Seismic Performance of Fully Modular High-Rise Buildings with Superelastic Tendon Restrained Rocking

Sheng Li (Lead / Corresponding author), Hing-Ho Tsang (Lead / Corresponding author), Nelson Lam (Lead / Corresponding author)

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Abstract

Designing a fully modular building, which is without the support of any separate lateral resisting elements, has the advantage of rapid site assembly, but runs the risk of a brittle style of connection failures in a rare earthquake event. Thus, this form of construction is currently limited to low-rise buildings. Isolating the building from its base and allowing the rocking motion to occur has been proven to be effective in dissipating energy and prolonging the natural periods by the lifting of the structure, thereby alleviating high strength demand on the building itself. To avert overturning, the amount of the rotation of the building needs to be controlled, and the use of superelastic tendons as a restraint is a promising solution. Previous studies into the seismic performance with this novel form of construction have been limited to experimenting with a rigid block or a single lumped mass system. In this study, this approach of seismic isolation is extended to a high-rise modular building with distributed mass and stiffness. A scaled-down model of a 19-story fully modular building, which was partially restrained by superelastic tendons, was tested on a shaking table. The key objective was to study the deflection profile and distribution of internal forces up the height of the superelastic tendon-restrained building and examine the contributions by the higher modes. The internal forces predicted by the analytical model developed in the study are shown to be in good agreement with experimental measurements.

Original languageEnglish
Article number04024120
JournalJournal of Structural Engineering (United States)
Volume150
Issue number9
Early online date9 Jul 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2024

Keywords

  • Deflection shape
  • Fully modular building
  • Modular connection
  • Rocking isolation
  • Shaking table test
  • Superelastic tendon

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Civil and Structural Engineering
  • Building and Construction
  • General Materials Science
  • Mechanics of Materials
  • Mechanical Engineering

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