Governing Lateral Load on Tall Buildings in Canadian Regions

The design of tall buildings are typically governed by lateral loads, such as wind and earthquake. The tendency for a specific lateral load to govern building design varies based on the building characteristics, building height, and the location of the building. Generally, as building height increases perpetually, the design is governed by wind load. In contrast, earthquake load tends to govern design of structures of low to medium height, structures with elevated magnitude of story mass, and structures located in regions of high seismic activity. Geographic location plays an important role in the determination of both climatic and seismic loads, since certain zones across Canada may experience various combinations of the two natural hazards. There is a need to identify and map the governing lateral load (i.e., wind and earthquake) for use in preliminary design and city-scale assessment. This paper primarily aims to assess the impact that geographic location has in determining the governing lateral load of tall structures by conducting a parametric study of comparable building designs. Accordingly, the current study utilizes the finite element method (FEM) to create conceptual building designs based upon the Commonwealth Advisory Aeronautical Council (CAARC) building. The designs are performed based on the National Building Code of Canada (NBCC) and consist of four parameters: geographic location, building height, seismic site class, and lateral force-resisting system. The results provide a basis by which the design of a standard high-rise building varies in Canadian regions.