Vertical Loads on Multistory Buildings

Abstract

The previous chapter dealt with issues related to the lateral loadings on building systems. In that chapter, we described how one can represent the global lateral loading as loads acting on the individual frames contained in the building system. We focus in this chapter on how one treats vertical loads such as gravity loads. Gravity loads applied to a floor slab are converted to distributed loads acting on the beams which support the slab. Since the floor slab loads involve both dead and live loads, one needs to investigate various floor slab loading patterns in order to establish the maximum values of the design parameters such as bending moment. We apply Müller-Breslau principle for this task. The last section of the chapter contains a case study which illustrates the process of combining lateral and vertical loading, and demonstrates the sensitivity of the structural design to the type of structural system.