Wave

One
A Story of TransfEr GirdErs
By Anantha Chittur, P.E., S.E., and Steven M. Baldridge, P.E., S.E.

T he Near Capital Region (NCR) around India’s capital, New

Delhi, witnessed a decade-long construction boom starting in
2008. Several high-rise apartments were constructed to cater to the
an extensive amenity deck, tennis courts, and a health club on Level
15 serve the tenants of the 26-story office building that rises above
the podium.
growing need for housing in Noida, which was followed by new The structure has a footprint of 528 feet by 228 feet on the podium
office construction to lure large corporations away from the urban levels and is constructed with no expansion joints. The building is
sprawl of New Delhi. characterized by a large rectangular aperture created to allow the
Wave One is a $276 million, 41-story mixed-use building with “flow of energy” through the property. This aperture breaks the large
more than 2 million square feet of floor area located in the heart of office mass into two distinct towers, which are reconnected between
Noida. It includes three levels of retail, two-story cinemas on the Levels 32 and 41.
fourth floor, seven levels of parking above the cinema, and three The project is located in a region of moderate high seismicity, requir-
levels of underground parking for a total of 2,600 cars. In addition, ing special detailing for concrete elements, including additional

Basement construction.

26 STRUCTURE magazine
checks for deformation com-
patibility of the slab-column
gravity system. Shear walls
at the cores provided lateral
force resistance.
The design is in accordance
with India’s National Building
Code (NBC) and other appli-
cable local codes. Due to the
building’s height and unique
geometry, a wind tunnel
study was conducted to deter-
mine the structural loads and
occupant comfort.

Zero Lot Line

Construction
To maximize the building’s
footprint, the basements
are constructed with zero
lot lines using a contiguous
bored pile (CBP) wall earth Two-stage transfer girder scheme.
retention system tied back
using post-tensioned soil anchors until the basement slabs were
Post-Tensioning as a Driver
installed. Traditionally, concrete retaining walls are constructed Concrete is the material of choice for constructing buildings in
to act as the permanent structure in front of these piled walls. India. When speed is a primary driver, as it was for this project,
However, on this project, these CBP walls also act as a permanent post-tensioned slabs and beams reign supreme. This is due to the
earth retention system and support the basement slabs along the load-balancing provided by the post-tensioning tendons that allow
perimeter. In addition, masonry walls are built in front of the piled formwork to be removed and reused as soon as the tendons are stressed.
walls to conceal the drainage channels. This scheme resulted in a When this project was conceived, post-tensioned concrete for buildings
significant cost saving. was in its nascency in India. It required a collaborative effort between
the design team, contractor, and developer to devise
the layout of vertical framing organized around an
efficient post-tensioned slab system.
The mixed-use building is apportioned into various
uses such as parking, retail, offices, cinemas, outdoor
amenities, mechanical floors, etc. The multi-story
parking levels determined the layout of the columns
in the podium, which, in turn, resulted in a square
grid of 28 feet by 28 feet for the majority of areas,
except for some longer spans at drive aisles. This
layout also allowed the columns to continue verti-
cally through the office levels with minimal impact.
The typical slab thickness is 8 inches at the parking
and office levels, while the retail levels have a thicker
9-inch slab.
Traditionally, buildings in India are constructed
with 2 to 3 inches of screed on top of the structural
slab to allow for the lack of sophisticated finishing
methods and allow tenants to pick their flooring
as part of tenant improvement. However, on this
design-assist project, it was decided to forgo the layer
of screed on the parking levels due to the contrac-
tor’s ability to deliver a superior finished surface.
In addition, the removal of the screed reduced the
seismic mass of the building and helped to optimize
the post-tensioned slab.
The project’s scale and varied occupancies trig-
gered a “Type 1” construction in accordance with
Cinema transfer girder. the NBC, necessitating a 3-hour fire rating for

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 21 27
 extending between Levels 14 and 15. The total length
of the transfer girder on Level 14 is 310 feet.
The building’s characteristic rectangular aper-
ture measures 200 feet by 103 feet and extends
between Levels 15 and 32. The aperture is framed
at the top by offices between Levels 32 and 41.
The top of the building steps up from one end
of the building to the other. The structure above
the aperture is supported by three profiled post-
tensioned girders that span 112 feet between each
tower. These sizeable concrete transfer girders were
partly conceived due to the contractor’s desire to
use a tried and tested construction methodology
Aperture transfer girder. instead of introducing structural steel trusses. The
contractor’s message to the design team was, “No
the slabs. The conventional practice was to consider the concrete Discovery Channel stuff, please.” However, the concrete option
clear cover of 1⅜ inches to the post-tensioning duct even though came with its own challenges from transfer girders that are 3.3
the tendons are grouted and are often higher in the duct at mid- to 5 feet wide and constructed at 200 feet in the air. Due to the
span. BASE collaborated with the PT supplier to determine the immense weight of the three transfer girders and the associated
elevation of the tendon within the duct, thereby gaining valuable formwork requirements, the girders were shaped to reduce overall
drape in the tendon profile while still meeting the clear cover weight such that it was 20.5 feet deep in the middle to maximize
intent of the code. drape and stiffness for the 112-foot span and 15 feet at the ends
to satisfy shear requirements. Despite the shape optimization, the
weight of wet concrete during placement would be problematic.
Transfer Girders Galore BASE worked with the contractor and PT supplier to construct
At Level 4 of the podium, above three levels of retail, the floor area the beam in two segments with a horizontal construction joint with
was allocated for cinemas that required 56 feet by 84 feet of double- layered tendons that could be independently stressed. Once stressed,
height, column-free space for each of the five cinemas. This could tendons in the lower half were designed to support the weight of the
only be achieved through a five-span shallow post-tensioned transfer upper half during construction. Tendons in the second half were
girder that spanned 56 feet while supporting seven levels of parking, profiled such that maximum drape was utilized for final loading.
one level of office, and one level of outdoor amenities. A portion of The overall process was done in six stages: three bottom segments
the office tower also hovered above the cinemas, requiring a different and three top segments.
strategy to transfer the tower columns.
The limited height available over the cinemas required a double
transfer beam to support the office tower columns spanning between
Conclusion
Levels 15 and 41. This was achieved by introducing one-story-deep A 2 million square foot high-rise project with multiple occupancies
transfer girders between Levels 14 and 15 and using the transfer beam often comes with many challenges that require creative engineer-
over the cinemas to only support the podium loads. ing solutions and close collaboration with the architect and other
Due to the unique nature and length of the 280-foot multi-span consultants. Post-tensioning often helps to simplify many of these
transfer girder over the cinemas that were required along two problems by allowing for the removal, transfer, and shift-
column lines, the design team collaborated with the PT supplier ing of columns and allowing slabs to span longer where
to stress the tendons outside the cross-section of the girder. This required, giving the architect the desired flexibility.■
facilitated pour strips and allowed the entire girder to be con-
structed simultaneously while also providing intermediate stressing
to minimize post-tensioning losses. The external stressing strategy Anantha Chittur is a Senior Associate at BASE and is based in its Chicago
is often used in bridges but is not very common in buildings. BASE office. (achittur@baseengr.com)
worked closely with the PT contractor and formwork subcontrac- Steven M. Baldridge is President at BASE and is based in its Honolulu
tor to minimize the number of reshoring levels by continuing office. (sb@baseengr.com)
the column removed in the cinemas as a low-strength sacrificial
column supporting the transfer girder. This strategy enabled the
early removal of beam formwork and three levels of reshoring Project Team
below the transfer girder.
Owner: Wave Infratech
Due to the zero lot line construction, the parking ramps are integrated
Structural Engineer of Record: BASE
within the building footprint. Two octagonal spiral ramps, one on
Architect of Record: Nostri Architects
each side of the building, provide vertical circulation for the parking
Design Architect: BBG-BBGM
levels. The ramps stop at the underside of Level 13 with 27 levels
General Contractor: Leighton-Infra Joint Venture
above it. Like the columns transferred over the cinemas, the tower
Wind Tunnel Consultant: RWDI
columns above the ramp are supported on 6-foot-deep transfer girders

28 STRUCTURE magazine