Check lists are invaluable in the design process. All the items may not be relevant for
any particular project, but excluding items from a comprehensive list is always easier
than adding relevant items to a short list.
| Check List Items |
Taken into account |
Not taken into account |
| 1 Seismic, Hurricane and Rain Hazards |
|
|
- History
|
|
|
- Earthquake
- Hurricane
- Torrential Rain
|
|
|
| b) Geology |
|
|
| c) Tectonics |
|
|
| d) Design characteristics |
|
|
- Earthquake design characteristics
- Hurricane design Characteristics
- Design characteristics for torrential rains
|
|
|
| 2 Site Conditions |
|
|
| a) Soils |
|
|
- Liquefaction
- Seismic characteristics
|
|
|
| b) Topography |
|
|
- Land slide
- Building on slopes
- Topographic effect on wind speeds
- Ridges
- Valleys
- Flood prone areas
- Torrential rains
- Storm surge
- Tsunami
|
|
|
| c) Other factors |
|
|
- Corrosive environments
- Coastal areas
- Industrial and other pollutants
|
|
|
| 3 The Client’s Brief |
|
|
| a) Function |
|
|
| b) Cost |
|
|
| c) Reliability |
|
|
- Serviceability for different components of the facility
- Safety for different components of the facility
|
|
|
| 4 Design Philosophy |
|
|
| a) Performance in moderate and frequent hazardous events |
|
|
- Protection of property
- Cost of repairs should be minor
|
|
|
| b) Performance in strong, rare, hazardous events |
|
|
- Saving lives
- Repairable damage (very critical facilities in earthquake events)
- Protection of all property in hurricanes and torrential rains
|
|
|
| c) Critical areas or components of the facilities |
|
|
| d) Post-yield behaviour of structural elements |
|
|
- Ductility
- Energy absorption
- Deformations
|
|
|
| e) Building Envelope for Hurricanes |
|
|
- Windows, external doors and roof cladding
|
|
|
| 5 Choice of Form or Configuration |
|
|
| a) Failure modes |
|
|
- Redundancy
- Accidental strength
- Column capacities (and those of other vertical load-carrying elements)
- Designing for failure
- Avoid failure in vertical, shear and compression elements
- Avoid brittle failure
- Avoid buckling failure
- For hurricane forces design for repeated loads without degradation
|
|
|
| b) Geometric Issues |
|
|
- Simplicity and symmetry
- Long buildings to be structurally broken
- Elevation shape
- Sudden steps and setbacks to be avoided
- Distribution of structural strength
- Openings in principal members to be avoided
- Continuity
- Columns and walls from roof to foundation (without offsets)
- Beams free of offsets
- Coaxial columns and beams
- Similar widths for columns and beams
- Monolithic construction
- Stiffness and slenderness (h>4b)
- Stiffness vs flexibility
- Maintaining the functioning of equipment
- Protecting structure, cladding, partitions, services
- Resonance
- Diagrams of favourable and unfavourable shapes
- Square
- Round and regular polygons
- Rectangular
- T and U shaped buildings
- Aspect ratios
- Deep re-entrant angles
- Ideal to establish structural breaks (Create rectangular plan forms)
- H and Y shaped buildings
- Aspect ratios
- Deep re-entrant angles
- Ideal to establish structural breaks (create rectangular plan forms)
- External access stairs
- False symmetry – regular perimeter masking irregular positioning of internal
elements
- Soft storey
- Cantilevers to be designed conservatively
- Desirable roof shapes for hurricane resistance
- Steep pitched roofs (20 – 40 degrees)
- Hipped roofs are preferable
- Gable roofs are an acceptable compromise
- Mono-pitched roofs are undesirable
- Boxed eaves recommended for overhangs exceeding 450 mm
- Parapets reduce wind uplift
- Ridge ventilators reduce internal pressure
|
|
|
| c) Distribution of horizontal load-carrying functions in
proportion to vertical load-carrying (avoid the overturning problem) |
|
|
| d) Structural system to be agreed by design team |
|
|
- Moment-resisting frames
- Framed tubes
- Shear walls and braced frames
- Mixed systems
|
|
|
| 6 Choice of Materials |
|
|
| a) Local availability |
|
|
| b) Local construction skills |
|
|
| c) Costs |
|
|
| d) Politics |
|
|
| e) Ideal properties |
|
|
- High ductility
- High strength-to-weight ratio
- Homogeneous
- Ease of making connections
- Durable
|
|
|
| f) Order of preference for low-rise buildings |
|
|
- In-situ reinforced concrete
- Steel
- Reinforced masonry
- Timber
- Prestressed concrete
- Precast concrete
- Unreinforced masonry not recommended
|
|
|
| g) Light-weight roof cladding of pitched roofs |
|
|
- Method of fixing critical to roof performance
|
|
|
| 7 Construction Considerations |
|
|
| a) Supervision |
|
|
| b) Workmanship |
|
|
| c) Ease of construction |
|
|
| 8 Components |
|
|
| a) Base isolators and energy-absorbing devices (to be
given consideration) |
|
|
| b) Foundations |
|
|
- Continuous
- Isolated (to be avoided)
- Piled
|
|
|
| c) Movement joints |
|
|
| d) Diaphragms |
|
|
| e) Precast concrete |
|
|
| f) Welded beam-column joints for moment- resisting steel
frames (to be avoided) |
|
|
| g) Shear walls and cross bracing |
|
|
| h) Hurricane straps, wall plates and connection |
|
|
| 9 Elements |
|
|
| a) Structure |
|
|
| b) Architecture |
|
|
| c) Equipment |
|
|
- Electrical feed to be kept clear of roof structure
- Electrical feed to be routed underground within the property
|
|
|
| 10 Cost Considerations |
|
|
| a) Capital costs ignoring natural hazards (hypothetical,
academic) |
|
|
| b) Capital costs including natural hazards |
|
|
| c) Maintenance costs |
|
|
| 11 Analysis |
|
|
| a) Understanding the structural model |
|
|
| b) Torsional effects |
|
|
| c) Geometric changes |
|
|
| The P-delta effect |
|
|
| d) 3-D analysis (required only for irregular structures) |
|
|
| e) Dynamic analysis (required only for complex structures) |
|
|
| f) Stress concentrations |
|
|
- Complexity of earthquake effects and inadequacies of sophisticated analytical Methods
|
|
|
| h) Effects of non-structural elements |
|
|
- Change in the natural period of the overall structure
- Redistribution of lateral stiffness and, therefore, forces and stresses. [This could
lead to premature shear or pounding failures of the main structures and also to excessive
damage to the said non-structural elements due to shear or pounding.]
|
|
|
| i) Soil-structure interaction |
|
|
- Critical but usually ignored or played down
|
|
|
| 12 Detailing |
|
|
| a) Compression members |
|
|
| b) Beam-column joints |
|
|
- Reinforced concrete
- Structural steel – all-welded construction
|
|
|
| c) Reinforced-concrete frames |
|
|
| d) Non-structural walls and partitions |
|
|
| e) Shelving |
|
|
| f) Mechanical and electrical plant and equipment |
|
|
- Securely fastened to the structure
- Pipework
|
|
|
| 13 Construction Quality |
|
|
| 14 Maintenance |
|
|
