BUILDING LOADS

Sources of Loading
Building loads include the major load combinations relevant to foundation design
and building performance and can be classified according to their source or loading
characteristics.
Load Factors and Load Combinations for the Ultimate Limit State
Load combinations for ultimate limit state: Stability

Load combinations for ultimate limit state: Strength

 Common load combinations for serviceability

Approximate Initial Assessment of Vertical Dead and Live Loadings for

Serviceability
For preliminary estimates of serviceability loadings, and in the absence of other
information, typical vertical average service loadings for high-rise buildings are as
follows:
 Weight of superstructure: 6.5 kPa/floor
 Weight of basement: 17.5 kPa/basement level
 Common floor loads

Wind Loading
Wind loading is usually the critical source of lateral and moment loading on tall
buildings. Wind interacts with the terrain and the ground roughness profile to create
turbulent air flow whose character changes with increasing height above the ground.

The pressure on the windward face is positive while on the leeward face, it is
negative. The two components combine to impose a drag force on the building face.
On the sides of the building, the wind flow separates, creating suctions with the
largest magnitude closest to the separation point.
A wake is formed when the wind flows past the building, and the wind organises into
vortices a phenomenon termed ‘vortex shedding’ which occurs from alternating sides
of a building at a frequency, fs, that follows the Strouhal relationship:

Rules of thumb
For initial hand calculations, and to obtain a first idea of the order of the loading, the
following rules of thumb can be used:
 The lateral load can be approximated as 1.5% of the dead load
 1 kPa pressure for roof structures
 2 kPa pressure for tall buildings

Preliminary approximations
The distribution of wind loading, qw, at a height z above the surface, can be
approximated as follows:
Methods of reducing wind forces
There are broad strategies by which wind forces on a structure can be reduced:
 Increasing the mass and stiffness of the structure so that the natural frequency is
increased and the dynamic response under the wind loading is reduced
 Modifying the shape of the building to control the wind pressures and wind
actions by:
 Rounding, chamfering or stepping in the corners
 Tapering the width of the building with increasing height
 Using a different cross section at various heights
 Creating openings for the wind to pass through
 Using aerodynamic spoilers that protrude from the exterior of the
building and break up the vortices
 Employing a ‘twisting’ building shape; the use of such a shape can
reduce wind loadings by up to 25%
 Providing additional damping to increase the dissipation of energy
imparted by the wind forces.

Earthquake Loadings
Loads induced on the structure by earthquakes are less critical than those imposed
by wind. Loadings arising from earthquakes are usually assumed to be
predominantly horizontal, although recent seismic events.
Such loadings are generally estimated via the use of response spectra for at least
the early stages of design.
Earthquake-resistant design requires the participation of various professionals,
including architects, seismologists, geologists, geotechnical and foundation
engineers and structural engineers, and will involve many of the following steps:
 Identification of likely future earthquake sources
 Assessment of the probable size of future earthquakes on the basis of the
attributes of the identified sources
  Assessment of the distance and orientation of each seismic source with respect
to the location of the structure
 Establishment of correlations between ground motion characteristics and
earthquake size, orientation and distance
 Dynamic analysis of the soil deposits at the site to quantify possible
amplification of bedrock motions
 Selection of the structure and its components to best resist earthquake effects
 Dynamic analysis of the structure and its components to estimate the maximum
internal forces and displacements that may be generated
 Design and detailing of the structural members and connections in accordance
with the computed internal forces and deflections
 Analysis of the foundation soil profile to assess its susceptibility to earthquake
effects, such as liquefaction
 Analysis of the foundation system to estimate the forces and bending moments
induced by earthquake actions
 Assessment of the need to improve the foundation soil properties to reduce the
susceptibility of the site to earthquake effects

Estimation of Seismic Hazard and Earthquake Characteristics

The earthquake size or magnitude
There are two common measures of the size of an earthquake:
1. The earthquake intensity, which is a qualitative measure of the effects of an
earthquake at a particular location. The most common measure of intensity is the
modified Mercalli intensity (MMI).
2. The earthquake magnitude, which is a quantitative measure of the size of the
earthquake. The traditional measure of earthquake magnitude is the Richter
magnitude (ML), now known as the local magnitude. This is defined as the logarithm
(base 10) of the maximum trace amplitude (1μm) of a seismometer located 100 km
from the epicentre of the earthquake. For larger earthquakes, a more commonly
used measure is the moment magnitude (Mw), which is related to the seismic
moment. Up to about Mw = 6.5, ML and Mw are very similar, but for larger events,
Mw becomes the most appropriate measure.

Seismicity rate
The seismicity rate refers to the frequency of occurrence of an earthquake of a
particular magnitude within the region of interest.
Maximum bedrock acceleration
The maximum bedrock acceleration is related to the magnitude of the earthquake
and the distance from the source.

Loadings from Earth Pressure

Loadings due to earth pressures are generally relevant to the design of the
basement walls and sub-structure system. Such loads are generally estimated from
some form of earth pressure theory in the early stages of design, and then from
more detailed soil–structure interaction analyses when considering the detailed and
final design stages.
The preliminary values of earth pressure for walls that are laterally supported at the
top and the bottom so that the lateral strain in the soil is approximately zero, and
assuming a uniform surcharge loading of 10 kPa are:

The above values imply a coefficient of earth pressure at rest of 0.5, which may be
rather low for stiff or overconsolidated soils.
For cantilever retaining walls, the pressure can be assumed to be active earth
pressure, and approximated as follows: