This paper provides a comparative explanation of four structural designs of a G+20 multistorey building with the view of determining the influence of shear wall layout and the positioning of openings on the overall structural behavior. Model-1 utilized in the study is a typical structure in which shear walls are not in use whereas models 2, 3, and 4 have shear walls but with careful openings at the front, back, and all sides respectively. Structural performance of both models was compared at all the levels of storeys in terms of important structural characteristics, i.e. lateral load resistance capacity and lateral displacements. The outcome suggests that performance of the models varies greatly. Consistently, model-1 had the lowest stiffness and the highest deformation which indicates the significance of shear walls in increasing stability of structures. Better responses were found on Model-2 and Model-3 but the position of opens affected their outputs. The model- 4 which had opening in all the sides had the greatest values in response especially in upper storeys indicating a compromise between architectural flexibility and structural efficiency. This paper highlights the importance of shear wall layout in designing high rise buildings and gives a glimpse into the future of structural design and optimization of structural forces performance taking into account the deficiencies of a practical real world design project. These results can be used as an important guide to engineers and other architects in designing earthquake-resistant buildings.
Hirurkar et al. (Thu,) studied this question.