Experimental and numerical studies on structural response of steel garage subjected to vehicular collision

Abstract

Steel garages are widely used in urban areas to park cars, and are often subjected to vehicular collisions. Currently, few design standards provide reasonable guidelines for the accident resistance of the garages. This study experimentally and numerically analyzes the structural response of steel garages subjected to vehicular collisions. First, four impact tests were performed on 1:5 scale steel garages considering different impact directions and parking loads, and the impact force and displacement at the impact point were analyzed. The results indicated that the structural side column suffers severe local damage when subjected to impact loads along its weak axis. Subsequently, multi-scale finite element models were developed and verified against the test results. Finally, the collision process of an equivalent truck with a full-size steel garage was simulated, and the structural response of the garage was investigated considering different collision speeds, collision masses, and garage load levels. The results showed that the garage load level does not have a significant influence on the structural behavior of the garage. The amount of energy absorbed by the steel garage decreased with the increase in the collision speed and collision mass, and was between 54.49% and 67.03%.