The Effect of the Geometry of Diagrid High-Rise Buildings on their Performance against Lateral Forces of Earthquakes

Abstract

It has always been crucial for architects to obtain an intuitive understanding of the structural performance of architectural forms. During the modern period, there has always been a close collaboration between architects and engineers in designing high-rise buildings. With the recent dwindling of this closeness, the structural efficiency of high-rise forms has been in decline. Bearing in mind structure represents one-third of the entire construction costs, structural considerations at the early stages of a project will result in significant savings. The present research is after finding the effects of form on structural performance in order to assist design teams at the conception stage. A variety of forms were initially generated in a parametric environment with floor plans, roofs, and vertical configuration as parameters. An external metal diagrid structure was then applied on the outer surface of models, and their performance against lateral forces of earthquakes was assessed using static methods. The results show that the least movement at the highest level occurs in hexagonal floor plans with triangular roofs (7% lower than average), with generative geometry playing a more significant role in movement compared with total weight. Among architectural forms with similar floor and roof plans, octagonal floor plans have the least movement (6% lower than the average), with octagonal and dodecagonal forms having the least total weight and movement. The latter can be considered as the best while triangular forms can be considered as the worst-performing structures.

Keywords

• tall building
• parametric modelling
• architectural form
• diagrid structure
• lateral load