Development of Simplified Seismic Evaluation Program for Equipment in Hospitals

Development of Simplified Seismic Evaluation Program for Equipment in Hospitals

In order to ensure the reliability of hospitals designated responsible for the provision of post-earthquake acute services, a project was organized by the National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering to propose seismic evaluation and strengthening guidelines for nonstructural components in hospital buildings. Owing to the onerous work required to improve the seismic performance of various nonstructural components in hospitals, a simplified program was established in this study to execute a preliminary seismic evaluation for individual components needed to support the medical services in critical care areas. The objective of this program is to obtain the evaluation results rapidly and effectively by inputting the characteristic parameters of the selected components, and also to determine the seismic demands if needed. Finally, depending on the capacity of the bolts used for strengthening, the program could provide a preliminary resolution of outliers to improve unacceptable seismic responses as mentioned above.