Reinforced Concrete Design of Tall Buildings
concept encompasses reasons for our choice of design loads, analytical techniques, design proce-
dures, preference for particular structural systems, and of course, our desire for economic optimiza-
tion of the structure. To assist engineers in tackling the design challenge, this introductory chapter
is devoted to developing a “feeling” for behavior of structural systems.
It is this “feeling” for the nature of loads and their effect on structural systems that paves the way
for our understanding of structural behavior and allows the designer to match structural systems to
specifi c types of loading. For example, designers of tall buildings, recognizing the cost premium
for carrying lateral loads by frame action alone, select a more appropriate system such as a belt and
outrigger wall or a tubular system instead.
As structural engineers, our primary task is to take someone else’s vision of a project, convert
it into analytical and numerical models, and then produce a set of buildable documents. However,
the current trend in engineering education seems to focus more on the behavior of computer-based
mathematical models while seldom acknowledging their fallibilities. Given this scenario, one may
wonder if the era of engineers who endorsed structural attitudes based on their qualitative knowl-
edge of the behavior of the structures is gone.
it into analytical and numerical models, and then produce a set of buildable documents. However,
the current trend in engineering education seems to focus more on the behavior of computer-based
mathematical models while seldom acknowledging their fallibilities. Given this scenario, one may
wonder if the era of engineers who endorsed structural attitudes based on their qualitative knowl-
edge of the behavior of the structures is gone.
EmoticonEmoticon