JUMPING OF BELL HOUSES CAUSED BY NEAR-FIELD GROUND MOTION. CASE HISTORIES AND SHAKING TABLE EXPERIMENT

Earthquake-induced jumping of Bell Houses evidenced in epicentral areas of two earthquakes is discussed here. The earthquakes are the 1995 Hyogoken-nanbu, Japan earthquake and the 1909 Anegawa, Japan earthquake. Site-investigation was conducted to estimate vibration characteristics of the House and the ground. A series of shaking-table experiments, using models of a Bell House, demonstrated that the jumping followed by remarkable displacement can take place even by horizontal ground motion alone, when the strong motion is abruptly applied in the direction diagonal to the framework of the Bell House. The jumping process in the model experiment seems to be consistent with observations at real Bell Houses. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.