Towards optimal design of high-rise building tube systems

The primary objectives of this study are to investigate effects of varying design parameters on the tube action and shear lag behaviour of a typical reinforced concrete frame-wall tube building, and propose optimal design approaches for similar tube structures. A parametric study was conducted with selected key design variables on the performance of a 55-storey hotel building planned in New York City. The lateral force resistance of the case study building is primarily exerted by exterior shear walls in one direction and by exterior moment frames in the other direction, enhanced by the tube action credited to the connection of the walls and the frames. The design variables considered for the parametric study include the column depth, beam depth, column width and beam width of the moment frames. The performance of each model was assessed in terms of overall and critical (maximum) storey drifts, force distributions between various lateral force-resisting members and shear lag behaviour. Overall, the effects of the column depth (column dimension parallel to the frame direction) on the tube action and shear lag behaviour were more prominent than the other member dimensions. Copyright (c) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.