Topics for Tall Buildings Conference

a)
b)

Siting of tall buildings: Where are tall buildings allowed/not allowed to be sited?
Geotechnical Issuesi.
Soil Testing for Tall Buildings.
ii.
Testing for establishing soil and pile modulus
c)
Structural Materials and Systems
i.
Performance of different structural systems; What levels of ductility are
achievable in the lateral force resisting systems being constructed in India? What should the value of R
be?
ii.
Hybrid Structural Systems and their behaviour
iii.
Need for redundancy
iv.
Structural plan and vertical irregularites: What types and degrees of
irregularity are acceptable? What are the special design requirements? Special attention to be paid to
soft story, torsinal eccentricity, transfer girders, and plan-offsetting of lateral force resisting system
between any two consecutive stories.
v.
Materials: Concrete, steel, composite
d)
General Parameters of Tall Buildings Geometric Proportioning
i.
Height and Aspect Ratio
ii.
General Distribution and area of Vertical and Lateral load carrying elements
as % of plan area for concrete and steel structures.
iii.
Min required stiffness of building
iv.
Perimeter offset to avoid pounding
e)
Load Combinations
f)
Use of Masonry partition walls in tall buildings
i.
How to include in analysis?
ii.
Should they be isolated from structure or not?
iii.
If they must be isolated what type of detailing?
g)
Modeling and Analysis
i.
Appropriate Modelling tools and soft ware for elastic, inelastic design for
different systems and elements
h)
Structural Irregularities
i.
Should structural system transfer be allowed in tall buildings? If yes what
are the limitations to be observed?
ii.
Soft storey, Weak Storey
iii.
How to deal with torsional irregularity? How much max modal mass may be
excited in torsional modes of vibration?
i)
Wind Design
i.
When should Wind Tunnel Testing be carried out?
ii.
What are the wind tunnel tests that should be carried out and to what
effect? How to account for future buildings in the neighborhood in the layout and configurtion of
adjacent buildings in the wind tunnel?
iii.
What are the results to be asked from the WT testing agency?
iv.
Appropriate Damping Values
v.
Discussion on Wind Dampers- When to use them, What type to use for what
building application?
j)
Earthquake Analysis and Design
i.
Does the current IS 1893 assure acceptable performance of
tall buildings?
ii.
Seismic hazard characterization (base shear, response
spectrum, ground motion histories, near-source effects, fault maps, fault classification w.r.t. earthquake
potential characterization).
iii.
Site soil characterization.
iv.
Closely spaced modes-How critical is this issue?
v.
Linear static analysis procedure.
vi.
Dynamic response spectrum procedure. What should the
spectrum look like? When should a site-specific spectrum be required? How to account for near-source
effects (applies to linear static procedure as well)?

vii.
When should one do non-linear analysis? What are the
earthquake ground motions to be considered in Indian scenario? How to properly account for P-Delta
effects (modeling gravity columns)? Do we have software for nonlinear analysis readily available? Are
test data characterizing component nonlinear (cyclic) behavior using prevailing Indian standards of
practice available? What should the material models look like for various structural components?
viii.
When is a pushover analysis required?
ix.
Ductile detailing criteria:
What criteria and when applicable?
Strong-column weak beam in moment frames
boundary elements in shear walls
tie-spacing
135 degree hooks
lap-splices and development length
location of splices
beam-column joint detailing in concrete frames
continuity of column vertical rebar and beam longitudinal rebar through the joint
link beam detailing (diagonal rebar)
required level of diaphragm attachment on either side of a given length of wall, etc.
When and where is Capacity Design required?
Beam (moment-resisting) design
x.
Column (gravity/lateral) design (include long-term axial
shortening of columns due to creep and its effects on beams/floor slabs, etc.);
xi.
Use of composite sections for creep control.
xi.
Wall design (include long-term axial shortening due to
creep)
xii.
Link beam design
xiii.
Diaphragm design
xiv.
Energy dissipation devices (viscous fluid dampers, added
stiffness and damping devices, etc.)
k)
Use of Precast in Tall Building Construction
i.
Should it be permitted?
ii.
To be used for which elements of structure?
iii.
Design and detailing of joints?
iv.
Behaviour in past earthquakes
l)
Foundations
a.
Discussion on Piled raft foundations
Allowable deformations
Pile-raft interaction
Analysis of piled rafts
Pile testing for deep piles
Max allowable deformation of piles of piled raft- codal provisions?
Deformations in piled raft?
Differential settlement between core and perimeter. Provide a pour strip to minimize such settlement
(when to provide). Additional moments in beams and slab due to such differential settlement.
Design methodology and detailing of piles and rafts; lateral shear capacity of piles, vertical load
carrying capacity of piles (skin friction vs bearing).
b.
Raft foundations for tall buildings
c.
Pile foundations for Tall buildings
m) Facades
i.
Stiffness
ii.
Isolation; Designing the faade system to permit movement corresponding
to wind and seismic drift limits.
n)
Tall Building with Podium issues
i.
Should tower be connected to Podium? When?
ii.
Any special considerations to cater for large shear transfer in the podium
diaphragm from tower? (refer ATC)
o)
Performance Criteria
i.
What should be the limiting acceleration values for human comfort level in

wind design?
ii.
What is max drift to be allowed in wind and earthquake? What can be the
sudden spike in interstorey drift due to a soft/weak storey?
p)
Performance Based (Seismic) Design of Structures
i.
When to do this?
ii.
How to do it?
iii.
Review Procedures ....
q)
Other Detailing Aspects of Tall Buildings
i.
Detailing of cold joints (Core and floor slab done separately)
ii.
Dealing with congestion of steel
iii.
Splices/Anchorages
iv.
Expansion Joint issues
v.
Seismic joints: When to use and how to design.
r)
Construction Issues of Tall Buildings
i.
Modular/Lightweight shuttering
ii.
Slipform Shuttering
iii.
High strength concretes Issues of microcracking, delayed strength,
additives, flyash, silica fumes etc.
iv.
High Grade Steel- Inconsistency in yield stress.
v.
Dealing with congestion of steel in beam-column joints
vi.
Vertical Transportation of concrete
vii.
Durability of Tall Buildings- How to repair/retrofit?
viii.
Concrete grade of columns vs. concrete grade of slabs How to deal with
difference?
s)
Construction Specifications
i.
Materials (including welds, rebar, concrete, structural steel, etc.)
ii.
Structural, Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, Vertical Transportation systems
iii.
Site preparation and management