Seismic Behavior of Office Furniture in High-Rise Buildings due to Long-Period Ground Motions

Abstract eng:
This paper examines seismic behavior of office furniture in an upper floor of high-rise buildings due to long-period ground motions by shaking table tests and simulations. The results of the tests indicate that a chair on casters and a copy machine move in the low acceleration level of 150cm/s2, and that the desk does not move in the high acceleration level of 460cm/s2, but the desk with a chair assumed as a man in a sitting position who clings to the desk during shaking moves in the lower acceleration level of 250cm/s2. The behavior of the furniture in the shaking table tests is well reproduced by the rigid body simulation. Finally, the behavior of a number of furniture in an upper floor of high-rise buildings is simulated for long-period ground motions at Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka during the anticipated giant earthquakes. The simulation results show that the furniture continues to move around and collide against each other. The behavior of the furniture can cause fear and injury to people in the floor, and make the evacuation action difficult.

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