Seismic Assessment of Freestanding Ceramic Vase with Shaking Table Testing and Performance-Based Earthquake Engineering

Abstract

ABSTRACT Earthquake damage to freestanding nonstructural components has occurred in past earthquakes. Ceramic vase is one of the most vulnerable freestanding nonstructural components in museums, residential, and historical buildings. To investigate the seismic performance of a freestanding vase, shaking table tests were conducted, where four motions, consisting of two historic and two artificial ones, were selected and generated. The kinetic friction coefficient was acquired with a slow-pull test, which was used to define the possible response modes. The rocking and sliding responses of the vase were observed by accelerometers and high-speed camera. Results showed that the response mode of the vase was highly dependent on the input peak acceleration, i.e., the higher the peak acceleration, the larger the peak and residual displacements and rocking angles. In addition, the dynamic response varies with the excitation of different input motions, indicating that the frequency contents of the input motion also affect the rocking intensity. Generally, the experimental kinetic friction coefficient from the shaking table test matched the one from the slow-pull test closely, demonstrating that the two approaches were reasonable and accurate enoughand can be accepted. Using the philosophy of the second generation of performance-based earthquake engineering, damage modes, performance levels, and fragility curves were defined and generated on account of crack intensity, repair actions, and rocking angles, respectively. These efforts are also beneficial for the seismic evaluation of the freestanding objects in building structures.