EAPSI: Evaluating the Seismic Performance of a New Building 'spine' Technology

许多当代建筑在地震时往往会形成一种软层机制。这种行为的特点是大量需求集中在建筑的一层。这些要求最终会限制整个系统的能力，增加结构和非结构破坏，导致结构倒塌。该奖项支持开发一种相对较新的“脊椎”系统的优点的研究。新系统利用一根脊椎将建筑物中的所有楼层连接在一起，迫使它们像一个整体一样工作，因此不允许将损害集中在一层楼中。如果有效，这个系统可能成为在地震事件中适当的结构性能的关键。这个项目将在台湾台北的国立台湾大学进行，由著名的创新钢结构建筑系统专家蔡国强教授指导。这项研究将试图量化脊椎的使用与其缓解软故事的能力之间的关系。国际上很少有研究涉及脊柱概念的具体细节，以及如何将脊柱应用到设计实践中。这项研究的目的是解决以下关于脊椎系统的问题：(1)允许桅杆的屈服而不是将其设计为完全弹性的影响是什么？(2)如果桅杆外部的非弹性部分在地震事件中受到严重破坏并表现出实质性的恶化，对系统有什么影响？(3)根据与桅杆系统相关的残馀漂移量，系统的弹性是什么？将特别强调这些问题中的第一个。这一NSF EAPSI奖项支持一名美国研究生的研究，并与台湾科技部合作提供资金。

Many contemporary buildings tend to form a soft story mechanism during an earthquake. This behavior is characterized by large demands concentrated in a single story of the building. These demands can ultimately limit the capacity of the entire system and increase both structural and nonstructural damage, leading to structural collapse. This award supports research to develop the merits of a relatively new 'spine' system. The new system utilizes a spine that ties all the stories in a building together, forcing them to behave as one unit so that damage is not permitted to concentrate in a single story. If effective, this system could become essential for suitable structural performance during seismic events. This project will be conducted at National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan under the mentorship of Professor K.C. Tsai, a noted expert on innovative steel building systems.This study will attempt to quantify the relationship between the use of a spine and its ability to mitigate a soft story. There has been little research internationally addressing the specific details of the spine concept and how to implement a spine into design practice. The purpose of this study would be to address the following questions about a spine system: (1) What is the effect of allowing yielding in the mast rather than designing it to be completely elastic? (2) What is the effect on the system if the inelastic portion outside of the mast is significantly damaged and exhibits substantial deterioration during a seismic event? (3) What is the resiliency of the system in terms of the amount of residual drift associated with a mast system after an event? Special emphasis will be placed on the first of these questions. This NSF EAPSI award supports the research of a U.S. graduate student and is funded in collaboration with the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan.