Behavior of rigid blocks with geometrical defects under seismic motion: an experimental and numerical study |
| |
Authors: | Charlie Mathey Cyril Feau Ioannis Politopoulos David Clair Laurent Baillet Michel Fogli |
| |
Institution: | 1. Laboratory of Seismic Mechanics, CEA, DEN, DANS, DM2S, SEMT, EMSI, Gif‐sur‐Yvette, France;2. Institut Pascal, UMR 6602 CNRS/UBP/IFMA, Aubière, France;3. ISTerre, Université de Grenoble‐Alpes, CNRS/IRD/IFSTTAR, Grenoble, France |
| |
Abstract: | The present work investigates the influence of small geometrical defects on the behavior of slender rigid blocks. A comprehensive experimental campaign was carried out on one of the shake tables of CEA/Saclay in France. The tested model was a massive steel block with standard manufacturing quality. Release, free oscillations tests as well as shake table tests revealed a non‐negligible out‐of‐plane motion even in the case of apparently plane initial conditions or excitations. This motion exhibits a highly reproducible part for a short duration that was used to calibrate a numerical geometrically asymmetrical model. The stability of this model when subjected to 2000 artificial seismic horizontal bidirectional signals was compared with the stability of a symmetrical one. This study showed that the geometrical imperfections slightly increase the rocking and overturning probabilities for earthquake signals in a narrow range of peak ground acceleration. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
| |
Keywords: | rigid block rocking overturning defects out‐of‐plane motion |
|
|