Literature translation.Construction constituentMaterials and structural forms are combined to make up the various parts of a building, including the load-carrying frame, skin, floors, and partitions. The building also has mechanical and electrical systems, such as elevators, heating and cooling systems, and lighting systems. The superstructure is that part of a building above ground, and the substructure and foundation is that part of a building below ground.The skyscraper owes its existence to two developments of the 19th century: steel skeleton construction and the passenger elevator. Steel as a construction material dates from the introduction of the Bessemer converter in 1885.Gustave Eiffel (1832-1932) introduced steel construction in France. His designs for the Galerie des Machines and the Tower for the Paris Exposition of 1889 expressed the lightness of the steel framework. The Eiffel Tower, 984 feet (300 meters) high, was the tallest structure built by man and was not surpassed until 40 years later by a series of American skyscrapers.Elisha Otis installed the first elevator in a department store in New York in 1857.In 1889, Eiffel installed the first elevators on a grand scale in the Eiffel Tower, whose hydraulic elevators could transport 2,350 passengers to the summit every hour.Load-Carrying FrameUntil the late 19th century, the exterior walls of a building were used as bearing walls to support the floors. This construction is essentially a post and lintel type, and it is still used in frame construction for houses. Bearing-wall construction limited the height of building because of the enormous wall thickness required；for instance, the 16-story Monadnock Building built in the 1880’s in Chicago had walls 5 feet (1.5 meters) thick at the lower floors. In 1883, William Le Baron Jenney (1832-1907) supported floors on cast-iron columns to form a cage-like construction. Skeleton construction, consisting of steel beams and columns, was first used in 1889. As a consequence of skeleton con struction, the enclosing walls become a “curtain wall” rather than serving a supporting function. Masonry was the curtain wall materialuntil the 1930’s, when light metal and glass curtain walls were used. After the introduction of buildings continued to increase rapidly.All tall buildings were built with a skeleton of steel until World War Ⅱ. After the war, the shortage of steel and the improved quality of concrete led to tall building being built of reinforced concrete. Marina Tower (1962) in Chicago is the tallest concrete building in the United States；its height—588 feet (179 meters)—is exceeded by the 650-foot (198-meter) Post Office Tower in London and by other towers.A change in attitude about skyscraper construction has brought a return to the use of the bearing wall. In New York City, the Columbia Broadcasting System Building, designed by Eero Saarinen in 1962,has a perimeter wall consisting of 5-foot (1.5meter) wide concrete columns spaced 10 feet (3 meters) from column center to center. This perimeter wall, in effect, constitutes a bearing wall. One reason for this trend is that stiffness against the action of wind can be economically obtained by using the walls of the building as a tube；the World Trade Center building is another example of this tube approach. In contrast, rigid frames or vertical trusses are usually provided to give lateral stability.FloorsThe construction of the floors in a building depends on the basic structural frame that is used. In steel skeleton construction, floors are either slabs of concrete resting on steel beams or a deck consisting of corrugated steel with a concrete topping. In concrete construction, the floors are either slabs of concrete on concrete beams or a series of closely spaced concrete beams (ribs) in two directions topped with a thin concrete slab, giving the appearance of a waffle on its underside. The kind of floor that is used depends on the span between supporting columns or walls and the function of the space. In an apartment building, for instance, where walls and columns are spaced at 12 to 18 feet (3.7 to 5.5 meters), the most popular construction is a solid concrete slab with no beams. The underside of the slab serves as the ceiling for the space below it. Corrugated steel decks are often used in office buildings because the corrugations, when enclosed by another sheet of metal, form ducts for telephone and electrical lines.Soils and FoundationsAll building are supported on the ground, and therefore the nature of the soil becomes an extremely important consideration in the design of any building. The design of a foundation depends on many soil factors, such as type of soil, soil stratification, thickness of soil lavers and their compaction, and groundwater conditions. Soils rarely have a single composition；they generally are mixtures in layers of varying thickness. For evaluation, soils are graded according to particle size, which increases from silt to clay to sand to gravel to rock. In general, the larger particle soils will support heavier loads than the smaller ones. The hardest rock can support loads up to 100 tons per square foot(976.5 metric tons/sq meter), but the softest silt can support a load of only 0.25 ton per square foot(2.44 metric tons/sq meter). All soils beneath the surface are in a state of compaction；that is, they are under a pressure that is equal to the weight of the soil column above it. Many soils (except for most sands and gavels) exhibit elastic properties—they deform when compressed under load and rebound when the load is removed. The elasticity of soils is often time-dependent, that is, deformations of the soil occur over a length of time which may vary from minutes to years after a load is imposed. Over a period of time, a building may settle if it imposes a load on the soil greater than the natural compaction weight of the soil. Conversely, a building may heave if it imposes loads on the soil smaller than the natural compaction weight. The soil may also flow under the weight of a building；that is, it tends to be squeezed out.Due to both the compaction and flow effects, buildings tend settle. Uneven settlements, exemplified by the leaning towers in Pisa and Bologna, can have damaging effects—the building may lean, walls and partitions may crack, windows and doors may become inoperative, and, in the extreme, a building may collapse. Uniform settlements are not so serious, although extreme conditions, such as those in Mexico City, can have serious consequences. Over the past 100 years, a change in the groundwater level there has caused some buildings to settle more than 10 feet (3 meters). Because such movements can occur during and after construction, careful analysis of the behavior of soils under a building isvital.The great variability of soils has led to a variety of solutions to the foundation problem. Wherefirm soil exists close to the surface, the simplest solution is to rest columns on a small slab of concrete(spread footing). Where the soil is softer, it is necessary to spread the column load over a greater area；in this case, a continuous slab of concrete(raft or mat) under the whole building is used. In cases where the soil near the surface is unable to support the weight of the building, piles of wood, steel, or concrete are driven down to firm soil.The construction of a building proceeds naturally from the foundation up to the superstructure. The design process, however, proceeds from the roof down to the foundation (in the direction of gravity). In the past, the foundation was not subject to systematic investigation. A scientific approach to the design of foundations has been developed in the 20th century. Karl Terzaghi of the United States pioneered studies that made it possible to make accurate predictions of the behavior of foundations, using the science of soil mechanics coupled with exploration and testing procedures. Foundation failures of the past, such as the classical example of the leaning tower in Pisa, have become almost nonexistent. Foundations still are a hidden but costly part of many buildings.Although there have been many advancements in building construction technology in general, spectacular achievements have been made in the design and construction of ultrahigh-rise buildings.The early development of high-rise buildings began with structural steel framing. Reinforced concrete and stressed-skin tube systems have since been economically and competitively used in a number of structures for both residential and commercial purposes. The high-rise buildings ranging from 50 to 110 stories that are being built all over the United States are the result of innovations and development of new structural systems.Greater height entails increased column and beam sizes to make buildings more rigid so that under wind load they will not sway beyondan acceptable limit. Excessive lateral sway may cause serious recurring damage to partitions, ceilings, and other architectural details. In addition, excessive sway may cause discomfort to the occupants of the building because of their perception of such motion. Structural systems of reinforced concrete, as well as steel, take full advantage of the inherent potential stiffness of the total building and therefore do not require additional stiffening to limit the sway.In a steel structure, for example, the economy can be defined in terms of the total average quantity of steel per square foot of floor area of the building. Curve A in Fig.1 represents the average unit weight of a conventional frame with increasing numbers of stories. Curve B represents the average steel weight if the frame is protected from all lateral loads. The gap between the upper boundary and the lower boundary represents the premium for all lateral loads. The gap between the upper boundary and the lower boundary represents the premium for height for the traditional column-and-beam frame. Structural engineers have developed structural systems with a view to eliminating this premium.Tube in tubeAnother system in reinforced concrete for office buildings combines the traditional shear wall construction with an exterior framed tube. The system consists of an outer framed tube of very closely spaced columns and an interior rigid shear wall tube enclosing the central service area. The system (Fig.2), known as the tube-in-tube system, made it possible to design the world’s present tallest (714 ft or 218 m) lightweight concrete building (the 52-story One Shell Plaza Building in Houston) for the unit price of a traditional shear wall structure of only 35 stories.Systems combining both concrete and steel have also been developed, an example of which is the composite system developed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in which an exterior closely spaced framed tube in concrete envelops an interior steel framing, thereby combining the advantages of both reinforced concrete and structural steel systems. The 52-story One Shell Square Building in New Orleans is based on this system.Keyword: Components of A Building and Tall，Buildings Load-Carrying Frame，Floors Soils and Foundations，Tube in ponents of A Building and Tall Buildings文献翻译建筑的组成部分材料和结构类型是构成建筑物各方面的组成部分，包括承重结构、围护结构、楼地面和隔墙。