Seismic-Isolation Retrofits of School Buildings: Practice in China after Recent Devastating Earthquakes
Publication: Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 28, Issue 1
Abstract
Recent large earthquakes in China (e.g., Wenchuan earthquake and Yushu earthquake) resulted in enormous damage to school buildings and took many students’ lives. Recognizing the seismic vulnerability of existing school buildings, the Chinese government started a nationwide mission in 2009, aiming at increasing the seismic capacity of school buildings through inspection and retrofit activities. This paper presents the experiences of the authors in the retrofits of school buildings in which seismic isolation by using rubber and/or sliding bearings was adopted as a new and efficient retrofit technique, as compared with conventional ones. The retrofitted school buildings include masonry buildings, RC frame buildings, and a mixture of both. Design methods and the corresponding requirements in the modified seismic design code are presented, and typical construction procedures of the seismic retrofit are summarized from an engineer’s point of view. Procedures regarding the contract and review of the retrofit projects are also introduced. To this end, a case study is made to demonstrate the proposed design and construction methods. The presented work provides references to the seismic retrofit of existing buildings.
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Acknowledgments
The support from (1) the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University under Grant No. NCET-10-0326; (2) the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu (No. BC201120703); and (3) a project funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions is gratefully acknowledged.
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Information
Published In
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 28 • Issue 1 • February 2014
Pages: 96 - 107
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 1, 2012
Accepted: Sep 26, 2012
Published online: Sep 28, 2012
Published in print: Feb 1, 2014
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