Cost Estimate and Input Energy of Floor Systems in Low Seismic Regions

Reinforced concrete (RC) as a material is most commonly used for buildings construction. Several floor systems are available following the structural and architectural requirements. The current research study provides cost and input energy comparisons of RC office buildings of different floor systems. Conventional solid, ribbed, flat plate and flat slab systems are considered in the study. Building models in three-dimensional using extended three-dimensional analysis of building systems (ETABS) and in two-dimensional using slab analysis by the finite element (SAFE) are developed for analysis purposes. Analysis and design using both software packages and manual calculations are employed to obtain the optimum sections and reinforcements to fit cities of low seismic intensities for all the considered building systems. Two ground motion records of low peak ground acceleration (PGA) levels are used to excite the models to measure the input energies. Uniformat cost estimating system is adopted to categorize building components according to 12 divisions. Also, Microsoft (MS) Project is utilized to identify the construction cost and duration of each building system. The study shows that floor system significantly causes changes in the input energy to structures. In addition, the slight increase in the PGA increases the amount of input energy particularly flat plate system. Estimated cost of the flat plate system that the flat slab system is of higher value as compared to ribbed and conventional slab systems. The use of drop panels increases this value as well. Moreover, the estimated cost of the ribbed slab system exceeds that of conventional system.