Exploring the Effect of Expansion Joints Spacing in Concrete Multistory Buildings

Temperature and shrinkage effects may cause cracks and additional stresses in the structural components of concrete buildings. In order to limit the undesirable effects of temperature and shrinkage, it is recommended by many building codes to use expansion joints in long buildings. In this study the effect of temperature and shrinkage on multistory buildings was explored. 3D finite element models were constructed for multistory buildings with different lengths and heights, and analyzed using various temperature loads. A factor termed in this study the temperature design ratio was developed to evaluate the maximum spacing between expansion joints that can be used with out including temperature effects in the analysis. This factor was calculated by comparing the design obtained using temperature and vertical loads to that obtained using vertical loads alone. Different factors affecting the response of the structure to temperature strains were also studied.