On mass quantities of gravity frames in building structures

D'Amico, Bernardino; Pomponi, Francesco

Abstract

This paper introduces a numerical study aimed at analysing and quantifying existing correlations between structural masses of the gravity frame in building structures (i.e. excluding lateral load resisting system) and some key basic design variables, such as bay areas of the frame layout, magnitude of floor loads and (main) structural material. Three material options are considered, namely: reinforced concrete, steel and engineered timber. A total of 31'380 different structural frame designs are parametrically generated and analysed to obtain a population of design data points that express the amounts of structural masses per unit of floor area. Least squares and quantile regression analyses have been utilised on the numerically generated sample population to evaluate any existing statistical trend between design variables and mass quantities. The set of regression coefficients so obtained is eventually organised into a tabular format, which allows for immediate estimations of the structural mass quantities (along with their uncertainty ranges) at early stage of the structural design process. Such a table of coefficients represents the main finding of this work, as it can be straightforwardly combined with existing databases of embodied GHG and energy coefficients, therefore providing an effective estimation tool, for both practitioners and researchers, to quickly assess how both layout and load configurations affect the environmental impacts of their frame design.

Citation

D'Amico, B., & Pomponi, F. (2020). On mass quantities of gravity frames in building structures. Journal of Building Engineering, 31, Article 101426. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2020.101426

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 11, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Apr 28, 2020
• Publication Date: 2020-09
• Deposit Date: Apr 11, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 29, 2021
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 31
• Article Number: 101426
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2020.101426
• Keywords: buildings; frame; structures; design; carbon dioxide; mass
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2652404
• Publisher URL: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-building-engineering