This office building project primarily employs a steel structure assembly construction method. The building’s main framework consists of steel, while the enclosure system utilizes lightweight composite panels for both interior and exterior partitions. These panels are prefabricated and processed in the factory before being transported to the site for installation. The flooring system uses steel truss support plates, which are hoisted and assembled on-site prior to concrete pouring.
This project, a public building, features a steel structural framework combined with prefabricated composite panel walls. Steel structures are ideal for creating large-span office spaces, meeting the requirements for layout flexibility and depth. Both interior and exterior walls are constructed from lightweight panels that are lifted into place during assembly. Crack-resistant mesh is applied at panel joints, and all walls are covered with sea-based cloth to prevent cracking and finish issues. This eliminates the need for plastering, reducing material waste and speeding up construction progress.
To optimize this process, Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology is employed to efficiently plan the steel support system. This reduces material waste, cutting loss, and on-site workload, streamlining the construction process.
Structural System of the Project
The project features a prefabricated steel structure, with an internal steel frame combined with a self-resetting energy dissipation support system. This design ensures high overall stiffness and excellent lateral resistance. Floor-to-floor displacement is minimal, and the primary vibration mode is translational, effectively reducing torsional effects during multi-level seismic events.
The foundation’s standard floor area covers 91%, increasing effective usable space by 5% compared to traditional wall-building methods. Columns are constructed using steel-reinforced concrete, combining concrete’s compressive strength with steel’s ductility. Column connections use full penetration welding for strength. Narrow-winged H-shaped crossbeams are installed between crossbeams to maintain bending resistance while improving cross-sectional efficiency.
High-rise floors employ steel structural plates and frames designed to withstand high pressure. The foundation benefits from a high assembly rate of prefabricated components, with steel materials providing robust stiffness, reducing the need for extensive steel foundation binding. Column nodes in high-rises use high pre-tightening, single-sided locking bolt connections to enable rapid steel assembly. Self-compound dampers are incorporated to enhance seismic and deformation resistance.
Key Features of the Construction
1. Design Phase: BIM technology is used to design structural schemes and perform parameter calculations. Seismic resistance of floors is refined based on timing results, with comprehensive analysis of the building model’s internal structure. For unique building shapes, 3D3S software supplements data calculations to ensure structural safety.
2. Structural Components: Beams, columns, and floors are prefabricated in factories to ensure easy transport and on-site assembly, improving construction efficiency and reducing on-site labor.
3. Single-sided Bolts: The West Building’s beam-to-column nodes utilize high pre-tightening, single-sided locking bolts, achieving fully assembled steel frame nodes without on-site welding, which accelerates construction.
4. Dampers: Self-resetting dampers, used for the first time domestically, have customizable elongation to accommodate floor-to-floor deformation. They enable structural self-resetting and seismic energy dissipation during magnitude 8 earthquakes and strong winds, with no replacement required throughout their lifespan.
5. Mechanical and Electrical Design: In the preliminary design stage, technicians create an initial information model based on drawings and coordinate with design managers to optimize the BIM model. Detailed mechanical and electrical data models are established, including reserved hole structures, pipeline routing, and processing drawings to facilitate construction. Safety procedures are thoroughly analyzed and modular design is implemented across different construction zones to streamline operations and ensure quality.
Application Strategy of BIM Technology
Challenges in Implementation
1. Technical Disclosure: Steel structure beam connections typically use welding, bolt-welding, or pure bolt connections. Traditional welding-based connections consume significant labor and time, slowing construction and causing environmental pollution, which conflicts with modern green building principles. Although hybrid bolt-weld connections are outdated, single-sided bolt technology is still emerging. Additionally, on-site workers often lack sufficient experience to guarantee construction quality, making rapid and accurate skill acquisition a critical challenge.
2. Water Supply and Drainage Construction: Water supply and drainage are essential components in prefabricated buildings. Traditional drainage construction involves segmented materials and on-site assembly, which often causes collisions with the main structure during installation, leading to extensive rework. Therefore, thorough technical research and analysis of mechanical, electrical, and water systems are necessary to ensure smooth project execution.
3. Panel Enclosure: Structural panels for floors and walls form the steel plate structural system. These panels offer excellent airtightness, thermal insulation, soundproofing, waterproofing, and crack resistance. Maintaining airtight and crack-resistant connections between floors, walls, and the main structure is vital to the success of prefabricated steel buildings. Cracking remains a significant challenge under horizontal foundation loads.
Proposed Solutions
To address these issues, the focus should be on advancing construction techniques for high-preload single-sided bolts, high-strength spring self-resetting energy dissipation dampers, HVAC installation, and coordination to prevent steel structure collisions. The construction team should actively adopt BIM technology to build finite element models and simulate internal structural information. Vertical deformation analyses of steel pipes and concrete columns should be performed, and parameter formulas applied to calculate the equilibrium of vertical structural components, providing essential data for material production.
Moreover, modeling the building’s overall structure should leverage the Midas/Gen system for simulation and data analysis, comparing results with initial parameter calculations to assess construction feasibility. BIM technology enables comprehensive research and application, including using Tekla software for digital processing and manufacturing of steel prefabricated components. Virtual cutting and assembly simulations should be conducted to optimize project planning.
This article introduces components such as high-preload unilateral locking bolts and high-strength steel ring spring self-resetting dampers. BIM software simulations of bolt installation visualize complex construction processes, enhancing technical transparency.
Source: Intelligent Buildings and Engineering Machinery, Volume 4, Issue 1, January 2022
Author: Jia Hongli (Shandong Expressway Laigang Green Building Development Co., Ltd.)
Note: For educational and communication purposes only. Please contact us for removal if there is any infringement.
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