Seminar

On
SKYSCRAPES

Submitted To: Submitted By:

Anupam Mittal Sir Abhisekh Juyal
Roll No. 11610630
Content
 INTRODUCTION
 DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN SKYSCRAPERS
 STRUCTURE, MATERIAL AND BUILDING TECHNIQUE
 THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENT TYPES OF RETAINING
WALLS
 VARIOUS TYPES OF SKELETON STRUCTURE
 CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES
 SKYSCRAPERS – IMPLICATIONS
 CONCLUSION
 REFERENCES
 INTRODUCTION

A skyscraper is a very tall, building. The minimum height requirement

currently to be accepted as skyscraper is 800 feet (244 meters). The word skyscraper was
first known to such buildings in the late 19th century, which reflects public amazement at
the tall buildings that are being built in New York City. The structural definition of the
word skyscraper was later refined by architectural, historians, based on engineering
developments of the 1880s that had enabled construction of tall multi-story buildings. This
definition was based on the steel skeleton as opposed to constructions of load-bearing
masonry, which passed their practical limit in 1891 with Chicago's Monadnock Building.
 DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN SKYSCRAPERS

In the late 19th century, the first skyscrapers would have

been typically an office building of more than 10 storey’s.
The concept was undoubtedly originated in the USA, in
Chicago and in New York, where space was limited and
where the best option was to increase the height of the
buildings. The Home Insurance Building in Chicago was
perhaps the first skyscraper in the world. Built in 1884-
1885 its height was 42 m/10 storeys
STRUCTURE, MATERIAL AND BUILDING TECHNIQUE

 FOUNDATIONS AND THE EXCAVATION PIT

• Skyscraper foundations are considerably more complex than those for normal
buildings. The complexity brought is just because of their height and weight and can
be further depend on the certain specific factors such as nature of soil, exposure to
wind, earthquake and their location in relation to surrounding property.
• Depending on the nature of the structure, the type of foundation and the
characteristics of the ground, the value of the foundation / excavation can be as
much as the 7.5% of the total project value.
 THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENT TYPES OF RETAINING WALLS

 Interlocking sheet piles; these can be temporary or permanent

 Contiguous, secant piled walls, the latter more likely to be used in
soft/wet soils
 Diaphragm walls; particularly used in soft ground with high
groundwater and/or adjacent to other structures
 Cross walls; often used in addition to one of the above where is a
particularly high exposure to adjacent properties
 THE CASE OF COVERAGE FOR SKYSCRAPERS CONSIDERED
AREAS ARE

 Piling
 Dewatering
 Vibration, weakening or removal of support
 Dilapidation
 Shanghai, China: Possible failure of the Foundation

Moscow, Russia: Excavation / cantilevered Walls

 STRUCTURE OF THE MAIN SKELETON,
DESIGN AND MATERIAL

It is the 100 tallest buildings the number using steel has reduced by at least 15% each
decade since 1970, and in 2010 only 22% of the tallest building is steel.
The key issues with high performance concrete (high performance concrete is
reinforced concrete with a compressive strength at 28 days in excess of 50 MPa) relate to the
quality of the material and the expertise of the contractors.
IN RESPECT OF STRUCTURAL SYSTEMS, IT IS POSSIBLE TO
DEFINE 5 CATEGORIES

 1. The framed tube: system of rigid frames (flatiron building in 1903)

 2. The bundled tube: combination of framed tubes (Sears towers, 1974)
 3. Tube in tube: central and peripheral tubes (World Trade Centre in NY, 1972)
 4. Diagonalised: stressed tubes, diagrids/braced frames (Alcoa bld. in Chicago)
 5. Core plus outrigger: central lateral system linked to the perimeter system
through outriggers (PETRONAS Tower, 1999 –Taipei 101, 2003)
 VARIOUS TYPES OF SKELETON STRUCTURES

 Super Frame
 Steel Frame Vertical Truss
 Tube In Tube
 Framed Tube
 Bundled Tube
 Exterior Braced Frame Tub
 Turned Mass Damper
 Steel Frame/Belts
 SYSTEM

The facade / cladding systems comprise the external building envelope or the outer finish.
These have evolved over time to reflect the ambitions of the developers and the creative and
innovative talents of the modern architects

The main objectives being

 Water-tightness, Aesthetics, Wind, Privacy

 Thermal protection (including control of sunlight entry),
 Reduction in noise-level, and Strength / durability.
 DIFFERENT GROUPS AND THEIR SUB-GROUPS OF FAÇADE
SYSTEMS

Traditional
Brick façade (e.g. Empire State building, Chrysler building, etc.)
Marble panel system
Ventilated Façade
Aluminum, stone, ceramics, fiber reinforced concrete
Curtain wall (Non-load bearing)
Glass
 MATERIAL WEIGHTS

Flat glass used for window panels – the weight depends on the glass
thickness:
 ¼ of an inch thick glass weighs about 3lbs/ft²
 ½ of an inch thick glass weighs about 6.4lbs/ft²
 BUILDING MATERIAL

 Aluminum – has become the material-of-choice for the outer frames.

 Window Panes – made of high-grade glass filled with noble gases and a surface coating in
order to reflect infrared light.
 Laminated Glass
 “Sandwich” Panels – one of the primary materials used in façade systems of a building are so
called “sandwich” panels or also known as “composite” panels.
 There is great interest in the combustible-type panels because they are the most widely used
in buildings like apartment/residential, hotels, office/commercial, hospitals.
 The combustible panels are widely used / installed in countries situated in the Middle East
and the Arabian Gulf peninsula due to the harsh climatic conditions,
 WIND LOADS

Wind engineering analyzes effects of wind in the natural and the built environment and studies
the possible damage, inconvenience or benefits which may result from wind. In the fields of wind
energy and air pollution it also includes low and moderate winds as these are relevant to
electricity production resp. dispersion of contaminants.
 Wind impact on structures (buildings, bridges, towers).
 Wind comfort near buildings.
 Effects of wind on the ventilation system in a building.
 Wind climate for wind energy.
 Air pollution near buildings.
 SEISMIC LOADING

Seismic loading is one of the basic concepts of earthquake engineering which means application
of an earthquake-generated agitation to a structure. It happens at contact surfaces of a structure
either with the ground, or with adjacent structures, or with gravity waves from tsunami.
 Seismic loading depends, primarily, on:
 Anticipated earthquake's parameters at the site - known as seismic hazard
 Geotechnical parameters of the site
 Structure's parameters
 Characteristics of the anticipated gravity waves from tsunami (if applicable).
 SEISMIC PERFORMANCE

Earthquake or seismic performance defines a structure's ability to sustain its main

functions, such as its safety and serviceability at and after a particular earthquake
exposure. A structure is, normally, considered safe if it does not endanger the lives and
well-being of those in or around it by partially or completely collapsing.
 VIBRATION CONTROL

In earthquake engineering, vibration control is a set of technical means aimed to mitigate seismic impacts
in building and non-building structures. All seismic vibration control devices may be classified as passive,
active or hybrid where:

 Passive control devices have no feedback capability between them, structural elements and the ground;
 Hybrid control devices have combined features of active and passive control systems.
 To dissipate the wave energy inside a superstructure with properly engineered dampers;
 To disperse the wave energy between a wider range of frequencies;
 To absorb the resonant portions of the whole wave frequencies band with the help of so called mass dampers
 Hydraulic snubbers are used on piping systems when restrained thermal movement is allowed.
 Mechanical snubbers operate on the standards of restricting acceleration of any pipe movements to a threshold of 0.2 g's,
which is the maximum acceleration that the snubber will permit the piping
 CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES
The weight of a skyscraper mainly consists of dead load, the load exerted by the building itself.
Any extra weight from people, furniture, vehicles, etc. is known as live load. In addition, wind
and other unexpected sources can be load providers.
 SHEAR WALLS
In a shear wall design, the weight of the structureis distributed
through the walls. These structures are often made of steel reinforced
brick or cinder block–materials with high compressive strength. The shear
wall design is primarily used in small projects such as urban brownstones
or suburban housing.
 STEEL FRAME
When one thinks of low-rise skyscrapers, the steel frame design comes to mind.
This design is characterized by a large steel box, containing smaller steel boxes inside. This
3D grid is simple and efficient for most low-rises, but has its’ drawbacks for high-rise
structures.
 TUBE FRAME
The tube design is a recent innovation used to maximize floor space and increase
resistance to lateral force in any direction. The buildings skin (outside) consists of closely
aligned supporting columns. This design only leaves about one-half of the building’s
exterior left for windows. Depending on the designer’s outlook, this can be an advantage or
disadvantage.
CONCRETE CORE

This is the most common design for modern skyscrapers as

it is fast to build and provides a strong center. All the utilities, elevators, and
stairwells are centralized in this design, making it easier for building
modifications and repair.
This design can be dangerous. If a part of the core is
damaged, everything above that section will be cut off from ground access.
This happened in the World Trade Center towers during the September 11,
2001 terrorist attacks, making it impossible for many people to escape the
burning towers.
 EARTHQUAKE RESISTANT CONSTRUCTION

 REINFORCED MASONRY STRUCTURES

A construction system where steel reinforcement is embedded in
the mortar joints of masonry or placed in holes and after filled with
concrete or grout is called masonry reinforced.
The devastating 1933 Long Beach earthquake revealed that masonry
construction should be improved immediately. Then, the California State
Code made the reinforced masonry mandatory.
To achieve a ductile behavior of masonry, it is necessary that the
shear strength of the wall is greater than the flexural strength.
 REINFORCED CONCRETE STRUCTURES

Reinforced concrete is concrete in which steel reinforcement bars (rebar)

or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen a material that would otherwise be
brittle. It can be used to produce beams, columns, floors or bridges. Stressed Ribbon pedestrian bridge
Over the Rogue River, Grants Pass, Oregon
Pre-stressed concrete is a kind of reinforced concrete used for overcoming
concrete's natural weakness in tension Pre-stressing tendons (generally of high tensile
steel cable or rods) are used to provide a clamping load which produces a
compressive stress that offsets the tensile stress that the concrete compression
member would, otherwise, experience due to a bending load.

Pre-stressed concrete
Cable-stayed bridge over Yangtze River
 PRESTRESSED STRUCTURES

Pre-stressed structure is the one whose overall integrity,

stability and security depend, primarily, on pre-stressing. Pre-
stressing means the intentional creation of permanent stresses in a
structure for the purpose of improving its performance under various
service conditions.
 THERE ARE THE FOLLOWING BASIC TYPES OF PRE-
STRESSING:

 Pre-compression (mostly, with the own weight of a structure)

 Pre-tensioning with high-strength embedded tendons
 Post-tensioning with high-strength bonded or un-bonded tendons
 STEEL STRUCTURES

Steel structures are considered mostly earthquake resistant but this isn't always the case. A
great number of welded Steel Moment Resisting Frame buildings, which looked earthquake-proof,
surprisingly experienced brittle behavior and were hazardously damaged in the 1994 Northridge
earthquake.
After that, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) initiated development of
repair techniques and new design approaches to minimize damage to steel moment frame buildings
in future earthquakes.
 PREFABRICATION

Prefabrication is the practice of assembling components of a structure in a factory

or other manufacturing site, and transporting complete assemblies or sub-assemblies to the
construction site where the structure is to be located. The term is used to distinguish this process
from the more conventional construction practice of transporting the basic materials to the
construction site where all assembly is carried out. The term prefabrication also applies to the
manufacturing of things other than structures at a fixed site.
  ADVANTAGES OF PREFABRICATION

 Self-supporting ready-made components are used, so the need for

formwork, shuttering and scaffolding is greatly reduced.
 Construction time is reduced and buildings are completed sooner,
allowing an earlier return of the capital invested.
 On-site construction and congestion is minimized.
 Less waste may occur
 Advanced materials such as sandwich-structured composite can be
easily used, improving thermal and sound insulation and air tightness.

Prefabrication
 SKYSCRAPERS – IMPLICATIONS
 ADVANTAGES OF SKYSCRAPERS
Throughout the world, the population of the major cities are increasing at a fast rate
and where land for building is not available; there is a pressure to build upward rather than
sideways.
The main advantage of building higher building is that they can take pressure of the
need to build just outside large cities, thus preventing the spread outwards and the
destruction of the countryside.
 Skyscrapers are known as modern answer for lack of space.
 Each Skyscraper has their own unique architectural feature.
 These features often made the skyscrapers the icon of their city.
 These skyscrapers attract millions of tourist each year, and bring profit to local business.
 Radio, television and cell phones require signal receivers from broadcasters.
 By placing an antenna at a highest point in the city broadcasters can send a power full
signal for many miles.
 Skyscrapers provide excellent site for antenna and other equipment.
 DISADVANTAGES OF SKYSCRAPERS
 High cost of investment, construction, maintenance, and operation.
 Negative effect on indoor and outdoor environment.
 Destruction of natural environment.
 Noise pollution.
 Poor Ventilation.
 Rely on Elevators.
 Fireproofing Problem.
 Evacuation difficulty when fire broke out.
 Poor Fire resistance of Steel Structure System.
 Land Subsidence.
 The development of high rise buildings destroyed the harmony of the local cultural landscape.
 The last reason is economy; the skyscrapers can’t be cleaned or repaired by normal people.
 CONCLUSION

From this t seminar I conclude that the SKYSCRAPERS are known to be super tall
building either residential, work place or of mix use. They are not built just for the economy of
space, they are considered to be symbol of city’s economic power. The first skyscrapers would have
been typically an office building of more than 10 stories. The concept was originated in USA, in
Chicago and in New York, where space was limited and where best option was to increase the
height of building. The building up to about 4 stories can be supported by their walls, while
skyscraper’s are larger buildings that must be supported by skeleton frames.
References
 www.google.com
 www.wikipedia.com
 www.studymafia.org
 www.pptplanet.com
 www.pdfclass.com