Verification of Seismic Preliminary Evaluation of School Buildings by In Situ Tests

Verification of Seismic Preliminary Evaluation of School Buildings by In Situ Tests

Preliminary evaluation is a screening stage for the seismic performance of existing school buildings. This method is simple, fast, objective, and effective to reduce the magnitude of a problem of seismic deficiency. From data regarding the seismic zone, the importance factor, the dimensions of the structure and its members, the seismic capacity and demand of a school building can be estimated by preliminary evaluation. The priority of a school building to enter the next stage, that of detailed evaluation, is determined according to the seismic capacity and demand ratio. However, a preliminary evaluation should be conservative enough to avoid overestimation of the performance of school buildings. Unlike in laboratory tests, the material strength, reinforcement detailing, construction quality, and foundation boundary conditions of in situ tests of a school building are realistic. In this study, the results of in situ pushover tests of Ruei-Pu Elementary School are used. From the configuration and capacity curve(the relationship between lateral force and lateral displacement) of the school building, the ultimate base shear, the weight per unit floor area, the fundamental vibration period, the allowable ductility capacity, and the fundamental seismic performance(the ratio of seismic capacity and demand) are found. Based on the results of the in situ tests of the school building, the results of the preliminary evaluation are examined. Even though the compressive strength of concrete is quite low and the thickness of the concrete cover is quite high in the specimen, the preliminary evaluation of the school building is found to still be conservative.