ATC Design Guide 3:

Serviceability Design of Tall Buildings

Serviceability Design of under Wind Load
Tall Buildings under Wind Load Funded by
The Applied Technology Council Endowment Fund

Chris Letchford Authors

Peter A. Irwin
Project Review Panel
Melissa Burton
Editors
Jon Heintz
Leighton Cochran Chris Letchford
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Lawrence Griffis Ahmad Rahimian
William Baker Donald Scott
Troy, NY

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What does ATC Design Guide 3 cover? Serviceability is...

 Background to Wind loading of Tall Buildings

 What is Serviceability? “...a state in which the function of a

building, its appearance, maintainability,
 Describes Serviceability Measures:
durability and comfort of its occupants
– Motion Criteria (for human occupancy) are preserved under normal usage.”
 Vibration/Motion Guidelines

– Deflection Criteria (for cracking)

 Drift/Deflection Guidelines
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 Serviceability is... Serviceability is...
ASCE 7-16, addresses serviceability in Sections 1.3.1 and 1.3.2.
IBC (2018) addresses serviceability in Section 1.3.1 requires that:
Section 1604.3 Serviceability, where it “Buildings and other structures, and all parts thereof, shall be designed and
requires that constructed to have adequate strength and stiffness to provide structural stability,
protect nonstructural components and systems from unacceptable damage, and
meet the serviceability requirements of Section 1.3.2.
“...structural systems and members thereof
shall be designed to have adequate stiffness Section 1.3.2 states that:
to limit deflections and lateral drift.” “Structural systems and members thereof shall be designed to have adequate
stiffness to limit deflections, lateral drift, vibration, or any other deformations that
adversely affect the intended use and performance of buildings and other structures.”

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Two considerations... Why am I here and how can I help...!

No specific limits are defined by the code for drift under wind loading or for
limits on motion perception. It is left to the designer in consultation with the
project Client using Engineering Judgment for applying drift and perception
to motion criteria for each specific project.
1. Drift - relative deflection
Drift limits are defined in the building code for seismic loading, but not for
wind loads. Similarly, material standards (such as AISC, ACI, etc.) leave
2. Vibration – motion (acceleration) serviceability design checks to the Engineering Judgment of the designer.

HOORAY for ATC Design Guide 3!

...and ASCE #143 and ASCE PBWE Prestandard
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 Performance Design for Wind Loading ASCE PBWE Prestandard
Chapter 4. Performance Objectives
Building Performance 4.2 MAIN WIND FORCE RESISTING SYSTEM and Envelope Performance Objectives

Guidance Chapter 7. Acceptance Criteria: Main Wind Force Resisting System (MWFRS)
7.1 MWFRS Acceptance Criteria Framework
7.2 MWFRS Acceptance Criteria for Occupant Comfort Performance Objectives
 ASCE Prestandard on 7.3 MWFRS Acceptance Criteria for Operational Performance Objective
7.4 MWFRS Acceptance Criteria for Continuous Occupancy Performance Objectives
PBWE (2019) 7.5 Exceedance of Acceptance Criteria

Chapter 8. Acceptance Criteria: Building Envelope Systems Criteria

 ASCE Manual of 8.1 Scope
Practice 143 (2020) 8.2 Consequence Estimation
8.3 Acceptance Criteria
8.4 Interfaces and Penetrations for Building Services in Building Enclosures

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ASCE PBWE ASCE Manual of Practice 143

Table 4-1. Performance Objectives and Acceptance Criteria (part).
Occupant Comfort Operational Continuous Occupancy,
3 PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES AND ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA
Limited Interruption
MWFRS Performance Objective: Performance Objective: Performance Objective:
The structural system shall remain  The building envelope shall remain  The building envelope shall remain attached to the 3.2 Mean Recurrence Intervals
elastic. The building motions and  attached to the structure. The building  structure. The building envelope system shall be designed to 
vibrations shall minimize occupant  envelope shall maintain wind driven rain  maintain wind‐driven rain resistance for 25‐year MRI wind 
discomfort at design wind 1‐month,  resistance. events for Risk Category II and 50‐year MRI wind events for  3.2.2 Serviceability: Drift and Displacement MRI – 10 year
1‐year, and 10‐years MRI. Risk Category III and IV. 3.2.3 Serviceability: Accelerations and Motion Perception MRI – 1 year
Acceptance Criteria: Acceptance Criteria: Acceptance Criteria:
See Section 7.2 See Section 8.3 See Section 8.3
3.5 Building Displacements
Building Performance Objective: Performance Objective:
Envelope The building envelope shall remain  The building envelope shall remain attached to the 3.5.1 Overall Building Deflection not recommended
attached to the structure. The building  structure. The building envelope system shall be designed to  3.5.2 Story Drift flexure vs shear
envelope shall maintain wind driven rain  maintain wind‐driven rain resistance for 25‐year MRI wind 
Calls up  resistance. events for Risk Category II and 50‐year MRI wind events for 
3.5.3 Drift Measurement Index (DMI - see later) importance of racking vs drift
Risk Category III and IV. 3.5.4 Recommended Drift Criteria
ATC DG3 Acceptance Criteria: Acceptance Criteria: Table 3‐2. Recommended Damage Measurement Index Criteria
See Section 8.3 See Section 8.3 MRI 10‐year 50‐year
3.6 Nonstructural Elements
Nonstructural Performance Objective: Performance Objective: DMI criteria 1/400 1/300
Components  Nonstructural components and systems  Nonstructural components and systems shall remain
and Systems shall remain attached and maintain wind  attached.
driven rain resistance.
Acceptance Criteria: Acceptance Criteria:
ATC Design Guide 3
See Sections 7.3.1 and 8.4.3 See Sections 7.4.1 and 8.4.3 ATC Design Guide 3
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 ASCE Manual of Practice 143 Serviceability Design for Wind Loading
3 PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES AND ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA ...cont
Serviceability
3.7 Occupant Comfort limit perception of motion under normal conditions(~0.1 year MRI), Guidance
3.7.1 Acceleration keep occupants comfortable under frequently occurring events (1‐year MRI) 
limit discomfort to manageable levels under less frequent events (10‐year MRI)

 ASCE Monograph
3.7.2 Visual and Auditory non structural?

3.8 Project-Specific Performance client specific  ATC Design Guide 3

10.3.2 Performance-Based Design anticipates ASCE Prestandard

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The Engineer’s Problem... The Architect’s (?) Problem...

 Structural failure...  Environmental failure(s)...
– Safety
– Comfort
– Economics

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 Issues of Comfort... Issues of Comfort...
Outdoor shopping and recreation... Wind induced motion...
- Occupant comfort
(motion and noise)
- Partition damage
- Elevator disruption
- Water penetration

The Downside to Life in a Supertall Tower: Leaks, Creaks, Breaks
Published Feb. 3, 2021  Updated Sept. 23, 2021

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What Serviceability Criteria? Buildings do move in the wind!

and creak
“It’s the way they sway in the wind that I can’t get used to”

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 What Serviceability Criteria ...? Pause for Questions...

Deformation leads to
cracking, gaping, and
rain penetration...

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2. Vibration of tall buildings... Human Cognitive System and Environmental Factors

 First criteria for acceptable motions from Canada in 1975...

 Significant research in moving chambers 1970s to current...
 Need to address physiological, psychological and physical
issues...

Wind induced Motion of Tall Buildings, ASCE

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 Common Human Accelerations Typical building accelerations...
Description Acceleration (m/s2) milli‐g 3D ‘random’ vibrations... characterized by
Human perception 0.01‐0.1 1‐10
Train acceleration 0.25 26
Car acceleration 4.3 440
Saturn V Rocket at launch 11.2 1,140 g a acceleration, and
aˆ - peak
High‐G Roller Coaster 34‐62 3,470‐6,300
Explosive Ejector seat 147 15,000 ±a - standard deviation or ‘RMS’
Automobile accident (100km/hr into a wall) 982 100,000
Soccer ball struck by a human foot 2946 300,000

1 milli-g = 1/1000 of g (g = 9.8m/s2)

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Relating Peak and ‘RMS’ accelerations Typical building modes of vibration...

aˆ  g a 3D ‘random’ vibrations of
which the first 3 modes are
0.577 of primary interest, typically
g  2ln600n1  2 sway and 1 torsion modes.
2ln600n1
Assumes a narrow band stationary random process and that the peak Require:
acceleration of interest occurs during a 10 minute period (rather than 1 hour).
Resultant Acceleration
g - peak factor
n1 - building lowest natural frequency

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 Resultant Accelerations Observed Building Accelerations and Occupant Responses

Assumes uncorrelated
modal motions (requires
x  x12 x22 x32  j
2
xj

natural frequencies to be
well separated) aˆ x   aˆj
2
xj aˆy  aˆ 2
yj aˆ  aˆ 2
j
10 milli-g
j j

aˆres  (1  c)max(aˆx2 , aˆ y2 , R2 aˆ2 )  c(aˆx2  aˆ y2  R2 aˆ2 )

c – empirical constant ~ 0.25,
R - radius to building extremity from center of twist Wind induced Motion of Tall Buildings, ASCE

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Probabilistic Perception Thresholds for Horizontal Vibrations Vibration limits and Habitability

% of occupants

~10 milli-g

10 milli-g

Wind induced Motion of Tall Buildings, ASCE Wind induced Motion of Tall Buildings, ASCE

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 Additional Consideration: Torsional velocity How often should peak accelerations occur?
 What Return Period (MRI)?
Recommended Torsional Velocity Criteria
Peak torsional velocity (milli‐radians/s)
– Early research focused on MRI of 10 years.
Return Period Residential Office
𝜃 𝜃
1 – year 2.0 2.5  Limits suggested 10-30 milli-g. (Effective for outside hurricane areas)
10 ‐ year 4.0 5.0

– Subsequent research suggested MRI of 5 years

Based on experience and motion simulator studies  Now frequency and storm-type dependent

Buildings with large torsional response should be AVOIDED! – Latest research suggests MRI of 1 year
 Frequency of occurrence and building-use dependent

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Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat ISO 10137:2007 1-year Return Period peak accelerations
Peak acceleration (m/s2)
CTBUH recommended for a 10-year Return Period: 1 – Offices
2 – Residences
 Residential Buildings
– 10-15 milli-g peak acceleration
~10 milli-g

 Office Buildings
– 20-25 milli-g peak acceleration
Frequency (Hz)
Independent of the fundamental frequency of the structure
Wind induced Motion of Tall Buildings, ASCE

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 AIJ-GBV-2004 (Japan) Annual Maximum peak accelerations ATC DG3 recommends...
H-xx
Means xx% of population
~10 milli-g will perceive the motion

10 years for non-hurricane areas,

1 year for hurricane areas,
Wind induced Motion of Tall Buildings, ASCE 0.1 year for extremely tall slender structures
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Pause for Questions... 1. Drift of tall buildings

Potential damage caused by the sway of the building under
lateral loads requires a designer to consider the following items:

 Development of an analysis model that accounts for all significant deformations

that can cause damage to the building cladding, interior walls and partitions and
any other items that can be damaged by building sway.

 Defining one or more serviceability load combinations that are applied to the
building analysis model for assessing potential damage from building sway.

 Defining a damage measure that captures the damage potential from building
sway.

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 Types of Building deformation Deformation Damage Index (DDI)

Also termed Damage Measurement Index (DMI) 

h
Best measure of damage to an external cladding element, 
interior partition, or wall is in‐plane shear strain... 
DDZ

DDZ

(a) Flexural (Axial) Deformations (b) Shear (Racking) Deformations The strain in panel ABCD is given by:
(Braced frames, tubes, (Moment frames)
closely-spaced columns)  X  X C X B  X D YD  YC YB  Y A 
DDI  0.5  A   
Inter-story drift - /h Deformation Damageable Zone - DDZ  H H L L 

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DDI versus / h Structural Properties under Wind Load

Table 5‐1 Concrete Member Properties for Wind Serviceability Analysis Table 5‐2 Steel and Composite Member Properties for Wind 
There are three very significant advantages of the DDI strain indicator Element Stiffness (Note 5) Notes
Serviceability Analysis
Element Stiffness Notes
of damage over the more traditional Story Drift (/h) measure: Columns
Nonprestressed Beams
1.0Ig
0.5Ig
From ACI 318
From ACI 318 All Structural Members  1.0 Isteel
Prestressed Beams 0.67Ig From experience except Composite Beams 1.0 A
steel
Nonprestressed Flat Slabs
 Strain as defined by the DDI, and not Story Drift, is a true measure of damage potential in 0.35Ig From ACI 318; Note 1 Composite Beams Ieff See Appendix  C
cladding and partition systems. Prestressed Flat Slabs
0.48Ig From experience; Note 1 Beam‐Column Joints 0% rigid offset From experience;
Note 1
 The DDI accounts for strain caused by vertical racking which can be very important in the Shear Walls
Cracked 0.5Ig From ACI 318; Note 2
flexural type deformation occurring in many lateral systems such as braced frames, shear walls
Uncracked 1.0Ig
or “tube” systems with closely spaced columns. This effect is not accounted for using Story
Drift (Δ/h) as the measure of damage and therefore underestimates the damage potential. Beam‐Column Joints 50% Rigid offset From experience
Shear Deformations 0.4 Avg From experience; Note 3
Modulus of Elasticity Ec From ACI 318; Note 4
 The DDI filters out rigid body rotation of the panel which by itself does not cause damaging
strain. Story Drift includes the effect of rigid body rotation and can lead to over estimation of the
damage potential.

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 Other Modeling considerations... Serviceability Wind Loads
 Soil/Structure interaction  Obtained from Appendix C of ASCE 7
– Foundation type, stiffness (vertical and rotational) and  Choice of MRI a matter of EJ and client discussion
modeling...
Table 5‐3 Probabilities of Exceedance for Different MRI’s
 Gravity Load system Mean Recurrence Interval (Years) Probability Of Exceedance in 50 Years
– Capture all relevant stiffness's (composite action?)...
10 0.993
– BUT, do not overestimate stiffness and isolate elements not
intended to contribute stiffness
25 0.865
ASCE 7 ‘normal’
50 0.632
 Load Combination (ASCE 7 Appendix C)
100 0.393
D  0 .5 L  W M RI

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Tall Buildings need wind tunnel tests! Suggested DDI Limits for Serviceability Design
Table 5‐4
ASCE 7 for: Building Element Suggested DDI Limit Notes
Exterior Cladding Brick Veneer on metal studs 0.0025 1
 buildings ~<150m X X
Brick Veneer on Masonry,  0.0025 1,2
unreinforced
 No significant dynamic Plaster/Stucco 0.0025 3
response (ie., NOT Along
Architectural Precast 0.0025 4

low natural frequency, - wind

Stone Clad Precast
Architectural Metal Panel
0.0025
0.010
4
5
loading
low damping or Crosswind loading
Curtain Wall, Window Wall 0.0025 6

significant crosswind Interior Partitions Gypsum Drywall, Plaster

Concrete Masonry Unit, 
0.0025
0.0015
7
8
response) Unreinforced
Tile, Hollow Clay Brick 0.0005 9
Elevators Drywall enclosure  0.0025 10
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 Possible Design Objectives based on MRI, DDI,
How does ATC Design Guide 3 help?
and desired Quality and Durability
Table 6‐1
Building Quality and   Background to Wind loading of Tall Buildings
Durability Serviceability Wind Load DDI (Strain) Comment
Minimum  10 yr. MRI 0.0025 Building defined by Stakeholders desire for a 
minimum standard level of quality and 
durability at least cost.    Describes Serviceability Issues:
Moderate  25 yr. MRI 0.0025 Building defined by Stakeholders desire for a  – Motion Criteria (for human occupancy)
typical or mid‐level standard of quality and 
durability.    Motion Guidelines
High  50 yr. MRI 0.0025 Building defined by Stakeholders desire for a 
high level standard of quality and durability.   – Deflection Criteria (for cracking)
 Deflection Guidelines
Very High 100 yr. MRI 0.002 Building defined by Stakeholders desire for a 
very high level standard of quality and 
durability 
You should be able to address these now!
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Question Round-up ... ATC Final Remarks

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