A general hand method of analysis for tall building structures subject to lateral loads /

A generalized approximate hand method of analysis is presented for determining the lateral deflections and internal forces in complex multi-storey structures subject to lateral loading. The buildings may include symmetric or asymmetric combinations of coupled walls, rigid frames, shear walls, wall-frames, rigid frames with central walls, frames with single and multi-storey bracing systems as well as cores that are either open or partially closed by floor beams. The deformations taken into account include bending, axial, shear and torsion.The analysis is based on the continuous medium technique in which the bents in the structure are replaced by idealized assemblies representing their characteristic modes of behaviour. The proposed method is restricted to structures with uniform geometry up the height and linear elastic behaviour of the structural members.Design equations are presented for the conventional lateral loading cases: a concentrated load at the top of the structure, a uniformly distributed load, and a triangularly distributed load with maximum intensity at the top. The simplicity of this method allows the sway of a structure, the maximum storey sway and its location in the height of the structure to be determined graphically. This procedure enables not only a rapid estimate of the deflections in the structure but together with an assessment of the internal forces it provides a design office method of comparing the efficiencies of different structural alternatives in the preliminary design of tall building structures