E-Defense Tests on Full-Scale Steel Buildings:Part 4 - Multipurpose Test Bed for Efficient Experiments

摘要

The E-Defense shake table facility, the world’s largest earthquake simulator, is being utilized for a major research project on steel buildings in Japan. The project involves several studies on moment frames, innovative methods for new or existing buildings, protective systems, and nonstructural elements [Kasai et al. 2007].rn E-Defense can shake a large specimen with a complete three-dimensional configuration. However, since the cost of such a specimen can be very high, testing a part of the specimen such as the plane frame of a building would be much more economical and can still produce meaningful data. Such test methods would also enable parametric studies requiring multiple specimens. Accordingly, the writers are currently constructing a so-called “test bed” having a multipurpose inertial mass system. rnThe test bed will be utilized for the aforementioned study on innovative methods, involving researchers from both US and Japan, as a part of the NEES/EDefense Collaboration Research Program. The test bed needs to accommodate various specimens, and have the following components: rn1) Inertial mass connected to the specimen at each story level, with its self-weight supported, thereby inducing a horizontal inertial force into the specimens. rn2) Inter-story stiffness element at each story level, having the capability of setting the stiffness to zero or other values, thereby adding desired horizontal stiffness to the specimen.