Computer Aided Static and Dynamic Analysis and Design of RCC Apartment with Floating and Non Floating Columns

The column which are supported on a beam instead of rigid foundation are called as floating columns. Many of the buildings in india are constructed with floating columns. This is primarily beam adopted to accommodate parking or reception lobbies in the first storey. The earthquake force generated at different floor level of the building need to be carried out to the foundation by the shortest possible way which may not be the case when floating columns are provided. Providing floating columns may satisfy some of the functional requirements but structural behavior changes abruptly due provisions of floating columns. The flexural and shear demand of the beams which supports floating columns are much higher than surrounding beams, this leads to stiffness irregularities at a particular joint. Columns are main lateral load resisting elements in moment resisting frame and play a vital role in seismic performance of building. The stiffness of the storey below the floating column is usually lower than the storey above and below it. In this thesis the seismic performance of building with and without floating columns are presented in terms of various parameters such as displacement, storey drift, maximum column forces, time period of vibration etc. The building having various locations of floating columns i.e floating columns starting from different stories are considered for the study. In recent times, multi-storey buildings in urban cities are required to have column free space due to shortage of space, population and also for aesthetic and functional requirements. For this buildings are provided with floating columns at one or more storey. These floating columns are highly disadvantageous in a building built in seismically active areas. The earthquake forces that are developed at different floor levels in a building need to be carried down along the height to the ground by the shortest path. Deviation or discontinuity in this load transfer path results in poor performance of the building. The main aim is to evaluate the seismic response of (G+11 RCC APARTMENT) building with floating columns and compare it with the normal building.