Impact of Code Changes on the Design of RC Frame Structure

The behavior of building frames under different loading conditions and different serviceability and limiting conditions is still under a continuous research process. This study discusses the comparison of two Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC) code named as BNBC 2006 and BNBC 2020 to grasp an idea of the impact of code changes on Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) structures. For this, three buildings are chosen with three different options for each and three different framing conditions for the earlier code (BNBC 2006). All the buildings are in the low seismic zone and high wind zone. The analyses were carried out by the state-of-the-art finite element software using respective design code for the earlier version and for the later version (BNBC 2020). Output results are tabulated in the figures for three buildings for the seismic force and the wind load. Seismic base shear is increased while wind force is reduced for all the three buildings for all the options except option 1 of building 1. Finally, the concrete volumes of the structural items are calculated and are tabulated in the figure. When comparing the results, it is seen that overall cost is reduced by the updated code for this zone.