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System housing: timber frame
Published in Derek Worthing, Nigel Dann, Roger Heath, of Houses, 2021
Derek Worthing, Nigel Dann, Roger Heath
Although it is not difficult to find examples of ‘modern’ timber framing from the first part of the 20th century, it did not become a popular form of construction until the 1960s. By the beginning of the 1980s, some 20 per cent of new houses were timber framed, but adverse publicity about quality and construction methods reduced this percentage considerably during the middle of the decade. Since the 1990s, improved design and more rigorous quality control have helped to reinstate the image and the popularity of timber frame housing. The trend by successive governments to encourage the construction industry to adopt prefabrication techniques (such as by the use of modern methods of construction (MMC) – see Chapter 2), as a means of improving quality and avoiding the problems of skills shortages has also given a boost to timber frame construction. Over the last few years, the share of timber frame construction in the UK housing market has increased to over 25 per cent and now numbers approximately 60,000 units per annum.
Interdisciplinary design collaboration for energy-efficient buildings
Published in Paul Tymkow, Savvas Tassou, Maria Kolokotroni, Hussam Jouhara, Building Services Design for Energy-Efficient Buildings, 2020
Paul Tymkow, Savvas Tassou, Maria Kolokotroni, Hussam Jouhara
The structural engineering aspects often refer to the structure of a building above ground level. This is generally known as the ‘super-structure’. This normally comprises a structural frame built up from, and supported by, the sub-structure foundations. In a multi-storey building, the structural frame is usually made of one or more cores, steel or reinforced concrete columns (or a mixture of the two), reinforced concrete floor slabs and steel or reinforced concrete beams. Civil/Structural engineers are usually also responsible for miscellaneous structures within the overall structural frame of a building, such as primary supports, bases and platforms for plant and equipment. They need to have an awareness of all load disposition and load movement within the building, whether designed by themselves or not. This will include architectural elements, building services equipment (and often the vibration and thermal expansion associated with it), people and external forces such as wind. The structural engineer will seek to guarantee the structural integrity of the building in an economic way, while also seeking to realise the other design aspirations. This would include trying to create clear open spaces to maximise flexibility for usage of the space by minimising the number of columns within occupied areas. To achieve this in multi-storey buildings, there is usually a trade-off between the number of columns and the depth of the floor slab and/or downstand beams, and hence the floor-to-floor height.
Historical evolution of buildings in tropical regions
Published in Mike Riley, Alison Cotgrave, Michael Farragher, Building Design, Construction and Performance in Tropical Climates, 2017
Nor Haniza Ishak, Nur Farhana Azmi, Noor Suzaini Mohamed Zaid
The main structure of a building consists of the space between the roof and the ground. Similar to the roof, in tropical regions, it is always convenient to wall this space using readily available materials from the surroundings. Traditionally, materials such as bamboo, rattan and sometimes a special type of grass are often used for walls weaving. Clay and various wooden panels arranged in horizontal, vertical or diagonal directions are also used extensively in building the walls in traditional buildings. On the other hand, materials that are exceptionally stiff and strong, such as hardwood timber, are typically used for the frame of the main structure. All these natural and renewable resources feature low thermal mass, thus they perform better as they minimize heat transfer into the building during the day. The extent of heat gain in a building can be reasonably controlled by the appropriate selection of materials.
Replaceable Rotational Viscoelastic Dampers for Improving Structural Damping and Resilience of Steel Frames
Published in Journal of Earthquake Engineering, 2023
Zhan Shu, Zhaozhuo Gan, Cheng Fang, Gregory MacRae, Hanlin Dong, Yazhou Xie
Structural steel frame is a major structural type which demonstrates many advantages such as good ductility, reduced time of construction, and good compatibility with other systems (e.g., core-wall) and constructional materials (e.g., concrete and timber) (Li et al. 2018; Lignos, Moreno, and Billington 2014). The energy dissipation capacity of a steel frame is usually provided by the ductile yielding behavior of the steel members. This also means that very limited system damping is provided unless plastic deformation occurs. Reinoso and Miranda (2005) analyzed six tall buildings located in California and found that the lower bound damping ratio of the steel buildings is only 0.5% due to small deformations. Furthermore, the inherent damping of a steel structure decreases further when the structural height increases (Cruz and Miranda 2017). The structural damping of steel frames is therefore rather inconsistent compared with the 4 to 6% damping ratio that is usually considered in reinforced concrete structures before yielding occurs.