Structural system Braced frame
structural system
Rigid frame structural system
Wall-frame system (dual
system)
Shear wall system
Core and outrigger structural
system
Infilled frame structural system • Calculated that building
Flat plate and flat slab
structural system
Tube structural system
Coupled wall system
Hybrid structural system
The flat slab is a two-way
reinforced structural system
that includes either drop panels for limit on LeMessurier’s
or column capitals at columns
to resist heavier loads and thus insurance.
permit longer spans.
Eg. MRF tires logo
William Le Messurier
designed the structure for
the Citicorp Center in
Manhattan.
Lemessurier took
responsibility for
reinforcing the structure.
would fall down in a 16-
year storm.
• Determined that welding
steel plates over 200 joints
would secure the building.
• Worked with Citicorp to
organize repairs over two
months. • Litigation settled
professional liability
Diagrid structural system
Diagrid is an exterior structural system in which all
perimeter vertical columns are eliminated and consists of
only inclined columns on the façade of the building. •
Shear and over-turning moment developed are resisted by
axial action of these diagonals compared to bending of
vertical columns in framed tube structure. • Vertical
columns in the core are designed for carrying gravity loads
only and the diagrid is useful for both gravity and lateral
loading. • Diagonalized applications of structural steel
members for providing efficient solutions both in terms of
strength and stiffness are not new, however nowadays a
renewed interest in it and a wide spread application of
diagrid is registered with reference to large span and high
rise buildings, particularly when they are characterized by
complex geometries and curved shapes• The diagrid
systems are the evolution of braced tube structures. • The
major difference between a braced tube building and a
diagrid building is that, there are no vertical columns
present in the perimeter of diagrid building. • The
diagonal members in diagrid structures act both as
inclined columns and as bracing elements and due to their
triangulated configuration, mainly internal axial forces
arise in the members. • Diagrid structures do not need
high shear rigidity cores because shear can be carried by
the diagrids located on the perimeter.• Diagrid has good
appearance and it is easily recognized. • The configuration
and efficiency of a diagrid system reduce the number of
structural element required on the façade of the buildings,
therefore less obstruction to the outside view. • The
structural efficiency of diagrid system also helps in
avoiding interior and corner columns, therefore allowing
significant flexibility with the floor plan. • Perimeter
“diagrid” system saves approximately 20 percent
structural steel weight when compared to a conventional
moment-frame structure. • An early example of the
diagrid structure is the IBM Building in Pittsburgh built in
the early 1960s, with its 13-storey building height.
> The Swiss Re tower in London, Hearst tower in New
York, CCTV headquarters building in Beijing, Mode Gakuen
Spiral Tower in Aichi, West tower in Guangzhou, Lotte
super tower in Seoul, Capital Gate in Abu Dhabi etc. are
some other popular diagrid buildings.
DIAGRID COMPONENTS • Nodes • Diagonal Members •
Ring Beams • Tie Beams • Core • Floor Slab
EXAMPLES- SWISS RE TOWER , LONDON • First modern
application of diagrid structure. • Designed by Sir Norman
Foster, with 40 stories and an interstory height of 4.15 m,
the tower is 180 meters tall. • Consists of a central core
and a perimeter “diagrid’. • Core is required to act only as
a loadbearing element and is free from the diagonal
bracing, producing more flexible floor plates. • Tower’s
circular plan widens as it rises from the ground and then
tapers toward its apex. • The aerodynamic form of the
tower encourages wind to flow around its face, minimizing
wind loads on the structure and cladding, and enables the
use of a more efficient structure.
CORE SUPPORTED STRUCTURES - BURJ KHALIFA
• Burj Khalifa, the 828m tall reinforced concrete tower
structure, is an example of core supported structures.
• Unlike typical core supported structures, this building was
designed utilizing all of the vertical members to support
both gravity and lateral loads.
• The basic structural system consists of a six-sided central
hub with three wings clustered around it.
• The system can be described as a ‘buttressed core’, where
each of the wings support the others via the central
hexagonal core.
• This central core, consisting of high performance concrete
wall, provides the torsional resistance of the structure.
• The corridor walls are extended from the central core to
near the end of each wing and are terminated in thickened
hammer head walls. While resisting the shear and moment
demands induced from wind loads, these corridor walls
behave similar to the webs and hammer head walls behave
like flanges.
• In addition to providing high structural performance and
enhancing the views from the building, the spiraling ‘Y’
shaped design helps to reduce the wind forces on the tower
along with fostering construction by keeping the structure
simple (Baker et al., 2007).
• The rest of the structural system is the perimeter columns
with a flat plate floor system.
• At mechanical floors, 3-story high outrigger walls are used.
• These walls link the perimeter columns to the interior
corridor walls and thereby, force them to be a part of the
lateral load resisting system. With that, not only the gravity
load resisting system is almost fully utilized to resist lateral
loads, but also the structure is extremely stiff, both laterally
and torsionally (Baker et al., 2007).
• As the tower rises, the setback of the wings – one wing at
each tier in an upward helical pattern - provides many
different floor plates and a decreasing cross section as the
tower reaches toward the sky in 26 spiral levels, giving a
visual impression of a series of towers of differing heights.
• To avoid the presence of any structural transfers so that a
direct downward load path can be ensured, the setbacks are
structured with the tower’s grids.
• The stepping of the building is accomplished by simply
aligning columns above with walls below.
• As these setbacks provide different widths for each
differing floor plate, the wind has to encounter a different
building shape at each new tier over the height of the
structure; and as a result wind vortices never get organized.
• Thus, this upward spiraling pattern of setbacks along with
the ‘Y’ shaped floor plans, determined based on extensive
wind tunnel tests using the concept of “confusing the wind”,
help reduce the wind force significantly (Baker et al., 2007).
Dr Fazlur Rahman Khan, Ph.D. (1929-1982)…….. Einstein of
structural engineering and father of tubular designs.
• Fazlur Rahman Khan was a Bangladeshi-American
structural engineer and architect who initiated important
structural systems for skyscrapers.
• Considered the "father of tubular designs“ for high-rises,
Khan was also a pioneer in computer-aided design (CAD).
• He was the designer of the Sears Tower (now Willis
Tower), the tallest building in the world until 1998 and the
100- storey John Hancock Center.
• Khan, more than any other individual, usher in a
renaissance in skyscraper construction during the second
half of the 20th century. He has been called the "Einstein of
structural engineering“ and the "Greatest Structural
Engineer of the 20th Century" for his innovative use of
structural systems that remain fundamental to modern
skyscraper construction.
• The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat
established the Fazlur R. Khan lifetime achievement medal
in his honor.
• Although best known for skyscrapers, Khan was also an
active designer of other kinds of structures, including the
Hajj airport terminal, the McMath–Pierce solar telescope,
and several stadium structures.
❑ Innovations
• Khan discovered that the rigid steel frame structure that
had dominated tall building design and construction so long
was not the only system fitting for tall buildings, marking
the beginning of a new era of skyscraper construction.
❑ EXAMPLE - Tube structural systems
• John Hancock Center is the world's first mixed use tower.
It was the tallest building in the world outside New York
City.
• Khan's central innovation in skyscraper design and
construction was the idea of the "tube“ structural system
for tall buildings, including the "framed tube", "trussed
tube" and "bundled tube" variations.
• His "tube concept," using all the exterior wall perimeter
structure of a building to simulate a thin-walled tube,
revolutionized tall building design.
• Most buildings over 40- storeys constructed since the
1960s now use a tube design derived from Khan's structural
engineering principles.
• The tubular designs are for resisting lateral loads
(horizontal forces) such as wind forces, seismic forces, etc.
• Khan was among a group of engineers who encouraged a
rebirth in skyscrapers construction after a hiatus for over
thirty years.
• Khan pioneered the use of lightweight concrete for high-
rise buildings, at a time when reinforced concrete was
utilized primarily for low-rise construction of only a few
stories in height.
❑ Contributions of fazlur kahan – development of the tube
structure.
• Most of Khan's designs were conceived considering pre-
fabrication and repetition of components so projects could
be quickly built with minimal errors.