Seismic Upgrade of Vancouver Technical School,Canada

Abstract eng:
Vancouver Technical School is the largest school in British Columbia, Canada. The 4-storey heritage building was built in two sections in 1928 and 1955. The 1928 structure has a reinforced concrete frame, with hollow clay tile, unreinforced concrete block and glass block partition walls, and ribbed concrete slabs. It contains an auditorium constructed of concrete walls and timber roof. The 1955structure is constructed of concrete beams and slabs. The concrete columns have nominal reinforcing. A cost effective and environmentally friendly seismic upgrade was achieved by minimizing demolition, retrofitting key elements and adding new components, while preserving all heritage characteristics of the buildings. Dynamic analysis and soil structure interaction were carried out. Seismic demand was evaluated using the 2005 National Building Code of Canada. Principles of performance-based design were applied taking advantage of all existing components. Pounding and torsion were eliminated by connecting the 1928 and 1955 sections. This enabled a 20% reduction in seismic demand per Code provisions, which led to optimization of the new structural elements. A steel diaphragm was installed, hidden above the auditorium ceiling. Pilasters and walls were upgraded using bonded fabrics of Fibre-Reinforced Polymers (FRP) and steel plates. New shear walls were strategically located to balance torsional effects. No interior columns were retrofitted. Instead, the drift was reduced to a level where the columns can safely carry gravity loads. The perimeter hollow clay walls were restrained using FRP anchors; partition walls with steel studs; glass block walls by bonding glass fibre rods into existing mortar joints.

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