High-rise RC monolithic and

prefabricated frame buildings

a presentation by
ukasz Walaszczyk
Faculty of Civil Engineering
KBI, semester III

First classification

[1]

Classification of concrete tall building structural systems by Fazlur Khan

(1969)

First classification

[1]

Classification of concrete tall building structural systems by Fazlur Khan

(1969)
Fazlur Rahman Khan
a Bangladeshi-American structural engineer and architect
initiated important structural systems for skyscrapers.
"The Father of tubular designs for high-rises"
[6]

Modern classification
When the major part of the lateral load resisting
system is located:
within the interior of the building
> interior system
at the building perimeter

> exterior system

Interior Systems

Rigid Frames
(Moment Resisiting Frames)
Consist of horizontal and vertical
members
Members rigidly connected
together in a planar grid form.
Resist load primarily through the
flexural stiffness

[7]

[8]

Rigid Frames
(Moment Resisiting Frames)
Efficient
Height Limit

20 m

Advantages

+ Provide flexibility in floor planning

+ Easily moldable
[7]

Disadvantages

- Expensive formwork
- Slow construction

Building
Examples

Ingalls Building
(Cincinnati, USA, 16 stories, 65 m,
year 1903)
[8]

Rigid Frames
(Moment Resisiting Frames)
Efficient
Height Limit

20 m

Advantages

+ Provide flexibility in floor planning

+ Easily moldable

Disadvantages

- Expensive formwork
- Slow construction

Building
Examples

Ingalls Building
(Cincinnati, USA, 16 stories, 65 m,
year 1903)

[9]

Shear Walls
Most popular systems used to resist lateral
forces caused by wind and earthquakes
Treated as vertical cantilevers fixed at the base

[10]

Shear Wall - Frame Interaction

Systems
Frame
structure

Efficient
Height Limit

70 m

Advantages

+ Effectively resists lateral loads

Disadvantages

- Interior planning limitations due to

shear walls

Building
Examples

311 South Wacker Drive (Chicago, USA,

75 stories, 284 m, year 1990)

Shear wall
structure

[1]

Shear Wall - Frame Interaction

Systems
Efficient
Height Limit

70 m

Advantages

+ Effectively resists lateral loads

Disadvantages

- Interior planning limitations due to

shear walls.

Building
Examples

311 South Wacker Drive (Chicago, USA,

75 stories, 284 m, year 1990)

[11]

Outrigger Systems
Shear Cores + Outriggers (+ Belt Trusses) + Concrete Composite (Super) Columns

Outriggers reduce the overturning moment

in the core that would otherwise act as pure
cantilever
They transfer the reduced moment to the
outer columns

[12]

[1]

Outrigger Systems
Shear Cores + Outriggers (+ Belt Trusses) + Concrete Composite (Super) Columns
Efficient
Height Limit

150 m (for steel + concrete combination)

Advantages

+ Effectively resists bending by exterior

columns connected to outriggers extended
from the core

Disadvantages

- Outriggers interfere with

the usable space
- Nonrepetitive nature of the structural
framing (affects erection process)

Building
Examples

Jin Mao Building

(Shanghai, China, 88 stories, 421 m,
year 1990)

[12]

Outrigger Systems
Shear Cores + Outriggers (+ Belt Trusses) + Concrete Composite (Super) Columns
Efficient
Height Limit

150 m (for steel + concrete combination)

Advantages

+ Effectively resists bending by exterior

columns connected to outriggers extended
from the core

Disadvantages

- Outriggers interfere with

the usable space
- Nonrepetitive nature of the structural
framing (affects erection process)

Building
Examples

Jin Mao Building

(Shanghai, China, 88 stories, 421 m,
year 1990)

[13]

Interior Systems - Summary

[1]

Exterior Systems

Framed Tube
Closely spaced columns and deep spandrel
beams
Rigid connection throughout the exterior frames
Shear lag effect

[1]

[14]

Framed Tube
Efficient
Height Limit

60 m

Advantages

+ Efficiently resists lateral loads by

locating lateral systems at the building
perimeter

Disadvantages

- Shear lag hinders true tubular behavior.

- Narrow column spacing obstructs the
view.

Building
Examples

Water Tower Place (Chicago, USA, 74

stories, 262 m, 1975)

[14]

Braced Tube
Efficient
Height Limit

100 m

Advantages

+ Efficiently resists lateral shear by axial

forces in the diagonal members
+ Wider column spacing possible
compared with framed tubes
+ Reduced shear lag

Disadvantages

- Bracings obstruct the view

Building
Examples

Onterie Center (Chicago, 58 stories,

174 m, year 1983)

[15]

Bundled Tube
Instead of one tube, a building
consists of several tubes tied
together to resist the lateral forces

the individual tubes could be of

different shapes

[1]

Bundled Tube
Efficient
Height Limit

110 m

Advantages

+ New architectural forms possible

+ Reduced shear lag

Disadvantages

- Interior planning limitations due to the

bundled tube configuration

Building
Examples

Carnegie Hall Tower (New York, USA, 62

stories, 230.7 m, 1991)

[16]

Tube in Tube
An external and internal shear wall core act together in resisting
the lateral loads

The floor diaphragms connecting the core and the outer tube
transfer the lateral loads to both systems

[17]

Tube in Tube
External Framed Tube + Internal Core Tube
Efficient
Height Limit

80 m

Advantages

+ Effectively resists lateral loads by

producing interior shear core - exterior
framed tube interacting system.

Disadvantages

- Interior planning limitations due to

shear core

Building
Examples

One Shell Plaza (Houston, USA, 50

stories, 218 m, year 1971)

[18]

Diagrid
The main difference with respect to conventional exterior-braced frame
structures is that almost all the conventional vertical columns are
eliminated
They carry shear by axial action of the diagonal members, while conventional
tubular structures carry shear by the bending of the vertical columns and
horizontal spandrels

[19]

Diagrid
Efficient
Height Limit

60 m

Advantages

+ Efficiently resists lateral shear by axial

forces in the diagonal members.

Disadvantages

- Expensive formwork
- Slow construction

Building
Examples

O-14 Building (Dubai, UAE, 23

stories, 102 m, year 2009)

[20]

Superframes
A superframe is composed of megacolumns comprising braced
frames of large dimensions at building corners
Those are linked by multistory trusses at about every 15 to 20
stories

[21]

Superframes
Efficient
Height Limit

100 m

Advantages

+ Could produce supertall building

Disadvantages

- Building form depends to a great

degree on the structural system

Building
Examples

Parque Central Tower (Caracas,

Venezuela, 56 stories, 221 m, year )

[22]

Exterior Systems - Summary

[1]

Prefabrication

[5]

Prefabricated elements in high-rise

buidlings
Advantages:
High speed of construction
Minimization of labour cost (industrialized
contruction)
Better quality control, higher durability than
in-situ concrete

Prefabricated elements in high-rise

buidlings
Disadvantages:
Joints problem easy assembly vs. strength
and durability
More crane time needed for assembly on tall
buildings
Repetitive character of precast elements
influences building shape unattractive form

Prefabricated elements in high-rise

buidlings
In recent high-rise projects two developments
can be distinguished:

Tube structure precast elements in the

facade provide structural stability
Core structure (for transparent facades) all
columns, floors and facade elements can be
prefabricated, but the core is still cast in situ

Prefabricated elements in high-rise

buidlings

[23]

Het Strijkijzer, Hague, Netherlands, 132 m, 2005

Tube structure composed of precast concrete
elements

[24]

Carlton, Almere, Netherlands, 120 m, 2010

Apart from the core all structural elements
are prefabricated

Examples of precast elements

in high-rise buidlings

Household shelter

Three-tier columns

[5]

Rubbish chute

Facade panel

Thank you for attention

References
LITERATURE:
1.

2.

3.

4.
5.

Mir M. Ali, Kyoung Sun Moon, Structural Developments in Tall Buildings: Current Trends and Future Prospects, Architectural Science Review Vol. 50.3,
pp 205-223, Sydney 2007
http://sydney.edu.au/architecture/documents/publications/ASR/Structural%20Developments%20in%20Tall%20
Buildings.pdf
Mir M. Ali, Evolution of Concrete Skyscrapers: from Ingalls to Jin Mao, Electronic Journal of Structural Engineering, Vol. 1, No.1 (2001) 2-14,
Melbourne 2001
http://www.ejse.org/Archives/Fulltext/200101/01/20010101.htm
K.V. Tolsma, Precast concrete cores in high-rise buildings, Delft 2010
http://repository.tudelft.nl/assets/uuid:8ca752db-477f-4d8c-8f9a16330ed51b31/Precast_concrete_cores_in_high-rise_buildings.pdf
GEM Nexus Community, GEM Building Taxonomy, access: 11.15.2015
http://www.nexus.globalquakemodel.org/gem-building-taxonomy/overview/
M. Y. L. Chew, Construction Technology for Tall Buildings, Singapore 2009

PICTURES:
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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f4/FRKhan.jpg
http://www.nexus.globalquakemodel.org/gem-building-taxonomy/overview/images-1/lfm_diagram_charleson_1/image_preview
http://www.nexus.globalquakemodel.org/gem-building-taxonomy/overview/images-1/lfm_1/image_preview
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Ingalls_building_cincinnati_2006.jpg
http://www.nexus.globalquakemodel.org/gem-building-taxonomy/overview/images-1/lwal_diagram_charleson_1/image_preview
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/311_South_Wacker_Drive_060528.jpg
http://civildigital.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Tall-building-with-conventional-outriggers-and-belt-truss.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Jin_Mao_Tower.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Water_Tower_Place_060527.jpg
http://www.chicagoarchitecture.info/CAI/Images/200804/OnterieCenter-Aug08-008a.jpg
http://therealdeal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/152-west-57th-st.jpeg
http://khan.princeton.edu/images/khanOneShell2.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/OneShellPlaza.jpg
https://justinhirose.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/05_hotelaureliaa_120211.jpg
http://www.e-architect.co.uk/images/jpgs/dubai/o_14_tower_n041012_10.jpg
http://www4.kke.co.jp/stde/en/consulting/images/shanghai6.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Caracas_Central_Park_2.jpg
http://i56.tinypic.com/qouee0.jpg
http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4082/5436310544_16f20c944c_b.jpg