Nonlinear Numerical Analyses for School Buildings

Nonlinear Numerical Analyses for School Buildings

A significant earthquake, 921-Chichi Earthquake, occurred in 1999. It caused a serious disaster in the central area of Taiwan, especially for school buildings. We are concerned of the damage of school buildings because it is linked to the safety of students. 921-Chichi Earthquake caused nearly half of the school buildings in the central area of Taiwan to collapse or damage seriously. 656 primary and secondary school buildings were damaged in that earthquake. This disaster told us the seismic capacities of school buildings are probably not sufficient. To reduce seismic damages of school buildings and the casualties of teachers and students, and to provide a place of refuge in the early stage of earthquake, the seismic retrofit of all school buildings should proceed as soon as possible. The 'Verification and implementation of seismic evaluation and retrofit for primary and secondary school buildings' project was taken to understand the seismic capacities of school buildings and the effects of seismic retrofits such as steel plate retrofit, wing wall retrofit, and extended column retrofit. Four full-scale school building specimens were under seismic testing in that project. In this study, a nonlinear finite element program, OpenSees, was used to simulate the seismic tests of school buildings numerically. The brick wall elements and retrofitting elements can be simulated with suitable numerical models. From the analysis results, the effects of brick walls and retrofitting materials can be understood to evaluate the seismic capacities of school buildings and choose effective retrofit methods. In our study, OpenSees can be used to analyze the seismic behavior of school buildings properly. The failure mechanisms of school buildings are different with various retrofit methods. Their contributions to strength or ductility are also different.