Architectural Designs

CIVIL ENGINEERING--What could be the maximum distance for columns for commercial building?

I got a floor design.. with 1000 square meters, and each room has a 10 by 10 meters.., all four corners of each room have a 700 mm square columns... is this possible??.. because i fear that beams will bend at the center. oh.. its a 4 storey commercial building and has a 0.25 thick slab.... i need this for my earthquake analysis, and design. im just an engineering student..,need Help from professional engineers. and can anyone give me a link for a "Civil Engineer forums" like that. thank you.

Public Comments

1. So basically you've got a 10 metre grid, both x and y? Giving you 100 bays? That's an unbelievably huge building.... 1 square kilometre? The 700mm square columns would be pretty big, and could perhaps handle it. A 250mm slab isn't huge. But, you need to take a look at what beams you have connecting the columns, how deep are they? Is your construction a concrete or steel? If concrete, is it precast or in-situ? Is the total load just the dead weight of the concrete slab, or is there an imposed load on that? I know this hasn't provided much by way of an answer, but I'm trying to show you that you've got a little bit more to consider that what you've presented. Think about it :)
2. paul is right about the dimensions , its feasible , 70*70 is acceptable both for buckling which matters when talking about the length of the column & for the span as well which is not small 10 meter span is large & 25 cm slab is very fine , it sounds like a flat slab , which is feasible for that span , but if u have heavy live load as for commercial bldg , i think u may go for 30-35 cm depth if its simply supported but if continuous slab which is more probable here the mid spans will be less than the 30 so 25 is fine & 30-35 for the exterior spans , anyway genrally for a residential bldg we tend to load the column with a 10-15 sq meters but as ur span is huge 100 m^2 , the columns r big & so will the girder be , so u will use like up to 80*40 beams which is huge. but all of that is just theo. coz a slab of that span simply doesnt exist in most of the cases also the deflection of both slab & beam will be large in the middle of each , so u gotta check the servicability limit states for the deflection limits. Finally , to correct the area of the bldg is NOT 1 sq. Km , coz thats 1 million meters NOT 1000. & in terms of earthquakes i think the bldg is ok , as its laterally supported (braced bldg) so it will resist the quake , just go ahead with the regular checks
3. A 250mm slab isn't huge. But, you need to take a look at what beams you have connecting the columns, how deep are they? Is your construction a concrete or steel? If concrete, is it precast or in-situ? Is the total load just the dead weight of the concrete slab, or is there an imposed load on that? +