Compared to traditional onsite steel construction, prefabricated industrial steel construction (PFISC) saves time, money, and resources. It results in sustainable steel structures that use fewer resources and are better for the environment. Despite their advantages, the private sector favors creating high-rise buildings in an old-fashioned way. In order to encourage the adaptability of prefabricated industrial steel buildings (PFISBs) in high-rise structures, this study critically evaluates the adaptable solutions offered in the literature on the recent developments, structural performances, present difficulties, and future potential. In mid-rise and low-rise structures, PFISC is frequently used. In research and case studies, PFISBs have proven to perform admirably under various adverse conditions, including in the event of an earthquake, wind, blast, impact, fire, collapse, and long-term sustained loads. The use of potential research solutions, the “Top-down” strategy, and the resolving of problems such as the structural-based design guidelines, column stability, discontinuous vertical and horizontal diaphragms, cluster columns and beams effect, damage-free and innovative inter- and intra-modular connections, high strength-to-weight modules, numerical simulation, and transportation will help PFISBs to become more widely accepted in high-rise structures. Compared to other materials, steel has recently demonstrated great promise for the construction of PFISBs. Additionally, China plans to increase their PFISC to 30% by 2026, Australia to 15% by 2025, and North America to over 5% by 2023, proving that it is a reasonable response to future urbanization concerns.

Most finite element models of actual projects established in general finite element software are rigidly connected or connected by hinge joints. Member imperfection cannot be considered in such models, which is inconsistent with the actual situation in most projects. To estimate the influences of joint stiffness and member imperfection on the mechanical behavior of latticed shell structures, double elements and imperfect members were combined in this study. First, the accuracies of double elements and imperfect members were validated. Then, they were combined to establish imperfect elements with semi-rigid joints. The accuracy of imperfect elements with semi-rigid joints was also validated, and the relationship between joint stiffness and that of double elements was deduced. The findings validated that imperfect elements with semi-rigid joints could consider semi-rigid joints and imperfect members simultaneously and with high accuracy. In addition, imperfect elements with semi-rigid joints could be constructed conveniently in general finite element software.