Rapid seismic risk assessment method for museum exhibition halls based on seismic safety of artifacts

Abstract

Seismic safety of the museum artifacts has become increasingly more important as museums have continued to build their collections. Although the seismic risk of artifacts can be assessed through experimental analysis, numerical simulation or machine learning, these methods generally require specialized research tools and complex theoretical knowledge and are therefore not readily applicable in engineering practice. In the practical conservation for museum artifacts, risk decision-makers prefer to be provided with a simple method that allows them to straightforwardly and swiftly assess the seismic risk. Further, there is no universal standard approach to comprehensively assess the seismic risk of all artifacts in museum exhibition halls based on the consideration of the impact of multiple risk factors. In this study, we developed an easy-to-apply method for the rapid seismic risk assessment of museum exhibition halls. We discussed the adverse effects of several major risk factors that cause seismic failure of artifacts, then presented the proposed method in detail. Three exhibition halls in China served as representative cases to evaluate the method. This work can provide a valuable reference for museum exhibition halls as a rapid analytical means to assess seismic risk.