Here's What Industry Insiders Say About Concrete Frame Structures

In the modern building industry, Concrete frame construction is one of the most common types. Concrete Frame or skeleton buildings are just what their name suggests. A beam or column is the vertical member, and a beam or column is the horizontal member. The human foot walks on flat concrete slabs. It is important to note that the column is the building's principal load-bearing element. Unlike beams or slabs, a column can damage an entire building, not just a floor.

Reinforced Concrete

Reinforced concrete is what you are referring to when you use concrete in the construction trade. Concrete reinforced with cement calls RCC. Reinforcing bars, or rebar, are steel bars used to reinforce concrete.

Concrete and steelwork well together since concrete are strong in compression, easy to produce on-site, and inexpensive, while steel is extremely strong in tension. Rather than pouring liquid concrete into a form, one first forms a mold, known as formwork that will give the concrete the desired shape and form. In the next step, the structural engineers' drawings apply to the steel reinforcement bars, and a wire uses to tie them in place. Because it shapes like one, the tied steel calls a reinforcement cage.

The concrete needs to mix with cement, sand, stone chips, water, and a cement mixer and pour into the formwork as precisely as possible once the steel structure is in place. During a month, the concrete will reach its full strength. Because of this, it normally remains propped up until that time. A moist surface needs for this time for the chemical reactions to take place inside the concrete. While the concrete is curing, water is supplied on its surface, allowing the chemical reactions to proceed properly.

Load

As such, the structure appears to make of connected frames with solid connections between them. A moment connection is a type of connection between two members which has a strong connection between them.

Steel structures may also have hinged connections, but most concrete frame structures use moment connections. Throughout the life of a building, this frame is subject to various loads that exert pressure on it.

Types of Load

1. Live Loads

Buildings are subject to downward forces as a result of the weight of their occupants, including furniture, books, etc. Normal construction codes specify these loads, and structural engineers must design buildings so they can bear these or higher loads.

2. Wind Loads

A tall building or a building with a large surface area requires this design factor. Normally, wind damage occurs once every 100 years, but buildings design to withstand extreme wind conditions.

In building codes, these refer to as design wind speeds. The wind force can be as high as 150 kg/m2 on a building, which is a massive force when multiplied by the size of the building.

3. Earthquake Loads

During an earthquake, the ground vibrates vigorously, shaking the building horizontally as well as vertically, similar to a bucking horse shaking a rider in the rodeo.

A building can fall apart because of this. Heavy buildings are subject to greater forces. Neither wind nor earthquake causes vertical forces to apply to the building. Instead, they both impose horizontal forces on the structure.

4. Dynamic Loads

There are several types of traffic-related loads found in bridges and similar infrastructures, including brake and acceleration loads.

5. Dead Loads

Bringing down the building is due to the weight of the building's structural elements, walls, facade, and others.

Walls in Concrete Frame Structures

The strength and economy of concrete frames can't dispute. Thus, they can build walls with almost any type of material. A more heavy-duty wall may construct with bricks, blocks of concrete, or stone. You can build drywall partitions out of wood or steel studs and cover them with sheeting boards for a lighter appearance.

The former is uses, while the latter uses to create quick, flexible, lightweight partitions to create strong, soundproof, and secure enclosures. Cement plaster is commonly coated over bricks and concrete blocks to create a hard, durable finish.

To learn more, watch the following video tutorial.

Video Source: Engineering Motive

Cladding of Concrete Frame Structures

Any type of cladding can apply to concrete frame buildings. Glass, aluminum, stone, and ceramic sheets commonly use to clad buildings. Since these structures can bear heavy loads, one could clad them in bricks or stone walls to make them more solid.