Steel and the Skyscraper City: a Study on the Influence of Steel on the Design of Tall Buildings
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
ctbuh.org/papers Title: Steel and the Skyscraper City: A Study on the Influence of Steel on the Design of Tall Buildings Authors: Shelley Finnigan, Technical Sales Engineer, ArcelorMittal Barry Charnish, Principal, Entuitive Robert Chmielowski, Principal, Magnusson Klemencic Associates Subjects: Building Materials/Products Construction History, Theory & Criticism Structural Engineering Keywords: Construction Steel Structural Engineering Publication Date: 2015 Original Publication: The Future of Tall: A Selection of Written Works on Current Skyscraper Innovations Paper Type: 1. Book chapter/Part chapter 2. Journal paper 3. Conference proceeding 4. Unpublished conference paper 5. Magazine article 6. Unpublished © Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat / Shelley Finnigan; Barry Charnish; Robert Chmielowski Steel and the Skyscraper City: A Study on the Influence of Steel on the Design of Tall Buildings Shelley Finnigan, Technical Sales Engineer, ArcelorMittal; Barry Charnish, Principal, Entuitive; Robert Chmielowski, Principal, Magnusson Klemencic Associates At the turn of the century, building design efficiently if hot rather than cold air was became fixated on improving the process began to evolve. Improvements included forced through the system. A blast furnace used to make steel for military ordnance. As indoor plumbing, the advent of escalators, operates as follows: iron ore and limestone a result, he invented the Bessemer converter and creation of the “Chicago window.” are heated to temperatures exceeding 2,000 and so-called Bessemer process, from which Perhaps the most notable change was the degrees Fahrenheit (1,090 degrees Celsius), molten iron could be transformed into high- thereby forming a molten liquid composed quality steel quickly and in large quantities. development of the skyscraper. Innovations of iron and slag. Similar to using a bellows in steel production were integral to the era of to strengthen the fire in one’s hearth, forced Prior to Bessemer’s invention, the most reliable the skyscraper. In 1897, Henry Grey revamped air helps facilitate heating of the system steel production method was the crucible the rolling process to include wide-flange by burning the fuel source. Typical fuel process, a technique in which wrought iron, sections, enabling designers to create taller, sources of the time were coal – a natural combined with charcoal, is melted in a clay more efficient structures. Improvements resource readily available throughout the and graphite pot, or crucible. Tedious and continue to influence the skyscraper city and world – and coke – a man-made derivative expensive, it could take hours to heat the its revival. From Bay Adelaide in Toronto; to of coal with a high carbon content. Prior crucible and subsequently liquefy the base 150 North Riverside in Chicago; to 1WTC to the invention of the hot blast, coke was materials. In addition, one crucible, with its full and 225 West 57th Street in New York, many the preferred source of blast furnace fuel, load, would need to be small enough to be projects have been designed and constructed due to its low ignition point and, therefore, manually lifted out of the furnace. As expected, quickly and efficiently thanks to processes its compatibility with the cold blast. these limitations left it nearly impossible to Preferences shifted, however, when Neilson create vast quantities of the metal. that have doubled the yield strength of wide- introduced the hot blast. The preheated air flange beams. Over the history of steel in tall enabled efficient burning of coal, thereby In the Bessemer process, on the other hand, buildings, innovations in its production have leading to not only lower costs for fuel but more than 15 tons of molten iron could be brought increased efficiency and sustainability also a reduction (up to 33 percent!) in the fed directly into the converter. Air would to projects around the world. amount necessary to run the furnace. then be forced through the material, and oxygen would combine with impurities The second development of note was by Sir in the iron, thereby pulling them out and At the turn of the 20th century, horse-drawn Henry Bessemer in 1856. During the Crimean leaving behind liquid steel. Based on the size carriages filled the streets, only 39 percent War (October 1853 – February 1856), of the converter and the efficiency of the of the U.S. population lived in cities, and Bessemer – a self-made English inventor – process – a batch of steel could be created in the Wright Brothers were just taking flight. Buildings were built much as they had been for centuries, but that was about to change. The Industrial Revolution Leads to the Mass Production of Steel It is important to note that before the 1800s, steel was expensive and challenging to produce, making it a material that was used in limited applications – most notably for the blades of swords, knives, razors, and surgical instruments. It was not until the 1800s that two important changes to the processing of iron ore set the stage for producers to start the mass production of iron, and eventually steel. The first development of note came from the Scottish ironworks industry in 1828. While working on a blast furnace at his facility, engineer James Beaumont Neilson recognized that the furnace could run more 114 less than 20 minutes – Bessemer’s invention The revolutionary building featured more set the stage for steel to transform from a than 3,700 tons of steel (Chicagology niche product to one of the most readily 2013). The material was used in the form of available materials in the world. beams, channels, rails, angles and the newly introduced Z-bar steel columns, which Invention of the Wide-Flange Section were fabricated by riveting four Z-shaped Leads to the Birth of the Skyscraper City sections to a central plate, thus creating The first uses of mass-produced steel were an I-shaped member with upturned tips at limited primarily to the railroad industry. each flange toe. The Rand McNally Building It was not until 1889 – 30 years after the represented a new era of efficiency in invention of the Bessemer process – that the building systems. The use of steel meant Opposite: Artist’s rendering of the original Rand McNally Building, Chicago. (cc-by-sa) Rand McNally (1893) world saw its first all-steel framed building. that as the height of the building increased, the proportional increase in support Top: First production of 40-inch-deep Grey beam. The Rand McNally Building (1889–1911) was Source: ArcelorMittal a 10-story facility designed by architects structure at the building’s base would be Burnham and Root, with support from the much lower than that required for masonry structural engineers Wade and Purdy and walls. As a result, the encroachment of Theodore Starrett. Constructed in Chicago, the structure on usable interior space was the building was home to Rand, McNally & significantly reduced. Co., a printing and publishing company. 115 While an engineering marvel of its time, throughout the section. Grey’s innovation the ultimate building height rose when the Rand McNally Building likely served as made the rolling process more reliable and automotive mogul Walter Chrysler started an example to developers of the expense helped to alleviate the oft-encountered competing with banker George Ohrstrom involved in reaching these new heights. After problems of flange cracks and high internal to construct the tallest building in the all, the built-up column sections necessitated stresses in I-shaped profiles. world. Ohrstrom was funding the Bank of drilling, riveting and thoughtful detailing Manhattan building and pushed for the of the plate that composed the member. In addition to devising this new rolling development of a building that would be The labor hours associated with the extra process, Grey had an integral role in creating 945 feet (288 meters) tall. Upon discovering fabrication of these pieces no-doubt drove the wide-flange section used today. Grey’s this, the team behind the Chrysler up the overall costs of construction and rolling stands were built in a way that the Building reached higher – designing and left the door open for simpler members rollers themselves could be moved inward or constructing the 1,046-foot- (319-meter-) composed of a single piece. outward to adjust not only the thicknesses of tall building, a feat made possible through the flange and web but also the width of the the use of wide-flange structural steel A promising replacement to built-up flange. With his technology, Grey enabled the shapes. After completion of the Chrysler sections started to take shape in the late production of sections up to 44 inches (1,100 Building, it held the title of world’s tallest 1840s. At Forges de la Providence, a Belgian millimeters) deep and those with flanges in building for just 11 months before it was steel company, Alphonse Halbou developed excess of 20 inches (500 millimeters) wide surpassed by the Empire State Building, also a method to produce I-shaped members (Follweiler 2010). Though Grey’s technology located in New York City. from a single ingot. By the 1880s, the was developed and initially tested in the I-shaped section was created by sending United States, the first mill to be constructed Mills Evolve, Leading to the Production of a rectangular piece of hot steel through with his rolling stands was located in Sustainable Steel horizontal rollers (axis parallel to the ground) Differdange, Luxembourg. From the early 1900s, through the late 1960s, and compressing the web of the section. the use of blast furnace technology was the The flanges were formed when the steel, soft Completed in 1901, the Differdange standard for production of steel shapes. The from being heated to elevated temperatures mill rolled its first of the new generation steps necessary to turn out sections from for rolling, moved to fill voids at the edges of wide-flange members in September of a blast furnace, however, were time and the rollers.