Optimum position for outriggers of different materials in a high- rise building

High-rise structures are considered as symbols of economic power and leadership. Developing countries like India are also emerging as centers for new high-rise buildings (HRB). As the land is expensive and scarce everywhere, construction of tall buildings becomes the best solution to resolve the problem. But, as building's height increases, its stiffness reduces making it more susceptible to vibrations due to wind and earthquake forces. Several systems are available to control vibrations or deflections; however, outrigger systems are considered to be the most effective systems in improving lateral stiffness and overall stability of HRB. In this paper, a 42-storey RCC HRB is analyzed to determine the optimum position of outriggers of different materials. The linear static analysis of the building is performed with and without the provision of virtual outriggers of reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and pre-stressed concrete (PSC) at different storey levels by response spectrum method using finite element based Extended3D Analysis of building System (ETABS) software for determining responses viz. storey displacement, base shear and storey drift for individual models. The maximum allowable limit and percentage variations in earthquake responses are verified using the guidelines of Indian seismic codes. Results indicate that the outriggers contribute in significantly reducing the storey displacement and storey drift up to 28% and 20% respectively. Also, it is observed that the PSC outriggers are found to be more efficient over RCC outriggers. The optimum location of both types of outriggers is found to be at the mid height of building.