Frame-Panel Members

structural elements that consist of supporting members of the frame and enclosing structures (walls, ceilings, and roofing) made from panels. Wood, metal, and reinforced-concrete frame-panel members are widely used in modern low- and high-rise construction of residential, public, and industrial buildings. Reinforced-concrete connecting frames that transmit the loads to vertical and horizontal stiffeners are most widely used in multistory buildings, which receive great wind stresses. Frame-panel members with a wood frame consisting of columns, crossbars, and cross stays are used in low-rise construction. The enclosing structures of the members (outer walls and coverings) consist of wood shielding panels with thermal insulation.

Frame-panel members consisting of concrete and reinforced-concrete elements have been most widely used in the USSR in the development of industrial construction. Frame-panel members with steel elements are appropriate mainly for high-rise public buildings (30 stories or more). In residential and public buildings, frame-panel members are planned with or without supports; in industrial buildings with boom loads, they are planned with supports. The outer walls of a building with a complete scheme consist of columns and panels made of light or heavy concrete or sheet materials (asbestos cement, stainless steel, aluminum, or plastics) with a thermal insulator. Such frame-panel members are usually used in multistory buildings (more than nine stories). In low-rise buildings and buildings with supporting outer walls, incomplete frame-panel members are used and the supporting walls are made of single-layer light concrete panels or reinforced-concrete or insulated concrete panels.

In frame-panel buildings with room-size ceiling panels, the frames may be planned without crossbeams (the beamless plan), with the roofing panels resting directly on the columns. The beamless plan is also used when greater space is required—for example, in public and industrial buildings.

In interlinked frame systems, the vertical stiffeners are located between the columns and are made of reinforced-concrete or concrete panels; in multistory buildings (25– stories), they are made as a cast reinforced-concrete wall. The panels of the stiff-ener are joined to each other vertically and horizontally, as well as with roofing panels or crossbeams located in the plane of the stiffener by welding steel inserts; the seams are sealed with cement mortar. The inserts are also used for attaching the stiffener panels to the columns. The linking structures of the frame elements in junctions and joints are determined on the basis of a calculated plan, with transmission of strains through the inserts or through reinforced concrete by casting the junctions and joints at the construction site; a combination of the two methods is also used.