Computational Simulation of a Full-Scale, Fixed-Base, and Isolated-Base Steel Moment Frame Building Tested at E-Defense

Abstract

A full-scale earthquake simulation of a five-story steel moment frame building at E-Defense, the world’s largest single shake table facility in Miki, Japan, in August 2011 provided realistic data to improve and validate current modeling approaches for steel structures with composite floor systems. In this paper, computational models of the tested fixed-base specimen and the specimen isolated with triple pendulum bearings were developed and validated using the test data, and the influence of various modeling assumptions on the accuracy of the numerical prediction was investigated. The results demonstrate that the displacement of the isolation system can be predicted accurately without a well calibrated superstructure model. However, the response of the isolated structure, especially when subjected to 3-dimensional motions, is quite sensitive to the frame modeling assumptions and the superstructure damping model. The modeling assumptions that most accurately predict the response of the tested specimen are described in this paper.