Rocking Response of Free-Standing Furnitures Under Earthquake Floor Motions

Abstract eng:
Over the last decade the amount of population injured by accident furniture overturning is increased and this trend is expected to continue. Non anchored body motion can be categorized in 6 basic types: rest, slide, rock, slide-rock, free flight and impact. The aim of this research is to analyze through numerical analysis the behavior of a free-standing rigid body during the phase of rocking motion under dynamic load. The model of free body rocking motion was proposed by G. W. Housner in 1963 first. Later a number of alternative models have been developed opportunely change the original assumption in order to and obtain more realistic results. In this research different models are compared with numerical simulations, using different excitation input and results are shown in the acceleration-frequency plane. These results confirmed the importance of the geometrical shape of the rigid block and the necessity to individuate the risk factors that can cause overturning phenomena. Nonlinear time history analysis using real earthquake floor motions recorded in a real time monitored building in California are used to simulate the behavior of a furniture located inside a multi-story building. Sensitivity analysis is performed in order to find the optimal location of the furniture inside the building. The research goal is to establish how to reduce the risk of overturning during an earthquake in real structures and to propose a simple and practical procedure to locate the risk area in the building where slender furniture can overturn. Prevention actions are proposed by changing the shape of the furniture, the friction coefficient or by using some appropriate devices.

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