Structural Systems to resist lateral loads Commonly Used structural Systems With loads measured in tens of thousands kips, there is little room in the design of high-rise buildings for excessively complex thoughts. Indeed, the better high-rise buildings carry the universal traits of simplicity of thought and clarity of expression. It does not follow that there is no room for grand thoughts. Indeed, it is with such grand thoughts that the new family of high-rise buildings has evolved. Perhaps more important, the new concepts of but a few years ago have become commonplace in today’ s technology. Omitting some concepts that are related strictly to the materials of construction, the most commonly used structural systems used in high-rise buildings can be categorized as follows: 1. Moment-resisting frames. 2. Braced frames, including eccentrically braced frames. 3. Shear walls, including steel plate shear walls. 4. Tube-in-tube structures. 5. Tube-in-tube structures. 6. Core-interactive structures. 7. Cellular or bundled-tube systems. Particularly with the recent trend toward more complex forms, but in response also to the need for increased stiffness to resist the forces from wind and earthquake, most high-rise buildings have structural systems built up of combinations of frames, braced bents, shear walls, and related systems. Further, for the taller buildings, the majorities are composed of interactive elements in three-dimensional arrays. The method of combining these elements is the very essence of the design process for high-rise buildings. These combinations need evolve in response to environmental, functional, and cost considerations so as to provide efficient structures that provoke the architectural developm...
