3.4. Storyswayandmomentmagnification 3.4.1.

General

3.4.1.1. Story sway magnification In the previous section, approximate methods for the computation of
system critical loads were considered for unbraced or partially braced single-level and multistory
frames. In practical design, global second-order effects on displacements and moments are often of
more importance. In this section, sway and moments in such frames will be dealt with using the system
(story) stability indices already discussed (section 3.3).

The sway magnifier (given previously by equations [3.47], [3.48] and [3.49], and repeated here for
convenience) can be defined by:

Bs =

Δ Δ0

1 1−αss

[3.76]

where αss =(γnN/L) (H/Δ0)

[3.77]

or

αss = (γnN/L) (γsNcs/L)+SB [3.78]

Approximate Analysis Methods 263

When applied to a story of a multistory structure, H is the total shear transmitted through the story
(sum of column shears), Δ0 is the corresponding lateral displacement between the bottom and top of
the story and L is the story height. For regular, multistory unbraced structures, γn may be approximated
by γs.

The Bs prediction for a story in a multistory frame based on αss according

toequation[3.77]willnormallynotbethesameasthepredictionforthesame
storybasedonequation[3.78].Asalreadydiscussed(section3.3.6),thereason for this is that the vertical
interaction reflected by equation [3.27] is not the same as that resulting from a total frame first-order
analysis for (H/Δ0)i of a story i.

Often, the difference is small, such as for frames with floor beams that are reasonably stiff compared to
the column stiffnesses. For “stiff column-flexible beam” stories, the difference can be significant. An
example of such a case is considered in section 3.4.4.