Sensitivity coefficients and unit load method for drift control of tall buildings

Structural sensitivity coefficients and displacement participation factors for members in a structure to the lateral displacement to be controlled are computed and used for identifying active members and their displacement components. To determine the amount of material to be modified, an effective drift control method with variable linking strategy using the displacement participation factors is formulated into an optimization problem. Using the drift control method, the Structural design model for a high-rise building is proposed and applied to one verifying example and two moment resisting frames. Time consuming try and error process in structural design of a high-rise building is avoided by the structural design model. As demonstrated in the examples, the maximum lateral displacements of the examples are reduced by 37.05%, 40. 0%, and 16.36% without changing the total weights of the structures.