Sidesway collapse of deteriorating structural systems under seismic excitations

Abstract

An experiment was conducted in a joint effort between Stanford University & University at Buffalo to complete the first comprehensive collapse experiment. A four story two bay moment frame in one eighth scale made of aluminum, with steel dog bone connections. Is being used in a multi-step experiment including component and shake table testing to prove an analytical collapse prediction software package. The steel dog bone connections model that of moment connections used in the industry, these connections were tested monotonically and cyclically. The moment frame is attached to a mass simulator that employs the flagpole technique to simulate the weight of the structure. This complete structure was tested on shake table number one at the Structural Engineering Earthquake Simulation Laboratory with an earthquake record simulating that of the 1994 Northridge Canoga Park record. This was scaled and used in six levels of testing which inevitably ended with the correctly predicted collapse of the structure. A second round of shake table tests using a 1985 Chilean record was tested on an identical second frame to further verify the software package.