/sh
anghai-tower-update-lighting-the-building-and-preparing-
it.html
Fig.12.19 http://www.gensler.com/projects/shanghai-tower

Pictures showing the Shanghai Tower in its finished and final state.

13.Steel

As a composite building, steel is a crucial component of the Shanghai Tower. It is used in the
composite super columns, floors, core walls, outrigger and belt trusses but also in the support of the
faade. So, there were used several types of profiles and different connection methods as well. Bao Steel
Group, a Hong Kong-based company was the steel supplier for this project. It provided the high strength
structural steel used in different elements. In figure 13.1, there can be seen just a few of the steel
elements used, steel beams for the floors in a double T section with side openings for the installations and
rebar as well used on the reinforced concrete shear walls, columns and the composite slabs. The slabs
have a thickness of 155 mm, 75 mm of which are the steel sheets of 345 MPa strength.

Figure 13.2 shows a stripped down version of the towers structure, where only the steel elements
are showing. It also shows the connection between these elements. So, the connection between the core

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and the outer super columns is realized using outrigger trusses made of 325 MPa steel, which are
connected to the columns using gusset plates and welding. Picture 13.3 shows in detail a connection
between the super column and the outrigger truss. The gusset plate design should be designed in a way
that guarantees the anchorage of the three steel profiles (in this case) and resists the tension and
compression coming from the outrigger truss members. 3D analysis shows the stress state in different
parts of the structure and how it is below the critical value of 400 MPa.

For the design of the structure in general, but also for the steel and composite elements a finite elements
analysis was implemented using Abaqus software. The steel stress-strain relation was adopted from a
model which assumes the plastic modulus to be 1/100 the elastic modulus.

Fig.13.1
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=391698&page=390

Fig.13.2 Fig.13.3
http://faculty.arch.tamu.edu/media/cms_page_media/4433/presentation- http://faculty.arch.tamu.edu/media/cms_page_media/
case%20study%20of%20Shanghai%20Tower%2012-04-14.pdf 4433/presentation-
case%20study%20of%20Shanghai%20Tower%2012-04-
14.pdf
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The Bauschinger effect was as well considered in the computational model and also seismic effects were
simulated and studied as one of the main concerns of the structural analysis, considering the location of
the building and the soil condition.

In figure 13.2, it is also visible one of the eight two-story high belt trusses that form the mechanical floors.
To connect these trusses into a single belt, bolt and plate connections were used. Picture 13.4 shows a
connection detail. It is noticeable the large number of bolts used. That is a clear hint of the magnitude of
internal forces that exist in these elements.

Fig.13.4
http://faculty.arch.tamu.edu/media/cms_page_media/4433/present
ation-case%20study%20of%20Shanghai%20Tower%2012-04-14.pdf

Steel was also an important element in the faade design and construction. Both facades are supported
by steel frames, consisting of hollow tubes of different diameters. Figure 13.5 is a drawing of the outer
skin support system, showing all the elements. The ring beams are set every 4.3 to 4.5 meters and consist
of 219x13 and 273x13 profiles. These are the main supporters of gravity and wind load. The link between
this structure and the inner core is done by radial struts of cross sections 219x13 and 273x13. These struts
are not uniform in their length in order to give the faade its
twist. The connection of the ring beams to the trusses is
rigid, but the trusses connect to the slabs in a hinge model.
This is designed to enable the outer skin to move up and down
un-related to the floors. This whole system is hanged on the
mechanical floor above via high strength rods. At three
corners of the reduced triangle shape, there are cross bracings
to resist to the torsional effects.
Fig.13.6
http://inhabitat.
com/recently-
completed-
shanghai-tower-
officially-
becomes-the-
worlds-second-
tallest-
Fig.13.5 building/shangh
http://global.ctbuh.org/resources/papers/downloa ai-tower-
d/2210-curtain-wall-system-design.pdf gensler-5-2/

24
 Composite columns

As mentioned before, composite columns are an

integral part of Shanghai Towers design. They have
been referred to as super columns, because of their
dimensions and load bearing capacities. The super
columns sections are concrete encased. The steel
profile is made out of three double T sections
connected with two additional plates that ensure
that the section works as one. This design was
inevitable considering the large dimensions of
these members, but economic conditions were
also taken into consideration. Composite columns
are now becoming a standard in high-rise Fig.13.6
structures, as they combine the best properties of http://faculty.arch.tamu.edu/media/cms_page_media
steel and concrete, lighten the weight of the /4433/presentation-
case%20study%20of%20Shanghai%20Tower%2012-04-
structure and lower the costs. Composite members 14.pdf
are also efficient in terms of time, as different stories can be built simultaneously. For example, if
a group of workers are working with the concrete encasement on one floor, another group could
continue with the steel work in the upper. This saves time and costs.
Figure 13.6 shows the cross section of a super column in the Shanghai Tower in the first 6 zones
and in the last top zones, while figure 13.7 shows the composition of these members. We can
notice an important
decrease in dimensions.
This is due to the fact
that upper floors have
lower loads, but also to
resist buckling effects.
The initial dimensions
are 5.3 m x 3.7 m and
they decrease to 2.4 m x
1.9 m. A clear list of the
dimensions for each
zone is given in figure
13.7. In the picture we Fig.13.7 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214398X15300017
can also see the rebar
used. To construct these elements was used high strength steel and concrete of class C50-C70.
Because of the large dimensions, the connection between steel and concrete was difficult to
achieve and shear failure was a clear risk. For this purpose, the steel profiles of the columns have
shear studs welded in them. These shear studs work in a similar way as they do in beams or
composite slabs.

25
 Fig.13.7
http://images.adsttc.com/media/images/56da/0819/e58e/ce77/ee00/0001/slideshow/HIPSH_ShanghaiTo
werBook_ZhonghaiShen_pg52.jpg?1457129488

Cranes
During the construction process, a
large number of cranes were used,
but the most important ones were
the four cranes that accompanied
the concrete slip form during the
construction of the core. This was a
innovative solution as it was the first
time four different cranes were used
for this purpose.

Fig.13.8
http://www.gensleron.com/cities/2014/4/1/sh
anghai-tower-the-cranes-come-down.html

14.Concrete

The concrete used in the Shanghai Tower varies from a C70 strength in zone 1, 2 and 3 columns, in a
C60 strength in all shear walls and columns in zone 4-6 to a final C50 for the columns of the two upper

26
zones. This change of concrete class is logical considering the loading decreases as the height goes up. The
table below shows a summarization of the concrete elements and also their dimensions.

Fig.14.7 http://global.ctbuh.org/resources/papers/download/833-elasto-plastic-time-history-analysis-of-the-shanghai-tower-under-
rare-earthquakes.pdf

A similar procedure as for the steel elements, using computerized models was also implemented for the
concrete elements. Seismic analyses were also of high
importance. The picture below shows the stress strain
relation of the shear walls in a plasticity-based model
during seismic analyses. It assumes two main failure
reasons, tensile cracking and crushing due to
compression.

Fig.14.8 http://global.ctbuh.org/resources/papers/download/833-
elasto-plastic-time-history-analysis-of-the-shanghai-tower-under-rare-
earthquakes.pdf

15.Fire Safety

Fire safety is another important issue of the design of high-rise buildings. Although the chances of
fires are quite low, the size of these kinds of buildings increases the chances of a long duration fire. If such
an event occurs, some structural member are likely to reduce or lose their bearing capacity. This happens
generally to steel in temperatures higher than 600oC, while concrete may crack under such temperatures
causing an exposition of the steel profiles.

27
 A fire analysis usually takes in consideration a standard office fire with a given parametric formula of
temperature in relation to time and also an accident load caused by local fires. Heat transfer analyses
were implemented using finite element analyses and computational methods for each structural member
individually. The tests showed that composite beams would last at least on more hour than predicted in
the codes during a fire and in midspan, the deflection would not be greater than 20 mm. For the shear
walls of the core there was only 15 mm of axial displacement after 6 hours of fire which shows excellent
fire resistance. This was due mainly to the high thickness of the walls which ensured that the temperature
remained relatively low at about 100oC. Similar results were obtained even for the outrigger and belt
trusses, showing a fire resistance of 4-6 hours. The table below summarizes the behavior of structural
elements of the Shanghai Tower under fire.

Fig.15.1 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214398X15300017

16.Foundation

Designing the foundation of the tower was another challenge the engineering team had to face. This
is common for super tall buildings, due to large loads from gravitation, wind and seismic activity. What
was uncommon for this particular building were the extremely difficult conditions of the soil. The Shanghai
Tower lays on nine layers of sand and soft clays that go at least 120 meters deep, which makes the bedrock
practically unreachable. The water table level is just 0.5 meters below ground level. The table below shows
a soil profile of the ground below the Shanghai Tower.

28
 Fig.16.1 http://global.ctbuh.org/resources/papers/download/2221-unique-structural-design-aspects.pdf

The foundation of the Shanghai Tower consists of a 6 meter thick reinforced concrete mat, supported
by 947 cast-in-place concrete piles, each with a diameter of one meter. The piles vary from 52 to 56 meters
in length and go down to 92-1 stratum of silty sand (see fig 16.1). Every pile is grouted at the end in order
to increase its bearing capacity. The picture below shows a plan of the piles. It can be seen that the
distribution is not uniform, below the core, piles
are oriented in a staggered manner and they
are 56 meters long. Also underneath the lateral
super columns, they have a staggered
distribution, while the rest are orthogonal. This
was made to withstand the different loadings of
the structure.

Settlements were also a major concern at this

point. The soil profile offers little possibility to
uniformly distribute the loads, so concrete fin
walls are implemented ate the basement levels
to connect the core to the super columns. These
fin walls are expected to reduce the
settlements 20-30%. Also the distribution of
Fig.16.2
http://faculty.arch.tamu.edu/media/cms_page_media/4433/presentati the piles in the total area plays a huge role in
on-case%20study%20of%20Shanghai%20Tower%2012-04-14.pdf minimizing settlements. After a period of five
years, a total of 100-120 mm of settlement is
predicted. The fact that loads from the structure come in a non-uniform manner, influenced on the design

29
of the mat foundation. It has a variable stiffness, which helps against the buoyancy effects on the lateral
sides.

17.Anti-seismic measures
The Shanghai Tower, as seen above, is located in a very difficult area in terms of geotechnics and soil
composition. The Pudong area of Shanghai has a seismic intensity of 7 according to the Chinese code, but
the magnitude of this project was way beyond any code specifications, so a scientific approach was
needed to make the design earthquake resistant.

First, the structure of the building was designed to take up large horizontal forces, not only from seismic
activity, but wind loads as well, as discussed above. A numerous finite element analyses were done during
the design process and the dynamic characteristics were investigated. Figure 17.1 shows the mode shapes
of the first six nodes, obtained through numerical analyses, while table 17.2 displays the numerical values
of frequency and period for each mode.

Fig.17.1 http://global.ctbuh.org/resources/papers/download/833-elasto-
plastic-time-history-analysis-of-the-shanghai-tower-under-rare-earthquakes.pdf

Fig.17.2 http://global.ctbuh.org/resources/papers/download/833-elasto-plastic-time-history-analysis-of-the-shanghai-tower-under-
rare-earthquakes.pdf

30
 Most studies show that belt, outrigger and radial trusses remain in the elastic stage during loading,
which means damage is not expected in these members. Core walls are damaged around the
strengthened stories, while the concrete of the super columns remains in the elastic phase, except to the
connection parts where damage is observed. Steel in the composite columns remains in the elastic stage
as well and no damage is expected.

Researchers at the Tongji University in China also made a Shaking Table Model Test with a 13.04 meters
high prototype of the tower. The model was put under seismic conditions of earthquakes up to 7.5
intensity. The tests concluded that the Shanghai Tower is able to withstand earthquakes up to 7 with
basic, rare and high frequency, but shows signs of damage under a 7.5 intensity, especially in the upper
floors. However, all the seismic performance expectations according to the Chinese code were
successfully met.

31
 References

o http://www.arch2o.com/case-study-bim-implementation-in-shanghai-tower/
o http://www.ctbuh.org/CongressCommittees/LocalSteering/JunXia/tabid/3013/language
/en-US/Default.aspx
o http://www.slideshare.net/SanskritiJindal/shanghai-tower-40930153
o http://www.slideshare.net/chitranjanbagh/shanghai-tower-43402833
o http://www.gensler.com/uploads/documents/Shanghai_Tower_Facade_Design_Process
_11_10_2011.pdf
o https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Tower#Construction
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Tower-2.pdf
o http://www.ctbuh.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=a1ppDY9UeqM%3D&tabid=1090&
o http://www.slideshare.net/saramesallam/shanghai-tower-elevator-and-escalators
o http://www.gensleron.com/cities/2010/7/15/shanghai-tower-construction-update.html
o http://www.gensleron.com/cities/2011/7/1/shanghai-tower-influences-on-design.html
o http://faculty.arch.tamu.edu/media/cms_page_media/4433/presentation-
case%20study%20of%20Shanghai%20Tower%2012-04-14.pdf
o http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214398X15300017
o http://global.ctbuh.org/resources/papers/download/2210-curtain-wall-system-
design.pdf
o http://global.ctbuh.org/resources/papers/download/2209-making-the-worlds-greenest-
tall-building.pdf
o http://global.ctbuh.org/resources/papers/download/2278-shaking-table-model-test-of-
shanghai-tower.pdf
o http://global.ctbuh.org/resources/papers/download/1003-key-technologioes-in-the-
structure-of-shanghai-tower.pdf
o http://global.ctbuh.org/resources/papers/download/833-elasto-plastic-time-history-
analysis-of-the-shanghai-tower-under-rare-earthquakes.pdf
o http://www.gensler.com/projects/shanghai-tower?l=featured
o https://skyscrapercenter.com/building/shanghai-tower/56
o https://www.thorntontomasetti.com/projects/shanghai_tower/

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