STRUCTURAL

ARRANGEMENTS
POST-AND-BEAM

FORM-ACTIVE

SEMI-FORM-ACTIVE

BY: ELISHA GWYN A. JADORMEO

 POST-AND-BEAM
• POST-AND-BEAM STRUCTURES ARE EITHER LOADBEARING WALL
STRUCTURES OR FRAME STRUCTURES IN WHICH A SERIES OF
HORIZONTAL ELEMENTS IS SUPPORTED ON VERTICAL WALLS.
• BOTH ARE COMMONLY USED STRUCTURAL FORMS AND WITHIN EACH
TYPE A FAIRLY WIDE VARIETY OF DIFFERENT STRUCTURAL
ARRANGEMENTS, OF BOTH THE CONTINUOUS AND THE DISCONTINUOUS
TYPES, ARE POSSIBLE.
• A LARGE RANGE OF SPANS IS ALSO POSSIBLE DEPENDING ON THE TYPES
OF ELEMENT WHICH ARE USED.
• WHERE WALLS ARE MASONRY, THE FLOORS CAN BE TIMBER OR
REINFORCED CONCRETE WHICH IS MORE CAPABLE OF LARGER SPANS
THAN TIMBER FLOORS.

FIG. 1 DISCONTINUOUS STRUCTURES. THE MULTI-STOREY

FRAME HAS INSUFFICIENT CONSTRAINTS FOR STABILITY
FIG. 2 CONTINUOUS STRUCTURES. ALL
AND WOULD REQUIRE THE ADDITION OF A BRACING SYSTEM.
ARE SELF-BRACING AND STATICALLY
THE THREE-HINGE PORTAL FRAME AND THREE-HINGE ARCH
INDETERMINATE.
ARE SELF-BRACING STATICALLY DETERMINATE
STRUCTURES.
LOADBEARING WALLS

• THE LOAD BEARING WALL STRUCTURE IS A POST AND BEAM

ARRANGEMENT IN WHICH A SERIES OF HORIZONTAL ELEMENTS IS
SUPPORTED ON VERTICAL WALLS.

• EXAMPLE, THE CORINTHIAN COURT IN ABINGDON, UK

 THE VERTICAL STRUCTURE OF THIS 3-STOREY OFFICE BUILDING, WHICH
MEASURES 55m BY 20m ON PLAN AND HAS FEW INTERNAL WALLS, IS OF
LOADBEARING MASONRY. THE FLOORS ARE OF REINFORCED CONCRETE.

 THE BASIC FORM IS UNSTABLE BUT STABILITY IS PROVIDED BY BRACING

WALLS, AND THE PLANS OF THESE BUILDINGS THEREFORE CONSIST OF TWO
SETS OF WALLS: LOADBAERING WALLS AND BRACING WALLS.

 TYPICAL PLAN OF A MULTI-STOREY LOAD BEARING WALL STRUCTURE. THE

FLOOR STRUCTURE SPANS ONE WAY BETWEEN PARALLEL STRUCTURAL WALLS.
SELECTED WALLS IN THE ORTHOGONAL DIRECTION ACT AS BRACING
ELEMENTS.
FRAME STRUCTURE
• THE PRINCIPAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FRAME IS THAT IT
IS A SKELETAL STRUCTURE CONSISTING OF BEAMS
SUPPORTED BY COLUMNS, WITH SOME FORM OF SLAB AND
ROOF.

• THE MOST BASIC TYPES OF FRAME ARE ARRANGED AS A

SERIES OF IDENTICAL ‘PLANE-FRAMES’ OF RECTANGULAR
GEOMETRY, POSITIONED PARALLEL TO ONE ANOTHER TO
FORM RECTANGULAR OR SQUARE COLUMN GRIDS; THE
RESULTING BUILDINGS HAVE FORMS WHICH ARE
PREDOMINANTLY RECTILINEAR IN BOTH PLAN AND CROSS-
A TYPICAL MULTI-STOREY FRAME
SECTION.
STRUCTURE IN WHICH A SKELETON
OF STEEL BEAMS AND COLUMNS
SUPPORTS A FLOOR OF REINFORCED
CONCRETE SLABS. WALLS ARE NON-
STRUCTURAL AND CAN BE
POSITIONED TO SUIT SPACE-
PLANNING REQUIREMENTS.
 STEEL FRAME

• STEEL FRAME IS A BUILDING

TECHNIQUE WITH A
"SKELETON FRAME" OF
VERTICAL STEEL COLUMNS AND
SINGLE-STOREY STEEL FRAMEWORK. HORIZONTAL I-BEAMS, CONSTRUCTED
ALTHOUGH SOME OF THE STRUCTURAL
CONNECTIONS HERE ARE RIGID, THE MAJORITY
OF THE HORIZONTAL ELEMENTS HAVE HINGE IN A RECTANGULAR GRID TO SUPPORT
JOINTS. THE REGULARITY OF THE
ARRANGEMENT AND THE PRESENCE OF A
TRIANGULATED BRACING GIRDER IN THE
THE FLOORS, ROOF AND WALLS OF A
HORIZONTAL PLANE ARE TYPICAL OF A
DISCONTINUOUS FRAMEWORK BUILDING WHICH ARE ALL ATTACHED
TO THE FRAME.

IN THIS STEEL FRAME, EFFICIENT

TRIANGULATED ELEMENTS CARRY
THE ROOF LOAD. FLOOR LOADS ARE
SUPPORTED ON LESS EFFICIENT
SOLID-WEB BEAMS WITH I-SHAPED
‘IMPROVED’ CROSS-SECTIONS.
 FORM-ACTIVE
• FORM-ACTIVE STRUCTURES ARE NORMALLY USED ONLY IN
CIRCUMSTANCES WHERE A SPECIAL STRUCTURAL REQUIREMENT TO
ACHIEVE A HIGH DEGREE OF STRUCTURAL EFFICIENCY EXISTS, EITHER
BECAUSE THE SPAN INVOLVED IS VERY LARGE OR BECAUSE A
STRUCTURE OF EXCEPTIONALLY LIGHT WEIGHT IS REQUIRED.
Exhibition Hall of
The CNIT, • THEY HAVE GEOMETRIES WHICH ARE MORE COMPLICATED THAN POST-
Paris, France AND-BEAM OR SEMI-FORM-ACTIVE TYPES AND THEY PRODUCE
BUILDINGS WHICH HAVE DISTINCTIVE SHAPES.

• INCLUDED IN THIS GROUP ARE COMPRESSIVE SHELLS, TENSILE CABLE

NETWORKS AND AIR SUPPORTED TENSILE-MEMBRANE STRUCTURES.

• FORM-ACTIVE STRUCTURES ARE ALMOST INVARIABLY STATICALLY

INDETERMINATE AND THIS, TOGETHER WITH THE FACT THAT THEY ARE
DIFFICULT TO CONSTRUCT, MAKES THEM VERY EXPENSIVE IN THE
PRESENT AGE, DESPITE THE FACT THAT THEY MAKE AN EFFICIENT USE
OF STRUCTURAL MATERIAL.
 EXISTING BUILDINGS
GRANDSTAND AT LORD’S CRICKET
GROUND, LONDON, UK, 1987; MICHAEL
HOPKINS AND PARTNERS, ARCHITECTS;
OVE ARUP AND PARTNERS,
STRUCTURAL ENGRS. THE CANOPIES
WHICH FROM THE ROOF OF THIS
BUILDING ARE FORM-ACTIVE TENSILE
MEMBRANES.

BRYNMAWR RUBBER FACTORY,

BRYNMAWR, UK, 1952; ARCHITECTS CO-
PARTNERSHIP, ARCHITECTS; OVE ARUP
AND PARTNERS, STRUCTURAL ENGRS.
THE PRINCIPAL ENCLOSING ELEMENTS
HERE ARE COMPRESSIVE FORM-
ACTIVE, ELLIPTICAL PARABOLOID
SHELL ROOFS.

BARTON MALOW SILVERDOME. A

VERY LARGE SPAN IS ACHIEVED
HERE WITH A CABLE-REINFORCED
AIR-SUPPORTED MEMBRANE, WHICH
IS A TENSILE FORM-ACTIVE
STRUCTURE.
 SEMI-FORM-ACTIVE
• SEMI-FORM-ACTIVE STRUCTURES HAVE FORMS WHOSE GEOMETRY IS
NEITHER POST-AND-BEAM NOR FORM-ACTIVE. THE ELEMENTS
THEREFORE CONTAIN THE FULL RANGE OF INTERNAL FORCE TYPES
(I.E. AXIAL THRUST, BENDING MOMENT AND SHEAR FORCE).
 MAGNITUDES OF THE BENDING MOMENTS, ARE THE MOST DIFFICULT OF
THE INTERNAL FORCES TO RESIST EFFICIENTLY, DEPEND ON THE EXTENT TO
WHICH THE SHAPE IS DIFFERENT FROM THE FORM-ACTIVE SHAPE FOR THE
LOADS.
 BENDING MOMENTS ARE SIGNIFICANTLY SMALLER, HOWEVER, THAN THOSE
The ubiquitous WHICH OCCUR IN POST-AND-BEAM STRUCTURES OF EQUIVALENT SPAN.
portal frame
• SEMI-FORM-ACTIVE STRUCTURES ARE USUALLY ADOPTED AS SUPPORT
SYSTEMS FOR BUILDINGS FOR ONE OF TWO REASONS.
 THEY MAY BE CHOSEN BECAUSE IT IS NECESSARY TO ACHIEVE GREATER
EFFICIENCY THAN A POST-AND-BEAM STRUCTURE WOULD ALLOW, BECAUSE
A LONG SPAN IS INVOLVED OR BECAUSE THE APPLIED LOAD IS LIGHT.
 NATURE OF JOINTS
• EFFECTS PERFORMANCE OF STRUCTURE.

• DEPENDING ON HOW THE ELEMENTS ARE

CONNECTED.

• EITHER DISCONTINUOUS OR CONTINUOUS.

CONTINUOUS
DISCONTINUOUS - STATICALLY
- CONTAINS SUFFICIENT INDETERMINATE.
CONSTRAINTS TO - FEW HINGE TYPE
RENDER THE STABLE.
JOINTS OR NONE.
- ASSEMBLIES OF
ELEMENTS CONNECTED - DIFFICULT TO
TOGETHER BY HINGE DESIGN.
TYPE JOINTS. - DIFFICULT TO
- MOST OF THEM ARE CONSTRUCT.
STATICALLY - GREATER ABILITY
DETERMINATE. OF GEOMETRIC
STABILITY.