Comparative Study of RC Multistorey Building with Floating Column and Shear Wall Subjected To Seismic Load

: In modern multistorey building construction, irregularities like the soft storey, vertical and plan irregularities, floating columns etc are very common. Building with an open ground storey for parking is a common feature that results in floating columns. Floating columns provide column free space and a good aesthetic architectural view of the building. floating column means the end of any vertical element that rests on the beam which leads to discontinuity of columns such that the path of load distribution in multi-storey buildings is disturbed. The use of a floating column also tends to increase the moment in the column, storey shear etc which highly undesirable in seismically active areas. So, the study of the best location where the floating column needs to be provided to reduce the impact due to seismic loads is of primordial importance. Shear wall is a vertical member which is provided from foundation to top storey. In this study shear wall is used in the direction of orientation so that it provides additional strength and stiffness to the buildings. In the present analysis, 8 models are studied. The first model considers a multi-storeyed building without any shear wall and floating column. Other models analysed are with shear wall and by varying the location of floating columns. The analysis and design are done by STAAD.pro V8i SS6 version software and the method used is response spectrum analysis in earthquake zone 4. The effect of floating column location on parameters such as Base shear, Displacement, Maximum moment, storey shear and percentage of steel reinforcement are discussed. The comparison of results of different models is also carried out in detail using graphs and bar charts in this study. The suitable location for providing a floating column with the shear wall is also discussed. Keywords: Floating column, Shear wall, Seismic load, STAAD.pro.v8i, Response Spectrum Analysis.