Analysis/design of multistory concrete buildings on microcomputers

Abstract

A computer-aided, integrated, interactive system is developed for the analysis and design of high-rise concrete buildings under vertical, wind and earthquake loads on microcomputers. This system fulfills the need for: new approaches for input and output efficiency as they affect design operation, communication between users and hardwares, problem verification when large scale data input is involved. The system presented has several advantages: no restrictions are imposed on the number of buildings to be solved in the same run, it is a “user-friendly” system, it is interactively implemented, it requires no particular type of professional, it runs with any boundary condition, a typical run can be: analysis then design, or analysis only, or design only. Also, the input data can be checked very easily. In this manner, every participant in a project will provide a share towards this integration with no need to repeat work unnecessarily.

Two phases are included. In the first one, geometry is computed or revised, eight loading cases in addition to wind and earthquake loads are considered and only analysis is conducted. In the second phase, the design is done with five options for every section. Members under concentric or eccentric loads, flexure, combined shear and torsion, combined shear and diagonal tension are considered.

With the present system, two high-rise buildings were analyzed and designed. The first buildings three different shear walls and is subjected to wind loads. The second building is composed of interconnected frames and is under earthquake loads.