ICEIS-2016
EVALUATION OF STRUCTURAL EFFICIENCY OF STEEL
DIAGRID SYSTEM FOR MULTI-STOREY BUILDINGS
Naga subramanian.G
PG student, Department of Civil Engineering
SRM University
Chennai, India
Abstract— Advances in structural systems and analytical
methods for analysis and design facilitated the growth of high
rise buildings. Structural design of high rise buildings is
governed by lateral loads due to wind and/or earthquake.
Compared to closely spaced vertical columns in framed tube,
diagrid structure consists of inclined columns on the interior,
exterior surface of building. Due to inclined columns lateral loads
are resisted by axial action of the diagonal compared to bending
of vertical columns in framed tube structure. Diagrid structures
generally do not require core because lateral shear can be carried
by the diagonals on the periphery of building. Proposal for the
study of behaviour of steel diagrid systems for 8,12,16,20 storeys
is presented. A regular floor plan of 15 m × 15 m size is
considered. SAP software is used for modeling and analysis of
structural members. All structural members are designed as per
IS 800:2007 considering all load combinations before the
efficiency of the diagrid system with different angles of
inclination of diagrids which is evaluated through storey height
displacement ascertaining of structural efficiency diagrid
systems.
Keywords— Diagrid system, SAP.
I. INTRODUCTION
A diagrid is formed by intersecting diagonal and horizontal
components.This innovation transfers both gravity loads and
lateral loads by redirecting member forces, and eliminates the
need for vertical mega columns on the exterior and interior of
the building. Architecturally the absence of columns in the
corners of the building enables great panoramic views and
extends the useful space from the interior. The Diagrid
structures have mostly free exterior/interior column, hence
free and clear, unique floor plans are Possible. The use of
Diagrids results in roughly 1/5th reduction in steel as
compared to Braced frame structures.The construction
techniques involved are simple, yet they need to be
perfect.The diagrid Structures are aesthetically dominant and
expressive.
Khushbu Jani.et.al investigated the analysis and design of 36
storey diagrid steel building with the regular floor plan of 36
m × 36 m From this study, it is observed that most of the
lateral load is resisted by diagrid columns on the periphery,
while gravity load is resisted by both the internal columns and
peripheral diagonal columns. So, internal columns need to be
designed for vertical load only. Due to increase in lever arm of
peripheral diagonal columns, diagrid structural system is more
effective in lateral load resistance. Lateral and gravity load are
E-ISSN :2348 – 8352 www.internationaljournalssrg.org
AUGUSTINE MANIRAJ PANDIAN.G
Professor, Department of Civil Engineering
SRM University
Chennai, India
resisted by axial force in diagonal members on periphery of
structure, which make system more effective. Diagrid
structural system provides more flexibility in planning interior
space and facade of the building.
Kyoung-Sun Moon,et.al investigated the influence of the
diagonal angle on the behaviour of diagrid type structures and
found that, for 60-story diagrid structures having an aspect
ratio of about 7, the optimal range of diagrid angle is from
about 65° to 75°. For 42-story buildings having an aspect ratio
of about 5, the range is lower by around 10° because the
importance of bending to the total lateral displacement is
reduced as the building height decreases. A stiffness-based
methodology for determining preliminary design sizes for the
diagonals was introduced and applied to a representative set of
steel buildings.
From the above mentioned literature review, it is found that
the diagrid structures prove to be effective for high rise
structures The literature survey carried out covers different
type of pushover analysis, response spectrum method and
their applicability to various type of diagrid systems.The
methodology is applied to a set of building heights, and
parameters of time period, base shear for the optimal values of
the grid geometry are generated for representative design
loadings, using response spectrum method and time history
analysis.
II. MODELLING
In this paper analysis and design of 8,12,16,20 storey diagrid
steel building is presented . A regular floor plan of 15 m × 15
m size is considered. The storey height is varied by 4 and 5 m.
In diagrid structures, pair of braces is located on the periphery
of the intrrior,exterior of the building. The angle of inclination
is kept uniform throughout the height. The interior frame of
the diagrid structures is designed only for gravity load. The
support conditions are assumed as hinged.
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 ICEIS-2016
Angles are varied by 45˚,38.659˚,57.99˚,63.43˚ for 8,12,16,20
storey

Fig.3 plan & 3D view of diagrid model

Fig.1 plan of diagrid model
III. ANALYTICAL INVESTIGATION
A regular floor plan of 15 m × 15 m size is considered.
SAP software is used for modelling and analysis of structural
members. All structural members are designed as per IS
800:2007 considering all load combinations.Comparison of
analysis results in terms of no of storey ,displacement,angle
of inclination of diagrid due to response spectrum method,time
history analysis
TABLE 1.DISPLACEMENT DUE TO RS

Disp. of 8 Disp. of Disp. of Disp. of

Angle storey 12 storey 16 storey 20 storey
45˚ 0.003 0.021 0.0213 0.0333
38.6590˚ 0.0053 0.0109 0.0186 0.0293
57.99˚ 0.0019 0.0067 0.0105 0.0155
63.43˚ 0.0096 0.0131 0.0131 0.02
.

TABLE 2.DISPLACEMENT DUE TO THA

Fig.2 3D view of 20 storey model
Disp. Disp. Disp. of 20
Optimal angle of column for maximum bending Disp. of 8 of 12 of 16 storey
rigidity is 90º.Maximum shear rigidity for column is Angle storey storey storey
35º.Thus optimal angle for diagonal member of 45˚ 0.0015 0.014 0.014 0.015
diagrid structure should be within these two angles 38.6590˚ 0.003 0.002 0.012 0.014
The diagrid beam is of I SECTION of steel 57.99˚ 0.0003 0.003 0.001 0.008
table.the section is optimised by using AUTO 63.43˚ 0.001 0.004 0.004 0.028
SELECT option in SAP SOFTWARE.
The diagonal braces are of PIPE SECTION and the
optimum section is choosen using AUTO SELECT
command.

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 ICEIS-2016

Fig.4 NO. OF STOREY VS DISP : RS ANALYSIS Fig 6 RS DSPLACEMENT INDEX

Fig.5 NO. OF STOREY VS DISP : TH ANALYSIS Fig 7 THA DSPLACEMENT INDEX

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 ICEIS-2016
IV.CONCLUSION
Based on the analytical investigation conducted on
8,12,16,20 storey model of steel diagrid structure with the
angle of 45˚,38.659˚,57.99˚,63.43˚ , the following conclusion
were arrived.The displacement due to RS and THA is less for
the 57.99˚ angle and the displacement due to RS is high for
45˚ angle for the 8,12,16,20 storey.hence the optimum angle is
57.99˚.
The displacement index for response spectrum ,time
history analysis were obtained by keeping 57.99˚ as unity and
thus the displacement index for the remaining angles were
found out.

References
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