Question

what is the structural form of a building nowadays?

Answer 1

Now a days structural form of buildings are generally framed structure. in earlier days maximum structures were used to be load bearing structures but with development we have moved towards framed structure.

Framed structure- in framed structure the external loads and weight of the building is carried by a frame or skeleton of beams columns. with the help of column load is transferred to subsoil.

Load bearing structure- in load bearing structural weight of the building is carried by the walls which is ultimately transferred to the soil. thicker walls are required in these structure and footing is required for whole length of wall.

characteristics of framed structure-  as walls do not take any load in framed structure walls are thinner. they serve partition purpose only. the whole bulding works as a single unit leading to better seismic behaviour. they are more rigid. flexibility is more in this type of structure as space between columns are free whereas in load bearing structure walls bear the load leading to reduced structural flexibilty.

Design of framed structure is more complex than that of load bearing structure. also it is costlier in some cases. but overall advantages are more such as better strength, seismic behaviour, structural flexibility etc. design can be done using various softwares such as staddpro, sap so now a days framed structures are used in buildings.