A three-dimensional formulation is proposed to analyze the lateral loading distribution of external actions in high-rise buildings. The method is extended to encompass any combination of bracings, including bracings with open thin-walled cross-sections, which are analyzed in the framework of Timoshenko-Vlasov's theory of sectorial areas. More in detail, the proposed unified approach is a tool for the preliminary stages of structural design. It considers infinitely rigid floors in their own planes, and allows to better understand stress and strain distributions in the different bearing elements if compared to a finite element analysis. Numerical examples, describing the structural response of tall buildings characterized by bracings with different cross-section and height, show the effectiveness and flexibility of the proposed method. The accuracy of the results is investigated by a comparison with finite element solutions, in which the bracings are modelled as three-dimensional structures by means of shell elements.
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