Frame Structures

Frame
A frame is a basic structure designed to bear a load in a
lightweight economical manner.
 Frame Structure

Structure supported mainly by a skeleton, or fram of wood, steel,

or reinforced concrete rather than by load-bearing walls.

 Materials used in Frames

 Stone and Masonary

 Metals

 Cast Iron
 Steel
 Aluminum

 Concrete
 Wood
 Fiber-Reinforced Plastics
 Types of Frame Structure

There are different types of frame structure according to

materials, such as:

 Steel Frame Structure

 Concrete Frame Structure

 Timber Frame Structure

Steel Frame Structure
 Steel frame

Steel frame usually refers to a building technique with a

“Skeleton Frame" of vertical Steel Columns and horizontal I-

beams, constructed in a rectangular grid to support the floors, roof

and walls of a building which are all attached to the frame. The

development of this technique made the construction of the

skyscraper possible.
 Advantages
 High quality and for aesthetics
 Low maintenance costs
 Non combustible
 Components can be re-used
 Components are functional
 Strong, durable and stable
 Enables good design and safety
 Sustainable to temperature effects
 Rigid and dimensionally stable
 Construction is fast compared to other materials
 Disadvantages

 Steel conducts heat 310 times more efficiently than

wood

 Corrosion: Faulty design leads to the corrosion of iron

and steel in buildings.

 Steel-Framed Building
Construction
 Structural steel is steel construction material, a

profile, formed with a specific shape or cross section and

certain standards of chemical composition and strength.

Structural steel shape, size, composition, strength, storage,

etc, are the most important considerations.

 Structural steel members, such as I-beams, have large

moments of inertia, which allow them to be very stiff in

respect to their cross-section.

Basic System
 Functional Requirement

The functional requirements of a structural frame are:

Strength and stability

Durability and freedom from maintenance

Fire safety
 Types of Construction of Steel
Frames
 Non-rigid Frame

 Semi-rigid Frame

 Fully-rigid Frame
1) NON – RIGID FRAME

 A Non-Rigid Frame is one in which the nature of the joints, is

such that the beams are assumed to be simply supported and

the joints non-rigid ( not held in place by anything)

 Rigidity in the framed structure as a whole is ensured.

 Steel and timber frames are commonly jointed in this manner

and sometimes pre-cast concrete frames.

 2) SEMI – RIGID FRAME
 A Semi-Rigid Frame is one in which some or all joints are such,
that some rigidity is obtained, a technique usually limited to steel
frames.
 Pin jointed steel frames are commonly constructed in this manner.

3) FULLY-RIGID FRAME
 A Fully – Rigid Frame is one in which all the joints are rigid
(held together in some way, so they won’t move).
In-situ, R.C.C frames are commonly constructed in this manner.
 Types of Steel Frame
Structure
 Skeleton Frame

 Parallel Beam Structural Steel Frame

 Pin Jointed Structural Steel Frame

 1) Skeleton Frame

The conventional steel frame is

constructed with hot rolled section

beams and columns in the form of a

skeleton designed to support the

whole of the imposed and dead

loads of floors, external walling or

cladding and wind pressure.

 Skeleton Frame Arrangements

Rectangular Grid Steel Frame

The most economic
arrangement of columns is
on a regular rectangular
grid with columns spaced
at 3.0 to 4.0m apart
spanning up to 7.5m.
2) Parallel Beam Structural
Steel Frame

This type of structural steel

frames use double main or spine

beams fixed each side of internal

columns to support secondary rib

beams to support the floor.

 Advantages

 Simplicity of connections.

 Reduces fabrication and erection complexities.

 Reduces over all weight of steel by the use of continuity of

beams.
3) Pin Jointed Structures

Pin jointed structure contains:

 Semi-rigid joints

 Adequate bracings are

provided to prevent lateral

movement due to lateral

load.
 Saving cost construction

technique.
 Wind Bracing
 The connections of beams to columns in multi-storey

skeleton steel frames do not generally provide a sufficiently

rigid connection to resist the considerable lateral wind forces

that tend to cause the frame to RACK.

RACK :

The tendency of a frame to be distorted by lateral forces

that cause right-angled connections to close up against the

direction of the force.

 Continue
 To resist racking caused by
the very considerable wind forces
acting on the faces of a multi-
storey building it is necessary to
include some system of cross
bracing between the members of
the frames to maintain the right-
angled connection of members.
 The system of bracing used
will depend on the rigidity of the
connections, the exposure,
height, shape and construction of
the building.
Concrete Structural
Frames
 History
 Joseph Aspdin produced
the earliest Portland cement.
 Joseph Monier, French
gardener, cast a wire mesh in
the concrete to strength their Joseph Aspdin

flower boxes.
 This was the birth of
reinforced concrete.

Joseph Monier
 First reinforced concrete
framed building was the
General Post Office in
London, completed in 1910.
 Great shortage of steel that
follows the end of the Second
World War prompted
engineers to use reinforced
concrete.

General Post Office in

London
 Advantages
 Unlimited choice of shape,
structurally and aesthetically.
 Rigidity of connections, if
monolithically cast .
 Can be constructed on
subsoil of pure or irregular
bearing capacity and in areas
subject to earthquakes.
Auditorium in Los Llanos, the
capital of Tenerife
 Disadvantages
 Complications of formwork

to construct irregular shapes.

 Less able to accommodate

movements due to settlement,

wind pressure, temperature and

moisture changes.

Auditorium in Los Llanos,

the capital of Tenerife
 Ideal Conditions
In those areas in which:
 Low labor costs.
 Structural steel is
comparatively expensive, a
reinforced concrete frame is
widely used as a frame for
both single and multi-storey
buildings such as the small
framed building, with solid
end walls and projecting
balconies.
Pre-cast Reinforced Concrete
Frame
 History
After second world war:
 Extensive programs of
rebuilding and re-
housing.
 Shortage of traditional
building materials.
(brick, stone, timber and
steel)
 Depleted labor force
Promoted the pre-cast
concrete working on a
 Advantages
 Readily available material.

 Combined with the least amount of steel.

 Produces a material that is structurally sound.

Disadvantages
 Less facilities of casting.
 Transportation problems.
 Major problem is the joining of the members on site as
highly skilled labour is required.
R.C.C Walls
 Types of Walls
 Veneer wall
 Party wall
 Fire wall
 Partition wall/Curtain Wall
 Cantilever/unsupported wall
 Load bearing wall
 Non –load bearing wall
 Exterior Wall
 Definitions
 Veneer Wall
 Decorative walls usually attached to the outside of load-
bearing frame construction
 Party Wall
 Load bearing wall that supports two adjacent structures
 Fire Wall
 Separates two structures or divides a structure into smaller
portions to prevent spread of fires
 Partition Wall
 Non-load bearing wall that divides two areas within a
structure
 Cantilever/Unsupported Walls
 Freestanding wall usually found in shopping centers or
churches
 Load bearing Wall
 That supports loads from floors, roof and equipment plus
their own weight
 Non-load bearing Wall
 Interior wall, used to separate two rooms in a house/office
& only support their own weight
 Pre-stressed Concrete
 In standard reinforced concrete, the
surface of the concrete that is in tension
should always be expected to crack. Tension
will cause the steel to lengthen slightly.
However, as the concrete is weak in tension,
it will crack rather than stretch.
 Pre-stressed concrete changes the areas
of concrete that are normally in tension into
areas of compression.
 This is done by bonding or attaching the
concrete to steel that is under significant
tension. The tensioned steel ‘squeezes’ the
concrete so much that the entire concrete
section is under compression and is,
therefore, less likely to crack.
 Earthquake Tips
 Build floors with light materials like timber, plywood and
clipboard with bolts firmly attached to the steel beam.
 The use of glass, bricks and hollow blocks should be
minimized while building .
 Tie walls, floors, roofs and foundations to a rigid box of steel.
This is based on the fact that earthquake exerts sideways load on
buildings.
 In apartment buildings, concrete panels should be setup both
horizontally and vertically to surrounding rooms in the building.
These panels hold the structure and conserve its firmness.