Drift and Cost Comparison of Different Structural Systems for Tall Buildings

The race towards new heights and architecture has not been without challenges. Tall structures have continued to climb higher and higher facing strange loading effects and very high loading values due to dominating lateral loads. The design criteria for tall buildings are strength, serviceability, stability and human comfort. But the factors govern the design of tall and slender buildings all the times are serviceability and human comfort against lateral loads. As a result, lateral stiffness is a major consideration in the design of tall buildings. The first parameter that is used to estimate the lateral stiffness of a tall building is drift index. Different lateral load resisting structural subsystems can be used to impart stiffness and reduce drift in the building. Lateral load resisting subsystems can take many forms depending upon the orientation, integration and addition of the various structural components. In this research, sixteen different lateral load resisting structural subsystems are used to design a tall building and finally the most economical structural system is selected amongst these. For this purpose a hundred and five storey square shaped prismatic steel building uniform through the height is selected, analyzed and designed for gravity and wind loads. Analysis and design of selected lateral load resisting structural subsystems reveals that, for the building configuration selected, the structural system containing composite super columns with portals subsystem is most efficient.