COMPARATIVE STUDY FOR MITIGATING THE SOFT STOREY EFFECT IN MULTI STOREY BUILDINGS USING DIFFERENT STRUCTURAL ARRANGEMENTS

This paper focuses on studying the effects of soft storey configuration in the buildings and remedying it by using different structural arrangements, such as shear walls, diagonal steel bracing and cross steel bracings. The linear dynamic analysis (response spectrum analysis) has been adopted for various symmetrical buildings such as low rise (G+6), medium rise (G+14) and high rise (G+24). The responses of the models, in terms of storey drift, lateral displacement, storey shear, storey stiffness and bending moment variation are compared for different configurations and presented. It can be effectively concluded that the provision of shear walls can reduce the effects of soft storey to a much greater extend. Cross steel bracings also play an inevitable role in reducing the soft storey effect in the buildings. As the height of the building increases, the factors evaluated in this paper exert a major impact on the building's stability, thus necessitating the need for in depth study in this area.