GRAVITY LOADS

&
TORSIONAL EFFECTS

By
Sheth Devendra N.
(06MCL016)
 LOADS

&

FAILURE
1/18
 What
is a load?

A load is a force
that acts on a structure

2/31
 What
do loads do?

Try to destabilize a structure

Try to break a structure

Try to deform a structure

3/31
 Different Loads
Loads

Static Dynamic

Forces Dead Loads Live Loads Continuous Impact

due to (fixed) (movable)
Settlements,
Thermal effects,
...
Earthquakes

Self-Weight Fixed Occupancy Environmental Wind

Of Building (snow, ...)
Structure Elements
 Loads

Gravity

Wind Earthquake
4/31
 The gravity loads are mainly two types:-

Dead Loads
• Permanent weight of structure
non-moveable partitions
built-ins, heavy equipment

Roof

Walls
Floors

Equipment

6/28
 Live Loads

• Furniture, Equipment, People, Snow

• Moveable Partitions
May or may not be acting all the time

9/28
 Live Loads
People move around

May get heavy concentrations

10/28
 Reduction of live loads
As per IS 875 (part 2) – 1987 (clause3.2)

Number of Floors Reduction in Total

Live Load
1 0
2 10
3 20
4 30
5 to 10 40
Over 10 50
 Impact Gravity loading

• An elevator being accelerated upward or

brought to rest on its way down.
• Increase of 100% of Static elevator Load

Construction loads
• Most severe load building has to withstand.
• Load of Floor forms, newly placed slab
• Climbing crane.
 Torsional Effect
• Definition:-
• Center of Stiffness:-
The point through which the resultants of the
restoring forces of a system acts.

• Center of Mass:-
The point through which the resultants of the
masses of the system acts.
 What Torsion Means
• Torsion in Buildings is rotation of whole mass or group of masses about a point which is
generally Centre of Stiffness
Definition Point of View :-

cs
cm e
F

When the C.M.&C.S.of a 3D frame do not coincide or

when point of application of loads is different from point of
development of resistance, the eccentricity causes the frame to
rotate and thus Torsion is induced.
 Causes

The main causes of twisting in buildings to happen are

Lateral Forces
Earth quake :-
• It causes the base to vibrate in horizontal plane creating
storey shears on account of inertial forces.
• These act at the respective centre of masses and
eccentricity with centre of stiffness causes the storey to
rotate in its plane
Wind :-
• It causes the building to vibrate in along-wind and across
wind direction
• Mass Unbalance:-
If the mass of the floor of building is more on
one side then that side of the building moves more
underground movement.
• Uneven column:-
In building with unequal vertical members
also the floor twists about the vertical axis and
displaced horizontally.
Unequal Vertical Member
• One side open ground story building twists during
earthquake shaking
 Vertical members of buildings that move more
horizontally sustain more damage.
• This induces more damage in the columns and walls on
the side that moves more.

• It is best to minimize this twist by ensuring that buildings

have symmetry in plan (i.e., uniformly distributed mass
and uniformly placed vertical members).
 Wind Induced Torsion

• Flow around a tall building :

 Wind Induced Torsion

• Overall loading and dynamic response :

cross wind

along wind

• Cross-wind vibrations are usually greater than along-wind

vibrations for buildings of heights greater than 100m (330 feet)
• The vortex shedding and the uneven along & cross wind
vibrations give rise to Wind Induced Torsion in the structure.
 Wind Induced Torsion

Why to consider Wind Induced Torsion ?

• Wind induced torsional vibration of tall buildings can

enlarge the displacement and acceleration near the
peripheries of cross-section of tall buildings;
especially when the side faces of a rectangular tall
building are wider.
• Its lowest torsional natural frequency approaches
either of its lowest translational natural frequencies.
• Wind-induced torsional responses may become the
main part of the total responses for the peripheral
points of such a building.
• Meanwhile, habitants in a tall building are
more sensitive to torsional motion than
translational motion.
• Therefore, wind-induced torsional responses
should be taken into account in the design of tall
buildings.
THANK YOU