In disasters, spatial structures such as school gymnasium fill the role of the shelter. Seismic evaluation and seismic retrofit of gymnasiums and halls have been done. However, the scheme of seismic evaluation and retrofit of spatial structures have been done through the usage of those of frame buildings of normal scale almost without paying attention to demanded abilities of spatial structures. Besides, the phenomena peculiar to spatial structures such as vertical vibration and unevenness of deformation are not necessarily treated with sufficient considerations. Consequently, it is important to investigate the applicable range of the present seismic evaluation scheme of spatial structures.
This paper principally aims at clarifying the applicability and problems of the present seismic evaluation of spatial structures. As the first stage for such purpose, elastic time history analysis has been carried out for existing school gymnasiums and their dynamic behavior is examined. From the comparison of these results with those obtained through the seismic evaluation scheme, some problems of the present evaluation are considered.
