Dynamic FE simulation of four-story steel frame modeled by solid elements and its validation using results of full-scale shake-table test

Abstract

Dynamic finite element analyses of a four-story steel building frame modeled as a fine mesh of solid elements are performed using E-Simulator, which is a parallel finite element analysis software package for precisely simulating collapse behaviors of civil and building structures. E-Simulator is under development at the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED), Japan. A full-scale shake-table test for a four-story frame was conducted using E-Defense at NIED, which is the largest shaking table in the world. A mesh of the entire structure of a four-story frame with approximately 19 million degrees of freedom is constructed using solid elements. The density of the mesh is determined by referring to the results of elastic–plastic buckling analyses of a column of the frame using meshes of different densities. Therefore, the analysis model of the frame is well verified. Seismic response analyses under 60, 100, and 115% excitations of the JR Takatori record of the 1995 Hyogoken-Nanbu earthquake are performed. Note that the simulation does not reproduce the collapse under the 100% excitation of the Takatori record in the E-Defense test. Therefore, simulations for the 115% case are also performed. The results obtained by E-Simulator are compared with those obtained by the E-Defense full-scale test in order to validate the results obtained by E-Simulator. The shear forces and interstory drift angles of the first story obtained by the simulation and the test are in good agreement. Both the response of the entire frame and the local deformation as a result of elastic–plastic buckling are simulated simultaneously using E-Simulator.