Stability of Tall Buildings
N. Munirudrappa, Professor of Civil Engineering (Retd), Bengaluru University, reveals the behavior of multi-storey buildings and structures of R.C.C and steel under Elastic Stability in his study on the stability of tall buildings.
Picture courtesy: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)
Stability of tall buildings is of keen interest to structural engineers as these modern structures are very slender in nature and have different structural shapes, besides which, they are subjected to wind loads, leading to lateral loads acting at each storey, which results in stability of the structure. Stability directly affects the drift in the structure. Generally, one must consider two aspects: Elastic stability and Inelastic stability.
Defining Stability
The resistance offered by a structure to undesirable movement like sliding, collapsing, and overturning is called stability. In other words, the load which initiates lateral sway is also termed as Elastic Stability.

Stability of tall buildings is of keen interest to structural engineers as these modern structures are very slender in nature and have different structural shapes, besides which, they are subjected to wind loads, leading to lateral loads acting at each storey, which results in stability of the structure. Stability directly affects the drift in the structure. Generally, one must consider two aspects: Elastic stability and Inelastic stability.
Defining Stability
The resistance offered by a structure to undesirable movement like sliding, collapsing, and overturning is called stability. In other words, the load which initiates lateral sway is also termed as Elastic Stability.
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NBM&CW February 2022