Home
Aims & Scope
Editorial Board
Contents & Abstracts
Submitting Your Paper
Copyright & Permissions
Subscriptions and Orders

Shake table testing of a multi-tower connected hybrid structure

Zhou Ying1, Lu Xilin1, Lu Wensheng1 and He Zhijun2

1. State Key Laboratory for Disaster Reduction in Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
2. Architectural Design and Research Institute, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China

Abstract: Many single-tower reinforced concrete core wall-steel frame (RCC-SF) buildings have been built in China, but there are no buildings of different-height multi-tower hybrid system. A multi-tower RCC-SF tall building was thus studied because of its structural complexity and irregularity. First, a 1/15 scaled model structure was designed and tested on the shake table under minor, moderate, and major earthquake levels. Then, the dynamic responses of the model structure were interpreted to those of the prototype structure according to the similitude theory. Experimental results demonstrate that, despite the complexity of the structure, the lateral deformation bends as the “bending type” and the RC core walls contribute more than the steel frames to resist seismic loads. The maximum inter-story drift of the complex building under minor earthquakes is slightly beyond the elastic limitation specified in the Chinese code, and meets code requirements under major earthquakes. From the test results some suggestions are provided that could contribute favorable effect on the seismic behavior and the displacement of the building.

Keywords: complex building; hybrid structure; scaled model; shake table testing; seismic performance