Full-Scale Metal Building Frame with Heavy Wall Attachments

This full-scale metal building specimen is the second in a series of specimens for shake-table testing. This specimen has a 20' eave height, 60' clear span, and 18' bay width (representing 20'). It is composed of two, steel, built-up, web-tapered, gabled moment resisting frames and a typical gravity system. It also has heavy concrete sidewalls, representing a common yet potentially unsafe building type in use in the U.S. This specimen represents two interior bays of a 60' clear span, 20' bay width building and as such has no end walls. Extra weight was added at the roof in the form of long plates above each frame to account for the missing tributary mass.

The specimen was designed to meet the current (2009) building code requirements. It was designed for typical roof loads, including 30 psf snow, 80 mph wind loads, and seismic loads from a high seismic region.

Shake table testing proceeded with several low-level ground motions to characterize the elastic behavior of the specimen followed by incrementally larger seismic motions to investigate limit states. Testing continued until it was determined unsafe to continue. System collapse was not observed. Many sensors were placed on the specimen to allow investigation of both elastic and inelastic behavior.