Approximate Analysis of Building Frames for Vertical Loads

Abstract

Approximate methods are useful in preliminary design, and also provide the analyst and the designer with a rapid means of rough checking “exact” solutions. The approximate analysis of building frames for vertical loads is covered in several papers and textbooks. The existing storywise summation method is complicated in computation, and the other approximate methods usually have poor accuracy. This paper presents the simplified storywise summation method, which may be summarized as follows: (1) Divide a building frame into many single-story frames whose number equals the number of stories of the building frames; (2) approximately analyze each single-story frame; and (3) sum the single-story frames. The method is almost as accurate as the existing storywise summation method, and may provide better accuracy than the other approximate methods. The intent of this paper is to develop an approximate analysis of building frames for vertical loads, which may involve less labor in computation than the existing storywise summation method.