arch5422 Advanced Structures and Construction

2.0 Lateral Forces

Building Loads

• Types of loads on buildings:

Vertical Loads (gravity) Dead Loads: building mass (all permanent parts of a building including structure, permanent
partitions, stairs, mechanical equipment and the building enclosure)
Live Loads (also called imposed): people, non-built-in furniture, snow, water
Lateral Loads Wind
Earthquake (seismic)
Sub-grade pressure (soil and/or water)
Impact loads: blast, tsunami, avalanche
Other: Temperature (differential)

• Types of Structure Systems and lateral resistance

Wall and pier structure (shear wall)
Post and Beam (no lateral resistance)
Pin connected steel frames (diagonal bracing)
Rigid frames both steel and reinforced concrete (stiffness achieved through rigidity of beam/column connections)
Three dimensional rigid forms: space frames, shell structures, etc. (over-all form does not require bracing)
Membrane and suspension structures (must be tied back or stiffened; ends must be laterally braced)

Loads which are constant and unchanging (like gravity) are called static loads. Some loads(wind, earthquake) vary in
intensity and occur suddenly for an instant or over a brief time period. These are called dynamic loads.
Wind force
 qh

Wind loads are dynamic in nature but are applied to buildings as a static wind pressure. The applied
force is a percentage of the velocity pressure, qh dependent on the position and angle of the building’s
surface. Negative pressure coefficient Cd indicates suction.

The velocity pressure equation above is known as the Bernoulli equation. For normal atmospheric
conditions, the constant p = .00256. Typical design wind loads are on the order of about 1 to 2 kN/m2.

Illustrations from Structures 6th Ed. by Daniel L. Schodek and Martin Bechthold
Example of stipulated wind pressures at set heights. Required wind pressures at set heights for Hong Kong.
Building Code of New York City ca. 1990. Code of Practice on Wind Effects in Hong Kong 2004
60 psf = 2.87 kN/m2. http://www.bd.gov.hk/english/documents/code/windcode2004.pdf
 Central Plaza Dennis Lau & Ng Chun Man | CTBUH 1995 Wanchai, Hong Kong
Tallest reinforced concrete tower in Asia 1992-1996. 78 floors at 374m. Triangular floor plan. Lateral resistance to wind results in an expenditure on
structure of approx. HK$1 million for every additional 1 meter in height. This led designers to develop a very efficient floor to floor dimension of 3.6m.
Design wind pressures determined by the Code of Practice on Wind Effects 1983, Building Authority Hong Kong.
Wind pressure on buildings
The wind pressure formula that determines the wind pressure acting on a surface due to a given wind speed is formulated from the
Bernoulli equation (Daniel Bernoulli 1700-1782)
q (pressure in psf) = 1 / 2 p V2 where p is air mass density and V is the wind speed in mph

Then, q = 0.00256 V2 (for a standard atmosphere at sea level and temperature 15deg, the air density is 0.0765 lb/ft3.)

Wind speed is measured by weather stations worldwide. The maximum wind speed is determined as the fastest velocity at 30ft
above ground based on a recurrence period of 50 years.
Since the velocity of the wind increases with height, the pressure on the building will vary at different heights. This variation is
calculated by formula and the results given in graphic charts such as Table 1 of the Code of Practice on Wind Effects in Hong Kong
2004.
Another factor that affects wind speed is context, or the type of exposure to wind of the surrounding area. Four exposure
conditions are used.
Exposure A: large, dense cities a = 3.0 zg = 1500 ft
Exposure B: urban and suburban areas, also forested areas a = 4.5 zg = 1200 ft
Exposure C: flat, open country and slightly rolling landscape a = 7.0 zg = 900 ft
Exposure D: unobstructed coastal areas a = 10.0 zg = 700 ft

The factors “a” and “zg” are used in the following exposure coefficient formula: Kz = 2.58 (z / zg)2/a

The final consideration is the shape of the building in plan. For a typical rectangular hi-rise, the shape coefficient Cp= 1.3
The full equation then for wind pressure taking into account the height above the ground (z), the exposure condition (Kz), and the
shape coefficient Cp is:

q = 0.00256 V2 Kz Cp

Therefore, for an exposure condition C, the wind pressure at 250ft high due to a 100mph wind speed on a rectangular bldg. is:

q = 0.00256 (100mph)2 x (2.58) ( 250 / 900)2/7 (1.3) = 59.5 psf (2.85 kN/m2)
To convert wind pressure into kN/m2
First, divide the wind speed (if given in km/hr) by 1.609 to get mph, substitute, and multiply the calculated pressure by .04788 to get kN/m2.

Note: to calculate the complex exponential (250/900)2/7 it is convenient to refer to the following website:
http://www.analyzemath.com/Calculators_2/power_calculator.html
Earthquake force
Earthquake forces are the result of sudden and extreme ground
movements. The ground during an earthquake can move in a complex
pattern (up/down, laterally, rotating) producing dynamic movements in the
structure. This phenomenon is called ground shaking and is the primary
concern of earthquake resistant design. Other associated destructive
aspects of an earthquake include:

• surface fault ruptures (which may engulf a structure)

• ground failure or subsidence (ground becomes soft and may liquify)

• tsunami
If a building were completely rigid (and weightless), the lateral movement of
the ground during an earthquake (the acceleration force, a) would simply move
the entire building as a unit with it. However, a building has weight that
generates an inertial force, Fi (resistance to sudden movement) in the opposite
direction. At the base of the building these opposing forces create shear (V) in
the structure of the building at the ground. This is referred to as base shear.
 wind earthquake

Buildings, however, are not entirely rigid. A flexible structure will have a more
complex response to earthquake acceleration force. This response results in
vibratory movements that depend on the relative stiffness of the building and
its natural period of vibration.
The stiffness of columns in a tall building affects the vibration of the structure. If
the columns are of low stiffness, they are less able to restore the deflected
structure to its original position. The top of the structure moves slowly back and
forth. This is a long natural period of vibration. If the columns are more rigid,
they provide stronger restoring forces which bring the deflected structure back
to the original shape more quickly. The oscillation of the top of the structure is
more rapid. The natural period of vibration is short.
All buildings have damping mechanisms that absorb energy and cause the
vibrational movements to come to rest. The deflection of the beams and columns
in a steel frame absorbs energy and resists the vibrational movement. Other
mechanisms may be more destructive, such as the cracking of partitions. As an
alternative, special devices to minimize the movement caused by lateral forces
have been developed. One such device is a tuned mass damper.
A tuned mass damper in a high-rise building. The heavy mass or pendulum swings
in a controlled way to counter the swinging movement induced by dynamic loads.

Illustrations from Structures 6th Ed. by Daniel L. Schodek and Martin Bechthold
The 1977 Citicorp Tower was one of the first tall buildings to use a tuned mass damping device. Essentially a
large concrete block. Today other types of mass damping include water tanks. The Summit and the Highcliff
residential towers in Hong Kong use a specially designed water tank as a tuned mass damping device.
Tuned Liquid Dampener
Design for earthquake force
Seismic design considerations……

• Lightweight construction (steel and wood framing) is preferred to heavy construction

(concrete and masonry).

• Regular symmetrical building layout in plan (regular distribution of weight and lateral
force resisting structures such as shear walls).

• Unvarying (no change) lateral force resisting elements from ground to top of
building.

• Energy absorbing ductile structures (steel frame) versus rigid and brittle structure
(masonry wall).

• In special cases, support elements that allow the building some movement at ground
level (base isolation devices) are effective in mitigating the destructive seismic base
shear forces.
Regularity in the distribution of both mass and lateral force resisting systems is the
most important design factor in achieving better earthquake resistant performance.
In a building with a complex shape, different parts of the structure will react to the
seismic forces unevenly, creating torsion effects.
Abrupt change in resistance is illustrated by the ground level “soft story”.
Collapse of the L-shaped San Marco Building in the 1925 Santa Barbara California earthquake.

Building shapes with inside corners and wings are susceptible to damage due to torsional forces.
Lateral force resisting systems:
low rise structures
Illustrations from Structures 6th Ed. by Daniel L. Schodek and Martin Bechthold
Illustrations from Structures 6th Ed. by Daniel L. Schodek and Martin Bechthold
Structural bearing wall systems as lateral force resisting shear planes (concrete masonry must be reinforced).

Illustrations from Structures 6th Ed. by Daniel L. Schodek and Martin Bechthold
1 Bearing wall system Three types: cross wall system, long wall system and two-way system.

Illustrations from Horizontal-Span Building Structures. Wolfgang Schueller

2 Wall-core system Lateral force resistance is shared between load bearing wall structure and service core structures.

Illustrations from Horizontal-Span Building Structures. Wolfgang Schueller

Illustrations from Structures 6th Ed. by Daniel L. Schodek and Martin Bechthold
Shear walls.
Openings in shear walls can reduce the effectiveness of lateral force resistance.
In fig. a the openings in the wall are small and do not significantly affect performance, The
wall acts as a single panel to resist overturning. In fig. e the opening in the wall is continuous
and causes the end-wall to act as two independent shear walls with each resisting half the
lateral force. However, the total amount of lateral force the two walls can resist is much less
than the amount that can be resisted by the nearly solid shear wall as shown in fig. a.

Illustrations from Horizontal-Span Building Structures. Wolfgang Schueller

Examples of different configurations of shear resisting panels.

Illustrations from Horizontal-Span Building Structures. Wolfgang Schueller

3 Core-frame system The structural core acts as a shear wall. The frame may contribute also to the lateral stiffness, depending on the
type of frame. A hinged frame contributes nothing and only carries vertical loads. A rigid frame contributes significantly.

Illustrations from Horizontal-Span Building Structures. Wolfgang Schueller

The surfaces between structural columns in a frame structure have secondary framing elements that transfer
the wind force to either the ground and roof beams: (a) vertical secondary framing (wind columns) or to the
columns: (b) horizontal secondary framing (wind girts).
Illustrations from Structures 6th Ed. by Daniel L. Schodek and Martin Bechthold
This diagram shows a one-story frame with diagonal bracing in the end bay frames but no stiffening of the
two interior frames. Wind loads transmitted from the envelope to the roof beam (by secondary framing
columns not shown) cause the interior frames to ‘rack’ distorting the roof plane. The roof beams on the
edges of the long sides have no stiffness to resist the lateral forces applied along their length. Consequently
they develop axial forces (NC and NT) analogous to the top and bottom chords in a frame laying on its side.
Illustration from Horizontal-Span Building Structures. Wolfgang Schueller
Illustrations from Structures 6th Ed. by Daniel L. Schodek and Martin Bechthold
The short dimension of frame systems is the most critical. Efficient lateral load resisting mechanisms such as cross
bracing with tension members is often used. In the long direction frame action is often employed upon for lateral
resistance. This requires the frame elements (columns and beams) to be rigidly connected at the joints.

Illustrations from Structures 6th Ed. by Daniel L. Schodek and Martin Bechthold
 Distribution of bending moments in a portal frame under lateral loading.
Note the mid-span and mid-floor height locations of inflection points. These are points on the moment diagram where the curvature changes
and hence the moment force changes from sign (e.g. from positive to negative bending moment). At this point the moment is zero.
Vocational Training Center Jourda & Perraudin, arch. Herne-Sodingen, Germany 1998
Diagonal (cross bracing) in the roof plane of the Vocational Training Center resists
distortion (dashed line) under the lateral loading along its edge.
Illustrations from Structures 6th Ed. by Daniel L. Schodek and Martin Bechthold
INMOS Microprocessor Factory Richard Rogers Partnership / Anthony Hunt, Engr. Newport, UK ca. 1982
Centre Pompidou. Stiff compress struts connecting trusses together at their ends and mid-points to form a braced shear wall. On the
long sides the crossed tension rods keep the frames from racking sideways.
Maintenance building at Fiumicino Airport, Rome Italy. Fuhlsbuttel Air Terminal, Hamburg Germany
Ricardo Morandi ca. 1960 Von Gerken, Marg and Partners 1993

Slanted columns. Pairs of slanted columns connected across the top with a continuous beam forms a stiff, lateral force resisting
structure similar to a braced frame.
Bodegas Protos Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners Penafiel, Spain 2010
Diagram of roof beam framing structure. Slanted steel struts support the roof beams above the arches. The diagonal struts
are pin-connected to the beams, but the stable triangular configuration creates a lateral force resisting mechanism.
Lateral forces acting from the left side will cause the triangular strut configuration to rotate clockwise. This rotation is
resisted by the stiffness of the beams which cannot bend as shown to accommodate the deflected shape.
Steel trusses at various levels serve both as horizontal span structure and lateral force resisting elements.
Lateral force system: stiff core-columns acting like “shear walls” Sendai Mediatheque Toyo Ito & Associates 2000
Lateral force system: braced columns acting like “shear walls”. Hall 26 Thomas Herzog Hanover Expo 2000
Lateral forces on hi-rise structures
overturning bending shear racking

Effects of lateral forces on a tall building.

Tacoma Narrows Bridge (collapsed under moderately strong winds in 1940) Washington State, USA
The Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse led to research into the effects of wind induced resonating forces on structures. This led to fundamental changes in the
design approach to the structures with respect to the stiffness of the structure/building as well as its fundamental period of oscillation or resonance.
Wind forces on a tall building. Example of variation of wind pressures as measured by a research study at MIT.

Wind profiles for three different ground conditions. Set backs on a tall building reduces the surface area
exposed to wind at the top where wind force is greatest.
Wind induced sway of tall buildings.
As wind hits the surface of a tall building it will wrap around the side of the structure creating wind currents called “eddies” that create negative pressures. The
wind fluctuates from side to side of the tall building and this constant fluctuation will cause the building to deflect laterally. If the frequency of the changing
pressure from side to side matches the natural resonance frequency of the tower, it will be magnified and deflections will increase dramatically. To counter this
effect it has been found that the tapered shape of a tower as well as certain asymmetries in the profile will disrupt the wind currents and counter the effect of
sway. Also large openings in a tower, especially near the top, will have a similar effect.
Pirelli Headquarters Tower Milan, Italy
Gio Ponti with P. L. Nervi ca. 1963

Wind tunnel tests measured the deflection of the Pirelli tower and
demonstrated the torsional deflection resulting from the asymmetric
placement of the cores.
Tall buildings with efficient shapes.

A rounded shape in plan allows wind to

flow more easily around a tall building.
Building Codes allow the wind
pressure for octagonal and hexagonal
shapes to be reduced 20% while
circular and elliptical shapes may be
reduced by 40%.

The tapering of a building as it rises

effects a large reduction in wind loads
and therefore drift. At higher elevations
where wind speeds are high, there is
less building surface providing
resistance to the wind, thereby
lessening the amount of wind force on
the structure.
The profile of the tall building is shaped to reflect the bending moment diagram.
The wider base provides a larger resisting moment to overturning without a
corresponding increase in the column stress.
Influence of plan configuration on the amount of wind pressure on a tall building.

1967 wind study in conjunction with the design of the U.S. Steel Building in Pittsburg to determine variations in wind pressure on different tall building plan
configurations. Besides demonstrating the advantage of circular over square or rectangular shapes, the study offered a way to calculate the effect on wind
pressure of slight changes in the building profile.
Marina City 1962 Hopewell Centre 1980 RWE Headquarters 1996 Swiss Re Tower 2003
Comparison of proportional weight of steel in a steel
frame building with regard to building height.
At about 50 stories (200m) the weight of steel required
in the structure designed to resist the lateral loads (wind
bracing) is approximately equal to the weight of steel for
the vertical load bearing structure (columns) and also
the steel required for the horizontal structure (floor
framing). The amount of steel in the floor framing is
constant and depends on the span between columns. In
a typical steel frame with a span of 8-10m the weight is
approximately 8 psf (383 N/m2 or Pa).
Illustrations from Structures 6th Ed. by Daniel L. Schodek and Martin Bechthold
Illustrations from Structures 6th Ed. by Daniel L. Schodek and Martin Bechthold
Reference

Code of Practice on Wind Effects in Hong Kong 2004

http://www.bd.gov.hk/english/documents/code/windcode2004.pdf
Structures. Daniel L. Schodek and Martin Bechthold. See Chapter 14 Structural Systems: Design for
Lateral Loadings. TA 645 S37 2008
Buildings at risk: seismic design basics for practicing architects. Christopher Arnold. TA 658.44 B85 1994