Research Projects

Buildings are traditionally designed based on expected loads, which are combined with other loads to ensure their performance. However, the nature of loads on building structures is evolving and increasing due to climate-related events and extreme events. The design of buildings becomes uneconomical due to factors such as focusing on probability of event occurrence rather than performance, not considering real-time motion of loads and variable occupancy patterns in different functional spaces, and being bounded by safety factors for materials and loads. This research project aims to determine load patterns and paths using load measuring sensors and AI technology, analyze structures to optimized/critical load paths and load patterns, determine the co-relation between numerically analysed behavior and actual behavior, re-analyse structures for factored critical load paths optimized for different types of structures, and design structures for factored and optimized loads. The work addresses the problem of traditional building structures being designed for static loads based on material and geometric properties, which are uneconomical due to over-conservative loads. Instead, the focus should be on balancing stiffness, strength, and ductility. This work could pave the way for new design philosophies that build more robust and economical structures. Currently, building structures are designed according to deterministic methods, considering all inclusive causes and their probabilistic effects. Factors like occupancy-based loads, changing wind patterns, and accidental loads are not studied for proper behavioral studies of structures.