Analysis and design of reinforced concrete load-bearing structure of a commercial building in Ljubljana

In the thesis an analysis and design of characteristic elements of the load-bearing structure for the selected multi-story building was undertaken. The building is located in Ljubljana and is a constituent of a building complex. Buildings are detached by expansion joints so one can be addressed separately. Load-bearing structure consists of monolithic reinforced concrete floor panels, reinforced concrete walls and reinforced concrete frames. The building was planned and designed according to the preceding Yugoslav regulations, therefore in this thesis the supporting elements are designed according to currently valid European standards in the field of civil engineering structures - Eurocode standards. To pursue the limit state design method an idealized mathematical model of the building was subjected to design loads. The effects of permanent loads and imposed loads for various areas were determined. Also, vertical and horizontal loads were calculated, due to the impact of snow load, wind and seismic effects. An idealized mathematical model for the analysis of load-bearing elements was constructed with the computer program ETABS, and an independent model for the analysis of typical floor panels was made with SAP2000 software. Both computer programs are based on finite element method. Reinforcement for individual load-bearing elements of the building was calculated in such manner that the ultimate limit state and serviceability limit state are not exceeded. Vertical loadbearing elements were designed according to method of capacity design, ensuring that the building has adequate ductility. It turns out that in the original design of the load-bearing structure the load on vertical elements was too big and consequently two additional walls were added to the periphery of the building. In the thesis a detailed procedure of design of reinforcement in typical floor panels and coupled wall was displayed. A comparison was conducted between the quantity of reinforcement calculated in this thesis and built-in reinforcement in the erected building. It was deducted that the amount of the required reinforcement at the bottom of the plate is lesser and conversely the amount of reinforcement at the top of the plate is greater than the actual built-in reinforcement. After the redesign of the load supporting structure the amount of required vertical reinforcement of the wall is smaller, then again the amount of horizontal reinforcement is greater than the actual built-in reinforcement. The amount of reinforcement for individual elements is depicted in the reinforcement drawings enclosed at the end of the thesis.