Performance of Structures with Floating Columns System Subjected to Lateral Loads

Abstract

Increasing population and scarcity of spaces in commercial districts, especially in the city center where crowding and number of cars require more parking spaces, and also the need for large areas un-interrupted by columns within the building, it was essential to find innovative structural design to fulfill these requirements. This was achieved by abandoning the continuity of some columns and replacing them with transfer beams that transfer their loads to the adjacent columns. In this paper the effect of wind loads on a building containing a floating column has been studied using ETABS program, three buildings of different heights were studied (G+5, G+10 and G+15). The wind loads were assumed to be resisted by the rigid frame system for one case of analysis and by the shear walls system at another case and compared models with others without a floating column to determine the percentage difference between them. Also the results were compared with the permissible limits ​​in a number of parameters such as Drift, P-Delta, Soft Story and Torsional Irregularity. A number of results were obtained, the most important are that there are no major differences between (floating column) building and (normal) building, they behave almost the same. The use of the shear walls system reduces the difference in results, especially in the soft story item. Also, the difference between the results of the floating column building and the normal building were found to decrease as the number of stories increased.