The “study on the constructability and the engineering properties of Composite Megacolumns” research project was made possible with $150,000 in financial support provided by ArcelorMittal.
As tall buildings grow ever higher, it is increasingly critical to optimize structural systems in order to ensure strength and stability. Therefore, on especially tall buildings, the large dimensions required of concrete columns are becoming an inhibitor to the economic feasibility of projects, as structural elements take up increasingly significant shares of buildings’ floor plans, especially at the lower levels.
To avoid this, many supertall buildings are now being designed and constructed using composite materials, with steel and concrete acting together, using the advantages of one material to compensate the limits of the other.
Such new composite structures need to be fully tested, in order to understand their strengths and limits, and to provide the design community with the awareness, guidance and tools necessary for integrating the use of composite structures into future supertall building designs.
