Shake table tests of stiff, unattached, asymmetric structures: Fid-Bau Portal

Shake table tests of stiff, unattached, asymmetric structures

Wittich, Christine E. / Hutchinson, Tara C.

Stiff, unattached structures are highly vulnerable to damage and failure during an earthquake, as evidenced following numerous past events. This class of structures encompasses a wide range of objects and systems such as electrical transformers, radiation shields, office furniture, and marble statues. The vulnerability of these objects is exacerbated when it is highly asymmetric and unattached. Although a number of studies have focused on rigid blocks, few have concentrated on blocks with asymmetric geometries. In an effort to better understand the implications of asymmetries, an extensive shake table testing campaign including more than 150 tests was conducted. These tests incorporate a systematic variation of the mass eccentricities of stiff, unattached structures. The primary modes of rocking, sliding, and twisting as well as interactive modes were recorded for the duration of numerous earthquake motions. The magnitude and direction of response are experimentally correlated with the geometric variations in the various models. These tests indicate that even for symmetric structures with uniaxial shaking, multiple modes and three‐dimensional responses are probable. Furthermore, certain asymmetric geometries exhibited both increased rocking (and overturning) as well as increased sliding when compared with their symmetric counterparts. A final aspect of this study compared the free rocking response of symmetric and asymmetric structures to classical, two‐dimensional rocking analysis. While the theoretical values for the coefficient of restitution yielded a significant overestimation in the simulation (up to ≈90%), reduced coefficients greatly improved the performance of the model. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.