• dynamic behavior
• Skybridge Skyscraper

In growing urban cities, there is an evident trend towards vertical expansion with skyscrapers competing to achieve the highest point in the skyline. With this growth, there is also a growing need for interconnected residential and commercial buildings using skybridges to provide more effective movement between the structures. However, this raises questions on how these skybridges influence the structural response. Past studies demonstrated that such connections, if adequately designed, can be advantageous for controlling seismic and wind response. In this dissertation, as first the seismic behavior of two skyscrapers has been studied considering a rigid link and a real skybridge to understand variations in modal behavior between the connected and individual buildings; the response spectra of the connected stories using linear time history analysis; and impact on story shear. Later, the structural project of a skybridge was realized. The two buildings are designed to represent typical commercial and residential designs with concrete shear wall cores. This worked is carried out through the use of modal and dynamic analyses conducted in SAP2000 for a series of different ground motions. The sensitivity of the skybridge placement is also discussed as this is an important factor in understanding how the dynamics of the structures can change with simple movements of the link throughout the building height.