Comparative Seismic Analysis of Multistory Structures Incorporating Floating Columns and Conventional Column Systems

Buildings are representation of modern city and as such are an achievement of structural engineering. The seismic behavior of a building during earthquakes depends on its shape, size and geometry, in addition to how the earthquake forces are carried to the ground. Hence, the structural engineers must work to make sure that the features which are not favorable are avoided and a good building configuration is chosen at the planning stage itself. Nowadays multi-storey buildings in urban cities are required to have column free space due to shortage of land, population and for functional and aesthetic requirements. Floating columns are an important feature in today’s world of multi-storeyed buildings in urban India and are highly unsafe in buildings built in seismically active areas. In this paper analysis using response spectrum method is done for a multi-storeyed building with and without floating columns. This paper presents comparative study of a G+06 storied building with external and internal floating columns and regular columns with seismic behavior. This work includes the analysis and design of the floating column and regular column structures by using STAAD pro software.