Structural Performance Analysis of High-Rise Buildings with Floating Columns for Long-Span Applications Using STAAD Pro
Structural Performance Analysis of High-Rise Buildings with Floating Columns for Long-Span Applications Using STAAD Pro
Madhusudan Dubey*1, Murlidhar Chourasia*2, Dr. Rahul Kumar Satbhaiya*3
*¹Research Scholar, Civil Department, Infinity Management & Engineering College, Sagar
*²Asst. Prof. and Guide, Civil Department, Infinity Management & Engineering College, Sagar
*3HOD, Civil Department, Infinity Management & Engineering College, Sagar
ABSTRACT: The proliferation of floating (transfer) columns in contemporary high-rise construction has made the rigorous analysis of their structural consequences a matter of foremost importance in earthquake-resistant design. This study presents a comprehensive structural performance analysis of a G+4 reinforced-concrete (RC) high-rise building employing floating columns for long-span commercial applications, using STAAD.Pro v8i as the computational platform. Two analytical models are constructed: Model FC (with floating columns) and Model WFC (without floating columns — the regular reference frame). Both are evaluated under dead loads (IS 875 Part 1), live loads (IS 875 Part 2), and seismic loads via the Equivalent Static Method (ESM) and Response Spectrum Method (RSM) per IS 1893 (Part 1): 2016 for Seismic Zone II (Z = 0.10). Seventeen IS-code load combinations are applied. Storey displacements, bending moments, shear forces, axial forces, modal frequencies, inter-storey drifts, and material quantities are extracted and compared. Results demonstrate that floating columns induce maximum lateral displacements of 18.999 mm at the roof storey, elevate ground-floor bending moments by 362%, amplify transfer-beam shear forces by 310%, and increase total base shear by 26.9%. The project cost premium for the FC configuration is 16.02%. Findings confirm that floating-column buildings in Zone II require mandatory dynamic analysis and capacity-designed transfer members to ensure IS-code-compliant seismic safety.
Keywords: Floating column; Transfer beam; High-rise building; STAAD.Pro v8i; IS 1893; Response Spectrum Method; Seismic Zone II; Structural irregularity.