Comparison of Different Bracing Systems for Tall Buildings

When a tall building is subjected to lateral or torsional deflections under the action of fluctuating wind loads, the resulting oscillatory movement can induce a wide range of responses in the building’s occupants from mild discomfort to acute nausea. As a result, lateral stiffness is a major consideration in the design of tall buildings. Bracing is a highly efficient and economical method of resisting lateral forces in a frame structure because the diagonals work in axial stress and therefore call for minimum member sizes in providing the stiffness and strength against horizontal shear. In this research study, five different types of bracing systems have been investigated for the use in tall building in order to provide lateral stiffness and finally the optimized design in terms of lesser structural weight and lesser lateral displacement has been exposed. For this purpose a sixty storey regular shaped building is selected and analyzed for wind and gravity load combinations along both major and minor axes.