Basis of Structural Design

Course 5

Structural action:
- Cable structures
- Multi-storey structures
Course notes are available for download at
http://www.ct.upt.ro/users/AurelStratan/

Cable structures

Cables - good resistance in tension, but no strength in
compression

Tent:
– a cable structure consisting of a waterproofing membrane
supported by ropes or cables and posts
– cables must be maintained in tension by prestressing in order to
avoid large vibrations under wind forces and avoid collapse

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 Cables: roof structures

Cables in a cable-supported roof
must be maintained in tension -
easily achieved if the roof is saddle-
shaped

Example: hyperbolic paraboloid,
with curvatures in opposite senses
in directions at right angles
– cables hung in direction BD
– a second set of cables placed over
them, parallel to direction AC and put in
to tension
– cables from the second set press down
on those from the first one, putting them
into tension as well ⇒ fully-tensioned
network

Cables: roof structures

One of the first doubly curved
saddle-shaped cable supported
roof was the Dorton Arena in
Raleigh, North Carolina, built in
1952

The building has dimensions of
92 m x 97 m

The roof is suspended between
two parabolic arches in
reinforced concrete
intercrossing each other, and
supported by columns

The cable network consists of
47 prestressed cables with
diameter varying from 19 mm to
33 mm

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 Suspension bridges

Suspension bridges: the earliest method of crossing
large gaps

Early bridges realised from a walkway suspended from
hanging ropes of vines

To walk a lighter bridge of this type at a reasonable pace
requires a particular gliding step, as the more normal
walking step will induce travelling waves that can cause
the traveller to pitch (uncomfortably) up and down or
side-to-side.

Suspension bridges

Suspension bridge realised following the simple design
of early bridges:
– cables (catenaries)
– light deck
– hangers suspending the deck on catenaries

Lack of stability in high winds

Very flexible under concentrated loads, as the form of the
cable will adapt to loading form

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 Suspension bridges

Capilano Suspension Bridge, Canada

Suspension bridges

Improved behaviour under traffic and wind loads:
stiffening trusses at the level of the deck, that distributes
concentrated loads over greater lengths

Alternatively: restrain vertical movement of the

catenaries by inclined cables attached to the top of the
towers or inclined struts below the deck

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 Suspension bridges

The Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge, Japan: 1991 m span

Suspension bridges

Golden Gate Bridge, California, USA: 1280 m span

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 Suspension bridges

Brooklyn Bridge, USA (the largest from 1883 until 1903):
486 m span

Suspension bridges: famous collapse

Tacoma Narrows Bridge, USA, collapsed on November 7,
1940 due to wind-induced vibrations. It had been open for
traffic for a few months only before collapsing.

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 Cable-stayed bridges

A cable-stayed bridge consists of one or more piers, with
cables supporting the bridge deck

Basic idea: reduce the span of the beam (deck) several
times compared to the clear span between the piers

Steel cable-stayed bridges are regarded as the most
economical bridge design for spans ranging between 200
and 400 m

Shorter spans: truss or box girder bridges

Larger spans: suspension bridges

Cable-stayed bridges

Reducing the
span of a
beam greatly
improves the
maximum
stress and
deflection

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 Cable-stayed bridges: examples

Rio-Antirio bridge in Greece. Longest span: 560 m.
Total length: 2,880 m.

Cable-stayed bridges: examples

The Millau Viaduct, France. Longest span: 342 m.
Total length: 2,460 m.

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 Multi-storey buildings

Why multi-storey buildings?
– large urban population
– expensive land

Multi-storey buildings make more efficient use of land:

higher the building (more storeys) - larger the ratio of the
building floor area to the used land area

Technological competition (very high buildings)

Until the end of the 18th century most buildings of several

storeys in the Western world were made of:
– continuous walls of brick or stone masonry supporting the roof
– floors from timber beams

The same structural system used in the Roman city of
Herculaneum

Multi-storey buildings: beginnings

Beginning of the 19th century - forefront of the industrial
revolution in England:
– demand for large factory buildings of several storeys and large
clear floor areas
– cast iron available in bulk
– cast iron columns used instead of bearing walls and cast iron
beams instead of timber floor joists

Elevator invented in USA in 1870, enabling much taller

office and apartment buildings to be constructed

Most multi-storey buildings in USA were still making use

of masonry walls instead of columns

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 Multi-storey buildings: masonry

Monadnock building in
Chicago

Built between 1889 and 1891

16 storeys, 60 m high

Tallest masonry building
until today

Walls at the ground floor:
almost 1.80 m thick,
occupying more than one-
fifth of the width of the
building

Wall thickness: rule of
thumb - 0.3m3 of exterior
walls for each square meter
of floor

Multi-storey buildings: skeleton frames

Home Insurance Building

Built in 1884 and
demolished in 1931

10 storeys, 42 m high

Considered to be the first
skyscraper

Exterior masonry walls

Cast-iron columns

Wrought-iron beams

One of the first to make
use of steel skeleton frame
instead of masonry walls
⇒ significant reduction of
dead weight (1/3 of that of
a masonry building)

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 Multi-storey buildings: skeleton frames

Steel skeleton frames
– loads carried by a steel frame composed of columns and beams
rigidly connected between them
– large clear spaces

Traditional load-bearing wall construction

Outside load-bearing
wall support:
– dead weight of the walls
and floors above
– live loads on the floors
– horizontal forces due to
wind pressure

Columns support
gravity loads only

To avoid tension on the
brick walls, the resultant
force must lie in the
middle third of the
thickness of the wall ⇒
very thick walls in the
lower storeys

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 Load-bearing wall construction

In modern load-bearing wall construction, lateral forces
due to wind are resisted by walls aligned in the direction
of the wind

Such walls are much more effective, because they have a
much larger moment resistance

Transverse walls acts as vertical cantilevers against
lateral forces

In modern construction,
load-bearing walls
are from reinforced
concrete

Multi-storey buildings: gravity and lateral loads

The load-bearing walls must be in the frames resisting
vertical loads only
same position in plan to act as a vertical
cantilever

In order to provide clear floor spaces,
doors, corridors, lift wells and staircases

Most buildings realised as a

combination of:
load-bearing walls
– load-bearing walls resisting lateral forces for lateral loads
– frames resisting gravity loads
load-bearing walls load-bearing walls
or braced frames or braced frames

frames resisting frames resisting

vertical loads only vertical loads only

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 Multi-storey buildings: gravity and lateral loads

Lateral forces on external cladding are transmitted to the
bearing walls
– directly, through external cladding
– indirectly, via floors

Floors must be stiff and strong in their plane in order to
allow lateral forces acting on gravity frames to be
transmitted to load-bearing walls

Usually floors are realised from cast in place reinforced
concrete to give a monolithic slab over full plan of the
building

F F

stiff floor flexible floor

Multi-storey buildings: types of structures

As the height of the building increases, the more
important are wind and earthquake loads in comparison
with gravity loading
– In a multi-storey building, acting as a vertical cantilever, bending
stresses at the base increase with the square of its height
– Wind loading increases with the height
– Earthquake loading increases with building weight

Reinforced concrete structures:

– reinforced concrete frames
– load-bearing walls

Steel structures:
– moment-resisting frames
– braced frames

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 Multi-storey buildings: types of steel structures

Moment-resisting frames resist lateral
loads through flexural strength of
members
– clear spaces, but
– large deformations of the structure
– large stresses due to bending

Braced frames resist lateral loads through

direct (axial) stresses in the triangulated
system
– obstruction of clear spaces, but
– small deformations (rigid structure)
– smaller stresses due to more efficient
structural behaviour

Multi-storey buildings: braced steel frames

Concentrically braced frames with diagonal bracing

Concentrically
V-braced frames

Eccentrically
braced frames

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 Multi-storey buildings: steel structural systems

Multi-storey buildings: steel structural systems

Braced frame efficient in reducing lateral deformations at
the lower storeys, but becomes inefficient at upper
storeys due to overall cantilever-like effect

Moment-resisting frame: uniform "shear-like"
deformations

Combined moment-resisting frame and braced frame:
more rigid overall behaviour due to interaction between
the two systems

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 Multi-storey buildings: steel structural systems

Braced frame with central braced span:
– inner columns: large axial stresses due to truss action
– outer columns: small axial stresses

Outrigger truss: outer columns
are "involved" into the truss-like
action (axial stresses) through
the outrigger truss

Multi-storey buildings: steel structural systems

Exterior framed tube:
closely spaced columns
at the exterior of the
building, rigidly
connected to deep
beams

Acting like a giant
rectangular steel hollow
section

Shear-lag effect - non-
uniform stresses on
web and flanges:
middle sections are not
very stressed

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 Multi-storey buildings: steel structural systems

Exterior framed tube:
World Trade Center,
New-York

Multi-storey buildings: steel structural systems

Exterior framed tube: World Trade Center, New-York

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 Multi-storey buildings: steel structural systems

Exterior framed tube: World Trade Center, New-York

Multi-storey buildings: steel structural systems

Bundled framed tube:
combination of multiple tubes
to reduce the shear lag effect

Sears
Tower,
Chicago

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 Multi-storey buildings: steel structural systems

Exterior diagonal tube: giant
truss-like behaviour

Multi-storey buildings: steel structural systems

Exterior
diagonal
tube: John
Hancock
Center,
Chicago

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