A Multiple Database-Enabled Design Module with Embedded Features of International Codes and Standards

This study presents the development of an advanced multiple database-enabled design module for high-rise buildings (DEDM-HR), which seamlessly pools databases of multiple high frequency base balance measurements from geographically dispersed locations and merges them together to expand the number of available building configurations for the preliminary design. This feature offers a new direction for the research and professional communities that can be utilized to efficiently pool multiple databases therefore expanding the capability of an individual database and improving the reliability of design estimates. This is demonstrated, in this study, by the unprecedented fusion of two major established databases, which facilitates interoperability. The DEDM-HR employs a cyberbased on-line framework designed with user-friendly/intuitive web interfaces for the convenient estimation of wind-induced responses in the alongwind, acrosswind and torsional directions with minimal user input. In addition, the DEDM-HR embeds a novel feature that allows the use of wind characteristics defined in a code/standard to be used in conjunction with the database. This supplements the provisions of a specific code/standard as in many cases guidance on the acrosswind and torsional response estimates is lacking. Through an example, results from several international codes and standards and the DEDM-HR with the embedded features are compared. This provision enhances the scope of the DEDM-HR in providing an alternative design tool with nested general provisions of various international codes and standards.