2018 UNDERGRADUATE

SEISMIC DESIGN COMPETITION

DESIGN PROPOSAL

AIN SHAMS UNIVERSITY

TEAM MEMBERS:
Prof. Traek Kamal (Team Advisor)
Prof. Mohamed Saafan (Team Advisor)
Eng. Hassan Bedeir (Team Advisor)
Eng. Eslam Osama (Team Advisor)
Eng. Abdulrahman Ayman (Team Advisor)
Mohamed Shaker (Teams Captian)
Osama Nageeb (Team Member)
Hazem Emam (Team Member)
Ahmed Younes (Team Member)
Mohamed Yasser (Team Member)
Jasmine Osama (Team Member)
Mohamed Al Metwally (Team Member)
Dina Husseiny (Team Member)
Basma Tarek (Team Member)
Dalia Niazy (Team Member)
Nourhan Nabil (Team Member)
Project Description:
Los Angeles is known for its unique skyline, sunny climate, and its prominent entertainment and film
industry. Based on these site charateristics the ASU Team has designed an iconic high-rise building, that
reflects the distinct qualities of Los Angeles, California. Also, The ASU Team aimed to fulfill all the client’s
requirements, while achieving the appropriate resistance to seismic actions. The structural system is a
hybrid between tube in tube and outrigger systems. Braced frames covering the external Façade makes the
building structurally efficient while aesthetically pleasing, The adoption of the hybrid system has the merits
of reducing the structure weight thereby making room for the use of floor rentable area which eventually
led to maximizing the revenue.
Architectural Description:
In the dense city of Los Angeles, California, space is an invaluable
commodity, so our design approach targeted verticality in order to
take advantage of the most space with the limited amount of built
area provided.We wanted to make the most of the vertical space
by designing a flexible multi-use building that benefits from its
height by providing users with scenic views and culturally relevant
activities. As an innovative design approach, we used the Diamante
shape to subtract from the building’s main body, providing the
facades with multiple facets to versify and increase the views of
the building. The combination of increased facets and more space
between each floor allows more light to enter the building.
This design aims to create an iconic structure for L.A’s diverse,
multiethnic population, while maintaining a robust and safe
structure for the city. Implementing the use of sustainable materials,
green spaces, and solar panels promotes a self-sustaining addition
to L.A’s skyline. This ecological approach increases awareness of
the environment, and adds a sense of earth to the modernistic style. Rendered shot of the model

3D FUNCTIONAL ZONING STRUCTURAL MODEL AERODYNAMIC PERFORMANCE`

Observatory Removing the bracing Corners are chamfered to

from the outer perimeter to enhance the aerodynamic
Gallery capitalize the scenic views. performance of the building.

Restaurants Increase and versify the

Less Structural Density to views of the building
Offices provide more space.

Retail Stores Forming cantilevered

green roofs

Highest Structural Density

Emphasize entrance
SOLAR ENERGY DIAMANTE CONCEPT GREEN SPACES

Use of transparent Accentuate Vertacality

solar panels oriented
to optimize angle of
sun rays and maximize
efficiency.
They not only produce
renewable energy, but
they also shade the
building from direct
sunlight, reducing
the need for air
conditioning
Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Addition of green terraces:
1. The material is designed according to the
Provide aesthetic effect.
requirements of each project.
2. It offers the possibility to perform complex - Compensate for lost green
geometries and unlimited dimensions. spaces occupied by the
3. It has high tensile, bending and compression
bulding.
resistence.
4. Lightweight. - Decrease carbon
5. Good behaviour aganist earthquakes emissions by increasing
6. Low electrical conductivity and thermal
greenaries.
insulation
7. High Compatibility with materials used in
buildings.
8. High resistance to corrosion.
9. Good maintenance and long life cycle
Form, Studies and Concept
Predicted Structural Behavior:
For the structural analysis presented herein, laboratory tests were carried
out as a first step to determine the material and mechanical properties of
the utilized Balsa Wood. Following the 2018 SDC rules, the ASU team also
developed a preliminary structural system and created a finite element model
using SAP 2000 software package. Balsa wood material was defined using
the properties obtained from the laboratory tests, members were defined as
frame elements located in their designed geometric locations and rigidly
connected to simulate the behavior of the actual model. Dead loads of rods
were assigned in their appropriate locations and earthquake acceleration
(GM1 and GM2 of SDC 2017) was assigned using a linear Time History
Analysis load case. Finally, the peak roof displacement and acceleration of
the model were extracted.

Subsequently, shake table experimental testing (Fig. 1) was conducted on a Fig. 1

full-scale model for the preliminary structural system. Since the available shaking table was
not capable to simulate any seismic records (i.e. only cyclic loading), cyclic load functions
were applied to the SAP2000 model in order to compare the results of both experimental and
numerical model. Based on the aforementioned comparison, the numerical model was updated
to match test results as possible and as such enhance the accuracy of future predictions.
Furthermore, a parametric study was carried out for various structural systems via FE analysis
to develop the hybrid system (Fig. 2) proposed in the structural behavior section with adequate
seismic response and efficiency. Below is the estimated response of the proposed system under
GM1 and GM2 of SDC 2017.
Estimated Seismic Response
Ground Motion Peak Roof Displacement (in) Peak Roof Acceleration (g)
GM1 0.19 1.01 Fig. 2
GM2 0.40 1.56
Geotechnical/Site Description:
Los Angeles, southern California, situated between mountains and about 15 miles away from the Pacific
Ocean. The proposed building will be in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, underlain by sedimentary rocks
that have silty clay and sandy loam deposits with low strength and high compressibility properties. This soil
could amplify the ground shaking and is subjected to liquefaction hazards. Determination of the soil deposits
requires performing of soil exploration program; in addition to field tests using core penetration test (CPT),
which is widely used to determine the mechanical properties of the soil and evaluate liquefaction potential,
also bore holes will be drilled to determine groundwater depth and obtain soil samples for laboratory
testing. Los Angeles is located on top of several faults as active San Andres fault (Major seismic effect),
Newport-Inglewood fault, Hollywood fault, Santa Monica fault and Whittier fault.
During the past 700 years, earthquakes of magnitude (6.5 – 7.9 on the Richter scale) have hit Los Angeles
every 45 to 144 years; the last one with a 7.9 magnitude happened 153 years ago. Therefore, experts
believe that earthquakes with magnitudes (6.7, 7, and 7.5) probabilities to happen are (60%, 46%, and 31%)
respectively. Since Los Angeles is seismically active, we designed our building with adequate resistance
to lateral loads. We also ensured in our design that the frequencies of the ground motion and the building
would not match during seismic activity in order to avoid the resonance phenomenon that could result in an
amplification in the peak floor accelerations and the peak interstory drift. This was achieved using the Fast
Fourier transform (FFT) by analyzing the building response in the frequency domain instead of the typical
time domain analysis. Finally, the building would be mounted on deep foundation (drilled shafts extended
to the bedrock) by taking into consideration the existence of subway tunnels and neighboring building.
The main advantage of utilizing deep foundations is to reduce the effect of any possible liquefaction and
enhance the building response during seismic events. Regarding the dynamic analysis of soil-structure
interaction between the structure (including piles) and the surrounding soil, the confinement of the soil
medium to the piles was represented by a number of springs with appropriate stiffness determined based on
the horizontal subgrade reaction that is equivalent to each soil type.

Structural Description:
The Structural system is considered a hybrid combination of tube in tube and
outrigger systems. The outer tube is composed of braced frames covering the
external Façade, while the inner tube is composed of L-Shaped braced frames
connected with rigid beams. An outrigger system is located around mid-
height to ensure the tube in tube action. Also, the rigid connections between
beams connecting both tubes were developed as shown in Fig.3. (Innovated
and tested by ASU team)

Internal Braced Core (Diagonal- bracings)

The internal braced core 1/6×1/6 in. supports the structure laterally along its
height from the base to the roof. The 4 L-shaped cores are connected together
using rigid beams forming the inner tube (Fig.4).
Fig. 3
External Bracings (X-Bracings)
X-Bracing of 1/8×1/8 inches to provide an additional lateral support to the internal braced
core. To further enhance the structure efficiency, the external bracings were introduced
along the bottom two thirds of the structure’s height where the maximum earthquake
shear occurs, External Bracings are joined to each other with rigid beams forming the
outer tube (Fig. 5).

Outriggers
An outrigger 0.15×0.15 inches is used to connect the inner tube to the outer tube. The
two tubes are connected at the 9th floor to ensure that the architectural requirements are
met and the rentable floor area is not negatively affected. The utilized tube in tube system
is expected to significantly enhances the seismic response of the structure under massive
earthquakes (Fig. 4 & 7). Fig. 4 Fig. 5

Floor Beams
The cross-sections of the floor beams that connects the internal braced
core are increased to ensure the framing action of the core. The same
concept was used to ensure the framing action between the external
bracings and inner braced core. However, in order to control the total
Fig. 6 Fig. 7
weight of the Structure, the remaining floor beams were reduced (Fig. 6).

Economic Consideration:
In order to maximize the Final Annual Building income (FABI), the following two strategies were followed:
reducing the building weight as well as increasing the rentable floor areas. The use of the hybrid system
helped reduce the building weight. The building weight is predicted to be 0.75 lb, while the rentable floor
area is almost 2500 square inches. Furthermore, the peak roof accelerations and displacements are predicted
using ground motions 1 and 2 from 2017 Competition. Finally, under the satisfactory results of both peak
roof accelerations and displacements of 2017 Competition GM1 and GM2, the FABI was estimated to be
nearly $209,650.