The Response of Veterans Hospital Building 41 in the San Fernando Earthquake

摘要

One of two buildings within the Veteran's Administration Hospital complex which were built according to required earthquake resistance codes in the 1930's and 1940's, and subsequently survived the San Fernando earthquake without significant damage, is examined. Three facts that impose constraints on the analysis are: (1) the building was designed for a horizontal load of approximately 10 percent of its weight at normal working stresses; (2) the structure received only very minor structural damage indicating no significant inelastic behavior in the main structural components; and (3) the ground shaking was very strong, probably inducing effective lateral loads of one-half the weight of the building or greater. The report includes a description of the building and its design criteria, and analyses of the structural damage.