A primary study on the secondary disasters induced by the damage of high-rise building envelops under earthquake

Abstract

Many high-rise and super high-rise buildings have been constructed in the city centers of China. Due to the architecture requirement, glass curtain is widely used in high-rise buildings. If the glass curtain falls down from the high-rise building due to earthquake, serious secondary disaster may occur. The glass curtain damage is mainly induced by the large storey drift angle of a structure. In this paper, the glass curtain damage is considered when the storey drift angle exceeds the critical deformation, which is followed by the falling down of the fragments with a certain velocity. Based on the elasto-plastic time-history analysis results of a high-rise building, the injure range of glass curtain falling is predicted and the evacuation distance is suggested, which provides a reference for the earthquake evacuation research.