- Author
- Cornell, C. A.
- Title
- National Office Live Loads Survey. Final Report.
- Coporate
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
- Sponsor
- National Bureau of Standards, Washington, DC
- Report
- NBS GCR 76-81, October 1976,
- Distribution
- Available from National Technical Information Service
- Contract
- NBS-4-35715
- Keywords
- office buildings; dynamic loads; structural design; office equipment; furniture; probability theory; mathematical models; surveys
- Abstract
- This report presents the final recommendations for a National Bureau of Standards program to survey, analyze, and model the gravity live loads in modern office buildings in the U.S. A basic premise is that a probabilistic model (or models) should be used as a basis for identifying the important parameters and thus for designing the experiment and for directing the analysis of the data. Chapter 2 discusses these models. They include not only basic models for describing and predicting (in probabilistic terms) sustained and peak loads (and structural load effects), but also simple models for guiding design standards and an explanatory (room) sector load model (ESLM) to be used to study loads and to reduce sampling effort. The other major chapters, Chapters 3 and 4, discuss the statistical aspects of the program: the survey design (by building, by room sector, and by bay) and the data reduction needed for the purposes of model parameter estimation, model checking, and possible model modification. The final chapters summarize (1) the conduct of the survey (including a pilot survey and two stages of a main survey), (2) the computer program requirements, (3) the analytical and numerical studies to be carried out once the data reduction is complete, and (4) a set of reports that might represent the final product of the survey.