Connection of pin based columns with an individual member at base!?

[serdardundar]

Once in a project during the construction of a 2 storey steel residential building, one of the owner's of the
houses (he was an architect by the way) suggested that all the columns should be connected by a U
section (with enough thickness (?) ) all around the building at the floor level only. So that the shear force
is distributed to all of the columns.

All of the columns are pinned at the base with two anchroge bolts with epoxy. So design and analysis is
done accordingly. (Pinned supports at the ends of the columns). I think it is the foundation which
distributes the horizontal shear force to the columns of the building, and this distribution is done
through the anchorage bolts only; whether or not they are connected to each other. It is obvious that the U section is useless from calculations point of view. But forget about the modelling of the building, does a section like this really works from practical point of view? Or let me ask in other way: Did anyone heard of such an application
in steel construction works? Connection of columns (which are connected to the base individually with anchorage bolts) with a U section all around the building at the floor level....

 

[ishvaaag]

The tie would make some sense if you were working just with isolated footings, in the absence of beams sleeping in the ground providing tie action, since it would cover the ordinary function of opposing relative lateral displacements of some columns respect others. It may also have constructive benefits in providing reference straight planes for the walls, or their sustaining studs or other structural devices. Since the outer wall is continuous, it is sound to provide continuous start. This is done quite naturally in reinforced concrete, but for light frame sustitutive measures like this maybe pertinent or at least welcome. Even the named shear sharing may bear some reality if the lateral resisting system device is or needs be considered truss-like and would turn a mechanism in the absence of the lower member.