CONTENTS

 INTRODUCTION

 STUCTURAL FORM
-INTERIOR STRUCTURE
-EXTERIOR STRUCTURE

 LOADS ON SKYSCRAPER
-WIND LOADS
-SEISMIC LOAD

 METHODS TO CONTROL WIND EFFECTS

- INCREASING BUILDING MASS
- INCREASING STIFFNESS
-ARODYNAMIC MODIFICATIONS IN ARCHITECTURE
- ADDITION OF DAMPING SYSTEM

 CONCLLUSION
1. INTRODUCTION:
The word "SKYSCRAPER" originally was a nautical term referring to a tall mast or its main sail on a
sailing ship. The term was first applied to buildings in the late 19th century as a result of public
amazement at the tall buildings being built in Chicago and New York City. The traditional definition
of a skyscraper began with the "first skyscraper", a steel-framed ten-storey building. Chicago's now
demolished ten-storey steel-framed Home Insurance Building (1885) is generally accepted as the
"first skyscraper".

FIGURE: HOME INSURANCE BUILDING,CHICAGO U.S.A. (Bennett,1995)

Tall buildings emerged in the late nineteenth century in the United States of America. They
constituted a so-called “American Building Type,” meaning that most important tall buildings were
built in the U.S.A. Today, however, they are a worldwide architectural phenomenon. Many tall
buildings are built worldwide, especially in Asian countries, such as China, Korea, Japan, and
Malaysia. Based on data published in the 1980s, about 49% of the world’s tall buildings were
located in North America (Table 1-1). The distribution of tall buildings has changed radically with
Asia now having the largest share with 32%, and North America’s at 24% (Table 1-2). This data
demonstrates the rapid growth of tall building construction in Asian during this period while North
American construction has slowed. In fact, eight of the top ten tall buildings are now in Asia and
only two, the Sears Tower and the Empire State Building, are in North America.

REGION COUNTRIES PERCENT BUILDINGS

(No.) (%) (No.)
North 4 48.9 1,701
America
Europe 35 21.3 742
Asia 35 20.2 702
South 13 5.2 181
America Tall Buildings in Regions (ca. 1982).
Australia 2 1.6 54
Middle East 15 1.5 51
Africa 41 1.3 47
Mid-America 20 0.1 4
TOTAL 165 3,482

Tall Buildings in Regions (2006, based on most active cities in the regions reported in Emporis.com).

REGION COUNTRIES PERCENT BUILDINGS

(No.) (%) (No.)
Asia 20 32.2 35,016

North 18 23.9 26,053

America
Europe 20 23.7 25,809

South America 10 16.6 18,129

Oceania 7 2.6 2,839

Africa 20 1.0 1,078

TOTAL 95 108,924
MODERN SKYSCRAPERS

2.STRUCTURAL FORMS
The structural system for a slender tall building is to think of it as a beam cantilevering from the earth. From
the structural engineer’s point of view, because of their incredible height, lateral loads resulting from wind
or earthquake actions play an important role in the structural design of tall buildings.

As a general rule, when other things being equal, the taller the building the more necessary is to identify
the proper structural system for resisting lateral loads, in which the rigidity and stability requirements are
often the dominant factors in the design. Moreover, the selection of the structural system of a tall building
involves the following factors:

• economic criteria related to the budget of the project;

• function of the building;

• internal planning;

• material and method of construction;

• external architectural treatment;

• planned location and routing of the service systems;

• height and proportions of the building.

TYPES OF STRUCTURES

1.INTERIOR STRUCTURE

MOMENT RESISTING FRAMES

It consists of horizontal (girder) and vertical (column) members rigidly connected together in a
planar grid form. Such frames resist load primarily through the flexural stiffness of the members.
The size of the columns is mainly controlled by the gravity loads that accumulate towards the base
of the building giving rise to progressively larger column sizes towards the base from the roof.
The size of the girders, on the other hand, is controlled by stiffness of the frame in order to ensure
acceptable lateral sway of the building. Gravity load is more or less the same in all typical floors of
a tall building, the girder sizes need to be increased to increase the frame stiffness.
Likewise, columns already sized for gravity loads need to be slightly increased to increase the
frame stiffness as well. MRFs can be located in or around the core, on the exterior, and throughout
the interior of the building along grid lines.

BRACED FRAMES
It is laterally supported by vertical steel trusses, also called shear trusses, which resist lateral loads
primarily through axial stiffness of the members. It supports an efficient height limit up to 10
floors. It is used for LOW-RISE-BUILDINGS. Braced frames are generally located in the service and
elevator core areas of tall buildings. The frame diagonals are enclosed within the walls.

SHEAR WALLS
Reinforced concrete planar solid or coupled shear walls have been one of the most popular
systems used for high-rise construction to resist lateral forces caused by wind and earthquakes.
They are treated as vertical cantilevers fixed at the base.
When two or more shear walls in the same plane are interconnected by beams or slabs, as is the
case with shear walls with door or window openings, the total stiffness of the system exceeds the
sum of the individual wall stiffness. This is so because the connecting beam forces the walls to act
as a single unit by restraining their individual cantilever actions. These are known as coupled shear
walls.
Shear walls used in tall office buildings are generally located around service and elevator cores,
and stairwells.

RIGID FRAME
Rigid frames may be combined with vertical steel trusses or reinforced concrete shear walls to
create shear wall (or shear truss)-frame interaction systems.Rigid frame systems are not efficient
for buildings over 30 stories in height because the shear racking component of deflection caused
by the bending of columns and girders causes the building to sway excessively .

OUTRIGGERED FRAME
The outriggers are generally in the form of trusses in steel structures, or walls in concrete
structures, that effectively act as stiff headers inducing a tension-compression couple in the outer
columns. Belt trusses are often provided to distribute these tensile and compressive forces to a
large number of exterior frame columns. The belt trusses also help in minimizing differential
elongation and shortening of columns. Outriggers can also be supported on mega columns in the
perimeter of the building.
Although this structure is primarily an interior system, the belt trusses or mega columns offer a
wider perimeter, thus resisting the lateral push of the building’s ‘feet’ spread.
For buildings between about 30 to 70 stories, steel braced cores or reinforced concrete core walls
are generally effective for resisting lateral loads. However, for greater heights, the resistance of
the core systems to bending caused by overturning becomes progressively inefficient.
FIGURE: INTERIOR SRTUCTURES

2. EXTERIOR STRUCTURE

BRACED TUBE

A braced tube is a variation of the framed tube and was first applied on the 100-story John
Hancock Center of 1970 in Chicago (Ali, 2001).This concept stems from the fact that instead of
using closely spaced perimeter columns, it is possible to stiffen the widely spaced columns by
diagonal braces to create wall-like characteristics. The framed tube becomes progressively
inefficient over 60 stories since the web frames begin to behave as conventional rigid frames.
Consequently, beam and column designs are controlled by bending action, resulting in large size.
In addition, the cantilever behavior of the structure is thus undermined and the shear lag effect is
aggravated.
A braced tube overcomes this problem by stiffening the perimeter frames in their own planes. The
braces also collect gravity loads from floors and act as inclined columns. The diagonals of a trussed
tube connected to columns at each joint effectively eliminate the effects of shear lag throughout
the tubular framework. Therefore, the columns can be more widely spaced and the sizes of
spandrels and columns can be smaller than those needed for framed tubes, allowing for larger
window openings than in the framed tubes (Khan, 1967).

BUNDLED TUBE

A bundled tube is a cluster of individual tubes connected together to act as a single unit. For very
tall structures, a single framed tube is not adequate, since the width of the building at its base
should be large to maintain a reasonable slenderness (i.e., height-to-width) ratio such that the
building is not excessively flexible and does not sway too much. The system efficiency is
considerably diminished in a single framed tube of enormous height due to shear lag effect.
For such a structure, the three-dimensional response of the structure could be improved for
strength and stiffness by providing cross walls or cross frames in the building.
The 110-story Sears Tower completed in 1974 was the first bundled tube structure in which nine
steel framed tubes are bundled at the base, some of which are terminated at various levels along
the building’s height with two tubes continuing between the 90th floor and the roof (Ali, 2001).

TUBE IN TUBE SYSTEM

The stiffness of a framed tube can also be enhanced by using the core to resist part of the lateral
load resulting in a tube-in-tube system. The floor diaphragm connecting the core and the outer
tube transfer the lateral loads to both systems. The core itself could be made up of a solid tube, a
braced tube, or a framed tube. Such a system is called a tube-in-tube.
An example of which is the 52-story One Shell Plaza of 1971 in Houston, Texas. It is also possible
to introduce more than one tube inside the perimeter tube.
The inner tube in a tube-in-tube structure can act as a second line of defense against a malevolent
attack with airplanes or missiles. For example, a solid concrete core in the World Trade Center in
New York could probably have saved many lives of those who were trapped in fire above the levels
of airplane impact.
 DIAGRID SYSTEM
With their structural efficiency as a varied version of the tubular systems, diagrid structures have
been emerging as a new aesthetic trend for tall buildings in this era of pluralistic styles. Early
designs of tall buildings recognized the effectiveness of diagonal bracing members in resisting
lateral forces. Most of the structural systems deployed for early tall buildings were steel frames
with diagonal bracings of various configurations such as X, K, and chevron.
However, while the structural importance of diagonals was well recognized, the aesthetic potential
of them was not appreciated since they were considered obstructive for viewing the outdoors.
Thus, diagonals were generally embedded within the building cores which were usually located in
the interior of the building.

SPACE TRUSS
Space truss structures are modified braced tubes with diagonals connecting the exterior to
interior. In a typical braced tube structure, all the diagonals, which connect the chord
members – vertical corner columns in general, are located on the plane parallel to the facades.
However, in space trusses, some diagonals penetrate the interior of the building.

SUPERFRAME
A super frame is composed of mega columns comprising braced frames of large dimensions at
building corners, linked by multistory trusses at about every 15 to 20 stories. The concept of super
frame can be used in various ways for tall buildings, such as the 56-story tall Parque Central
Complex Towers of 1979 in Caracas, Venezuela and the 168-story tall Chicago World Trade Center
proposed by Fazlur Khan in 1982

EXOSKELETON
In exoskeleton structures, lateral load-resisting systems are placed outside the building lines away
from their facades.
Due to the system’s compositional characteristics, it acts as a primary building identifier – one of
the major roles of building facades in general cases. Fire proofing of the system is not a serious
issue due to its location outside the building line. However, thermal expansion/contraction of the
system, exposed to the ever-changing outdoor weather, and the systemic thermal bridges should
be carefully considered during design.
 FIGURE: EXTERIOR STRUCTURE

3. LOADS ON SKYSCRAPER
The load a skyscraper experiences is largely from the force of the building material itself. In most
building designs, the weight of the structure is much larger than the weight of the material that it
will support beyond its own weight.
In technical terms, the dead load, the load of the structure, is larger than the live load, the weight
of things in the structure (people, furniture, vehicles, etc). As such, the amount of structural
material required within the lower levels of a skyscraper will be much larger than the material
required within higher levels. This is not always visually apparent, or borne out visually.
The wind loading on a skyscraper is also considerable. In fact, the lateral wind load imposed on
super-tall structures is generally the governing factor in the structural design. Wind pressure
increases with height, so for very tall buildings, the loads associated with wind are larger than
dead or live loads.
Depending upon the mass and shape of the building, and the region, although, the wind load is
very important in the design of tall buildings, in seismic regions, inertial loads from the shaking of
the ground also play an important role.
Furthermore, in contrast to vertical loads which can be estimated roughly from previous field
observations, lateral loads, namely the wind and earthquake loads, on buildings are fairly
unpredictable, and cannot be assessed accurately.
However, with the help of modern materials and computer analysis today, engineers can calculate
the forces acting on a building much more precisely, and determine the best structural design.
TYPES OF LATERAL LOADS
1. WIND LOADS
 VARIATION OF WIND WITH HEIGHTS

An important characteristic of wind is the variation of its speed with height. The wind speed
increase follows a curved line varying from zero at the ground surface to a maximum at some
distance above the ground. The height at which the speed stops to increase is called the gradient
height, and the corresponding speed, the gradient wind speed
This important characteristic of wind is a well understood phenomenon that higher design
pressures are specified at higher elevations in most building codes.
Additionally, at heights of approximately 366 m from the ground, surface friction has an almost
negligible effect on the wind speed; as such the wind movement is only depend on the prevailing
seasonal and local wind effects. The height through which the wind speed is affected by the
topography is called atmospheric boundary layer (Taranath, 1998). The wind speed profile within
this layer is in the domain of turbulent flow and could be mathematically calculated .

Figure 2.30 Variation of wind speed with height (Taranath, 1998)

 TURBULANT AND DYNAMIC NATURE OF WIND

Wind transfers some amount of its energy to the object that it hit on its path. The measure of the
amount or energy transferred is called the gust response factor. Terrain roughness and variety of
the height above ground, affect wind turbulence (also known as gustiness)
(Taranath, 1998).
Wind loads related with gustiness or turbulence, change rapidly and even abruptly unlike the
mean flow of wind with static characteristic. Furthermore, the motion of wind is turbulent.
Turbulence can be described as, any movement of air at speeds greater than 0.9 to 1.3 m/s,
resulting in random movement of air particles in all directions (Taranath,1998).The scale and
intensity of turbulence can be related to the size and rotating speed of eddies (a circular
movement of wind) that create the turbulence.
Additionally, the flow of a large mass of air has a larger overall turbulence than that of a small
mass of air.
Consequently, from the structural engineer’s point of view, the wind speed can be considered to
include two components; a mean speed component increasing with height and a turbulent speed
fluctuation.
  VORTEX-SHREDDING PHENOMENON
Along wind and across wind are two important terms, used to explain the vortex-shedding
phenomenon. Along wind or simply wind is the term used to refer to drag forces. The across wind
response is a motion, which happens on a plane perpendicular to the direction of wind.
When a building is subjected to a wind flow, the originally parallel wind stream lines are displaced
on both transverse sides of the building and the forces produced on these sides are called vortices.

FIGURE: Simplified wind flow

At low wind speeds, the vortices are shed symmetrically (at the same instant) on either transverse
side of the building (Fig: a), and so building does not vibrate in the across wind direction.

(b)

(a)

On the other hand, at higher wind speeds, the vortices are shed alternately first from one and then
from the other side. When this occurs, there is an impulse both in the along wind and across wind
directions. The across wind impulses are, however, applied alternatively to the left and then to the
right. This kind of shedding which causes structural vibrations in the flow and the across wind
direction is called vortex-shedding, a phenomenon well known in fluid mechanics (Taranath, 1998).
This phenomenon of alternate shedding of vortices for a rectangular tall building is shown
schematically in Figure (b).

 CLADDING PROCESS

The cladding design for lateral loads is a very significant subject for architects and engineers.
Even though the broken glass resulting from the exterior cladding failure may be a less important
consideration than the structural collapse during an earthquake, the cost of replacement and risks
for pedestrians require careful concentration in its design.

Wind forces play a major role in glass breakage, also affected by solar radiation, mullion and
sealant details, tempering of the glass, double or single glazing of glass, and fatigue.
Breaking of large panels of glass in tall buildings can badly damage the neighboring properties and
injure the pedestrians. Glass, and indeed any other cladding material, is not assessed with strength
criteria, and hence glass cannot be purchased according to yield strength criteria unlike concrete
or steel.

Consequently, the selection, testing, and acceptance criteria for glass must definitely be based on
statistical probabilities rather than on absolute strength. The glass industry has tried to solve this
problem.

2. SEISMIC LOAD

THE seismic motions of the ground result in vibration in the structure, the behavior of a tall
building can be described as a vibration problem during an earthquake. The damage in a building
results from the inertial forces caused by the vibration of the building mass. An increase in the
mass has two adverse effects for the earthquake design.

First, it causes an increase in the force, and second, it can result in buckling and crushing of vertical
elements such as columns and walls.
On the other hand, even though the duration of strong motion is a significant measure, it is not
explicitly utilized as a design criterion at present. In order to prevent distress in structural
members and architectural components lateral deflections resulting from seismic loads should be
limited. For the design of the non-structural elements, sufficient clearance or flexible supports are
important criteria to accommodate the predictable movements.

Seismic motion response of tall buildings is to some extent generally different than low-rise
buildings. The magnitude of inertia forces generated by an earthquake depends on the building
mass, ground acceleration, the nature of foundation, and the dynamic characteristics of the
structure (Figure:a).

Although tall buildings are more flexible than low-rise buildings, and usually experience
accelerations much less than low-rise ones, a tall building subjected to ground motions for a
prolonged period may experience much larger forces if its natural period is near that of the ground
waves

Figure (a) Schematic representation of seismic force

ACTION OF WIND ON SKYSCRAPER

It has been observed that the motion of tall buildings occurs primarily in three
modes of action:

1. ALONG WINDS

Simply wind is the term used to refer to drag forces.Under the action of the wind flow, structures
experience aerodynamic forces including also the drag (along wind) force acting in the direction of
the mean wind.
Thus, the structural response induced by the wind drag is commonly referred to as the along wind
response.
The along wind motion primarily results from pressure fluctuations on windward (building’s frontal
face that wind hits) and leeward face (back face of the building).

2. ACROSS WIND
While along wind or simply wind is the term used to refer to drag forces, across wind is used to
refer to transverse wind. The across wind response, is a motion in a
plane perpendicular to the direction of wind. In the design of most modern tall buildings, the
across wind response often dominates over the along wind response . For instance, the wind
tunnel test of the Jin Mao Building showed that its maximum acceleration
in across wind direction at its design wind speed is about 1.2 times of that of the in along
wind direction.

3. TORSIONAL MODE
The oscillations of tall buildings caused by wind action have been found to occur in the along wind
and across wind directions, as well as in the torsional mode, which is more sensitive to a building’s
shape than to its general surroundings.

Point of the application of resultant wind forces acting on the surface is the geometric center of
that surface. On the other hand, the resultant of reaction forces passes through the stiffness
center of the building structure.

If the above forces are not on the same line, the resulting eccentricity creates torsional moments,
And thus the torsional motion.
Figure : Simplified two-dimensional flow of wind

4.METHODS TO CONTROL WIND

EFFECTS
In the light of human perception and serviceability concerns, many techniques have been
developed to mitigate the unnerving motions induced by wind. The wind induced dynamic
response of tall buildings can be controlled by global design modifications.

These are: increasing building mass (not feasible or practical because of the resulting
magnification of the seismic force, and the great additional cost), increasing stiffness by using an
efficient structural system, aerodynamic modifications in architecture, and addition of damping
systems including passive, active, hybrid and semi-active control.

Besides these, if suitably designed, claddings, which are selected for weather resistance quality
and pleasing appearance, can also provide a significant amount of damping.

 AERODYNAMIC MODIFICATION IN ARCHITECTURE

The wind induced motion of a tall building can be controlled either by reducing the wind loads or
by reducing the response. A proper selection of building shape and architectural modifications can
result in the reduction of motion by altering the flow pattern around the building.

A building can be designed with smooth lines and curves so that it, like a plane, is highly
aerodynamic, and that the wind will just move smoothly over it, without pushing too much.

Therefore, aerodynamic modifications in architecture, modifications of cross-sectional shape of

the building, its corner geometry, sculptured building tops, openings through building are also an
extremely important and effective design tool to mitigate wind induced motion.
 WIND RESISTANT STRUCTURAL SYSTEM
Mass and stiffness are the two properties that influence the frequency of vibration of the building,
and so directly relate to how much it sways. In order to mitigate this motion, increasing the mass is
unfeasible and impractical because of its negative results.

On the other hand, increasing the stiffness of the building, namely the proper selection of the
structural system is one of the most efficient design approaches. The resistance of tall buildings to
wind as well as to earthquakes is the main determinant in the formulation of new structural
systems that evolve by the continuous efforts of structural engineers to increase building height
while keeping the deflection within acceptable limits and minimizing the amount of materials.

An efficient structural system can provide an effective means of controlling structural response to
wind in lateral and torsional directions.

Outrigger-belt, framed tube, exterior braced and bundled tube systems are the most efficient
structural systems against wind loading. These systems are for buildings with more than 100
stories.

 ADDITION OF DAMPING SYSTEM

In the design of tall buildings, engineers must assume a level of the natural damping in the
structure to assess the building habitability during frequent wind storms.
The actual damping in building structures is a difficult quantity to measure and varies according to
the response levels, type of structural systems, cladding system and materials used for
construction.

Recognizing this uncertainty associated with estimating the natural damping in structural systems,
engineers have introduced energy dissipating systems into the design of buildings.

These devices are called “dampers” in short and like the dampers used for slowing down the
closing of the doors they dampen the motion of the building.
The addition of damping is then another approach towards the reduction of the effects of the wind
induced motion on a tall building.

Damping systems can be mainly classified into two groups:

1- soil damping;

2- auxiliary damping.
Even though not marked for tall buildings, damping contributions may be obtained from the
soil-foundation interaction, i.e. soil damping.

On the other hand, if the inherent damping is not adequate, auxiliary damping devices could
be utilized, offering a relatively more predictable, adaptable, and reliable method of imparting
additional damping to a system.
The use of these systems is focused on the reduction of the acceleration response of the upper
floors of a building.

Since this type of motion has traditionally been a problem only in tall buildings, most applications
of energy dissipating systems for occupant comfort control occur in buildings with over 40 stories,
and located in turbulent environments

Auxiliary damping sources can be basically categorized as two groups:

1- passive system

2- active system

Moreover, these systems may be further subcategorized based on their mechanism

of energy dissipation and their system requirements. These categories are semi-active and
hybrid systems.

Passive control devices

-systems which do not require an external power source. These

devices impart forces that are developed in response to the motion of the structure, for e.g.,
viscoelastic dampers, tuned mass dampers, and tuned liquid dampers etc.

Active control systems

- driven by an externally applied force which tends to neutralize the unwanted vibrations. The
control force generated is dependent on the feedback of the structural response. Examples of such
systems include active mass dampers, active tendon systems etc.

Semi-active control systems

-a class of active control systems for which the external

energy requirements are orders of magnitude smaller than typical active control systems.
Examples of such devices include semi active impact dampers, adjustable tuned liquid
dampers, and controllable fluid dampers.

As an alternative system ,
hybrid control implies the combined use of active and passive
systems or semi-active and passive systems. Hybrid mass damper is an example of this type.
FIGURE: the damper
in place
FIGURE: Auxiliary damping scheme

5. CONCLUSION
Newer and improved methods of construction materials especially iron and steel
and innovative methods in construction catalyzed the skyscrapers construction.
Building more and more skyscrapers would add beauty and enchanting view to the
city .

But meanwhile utmost care should be taken while constructing and after it,
otherwise it may result in huge loss of both human lives and property.

In future skyscrapers would become the part of every metropolitan city.

Although height may not be the problem the, but still sky is the limit.