3D COLLAPSE SIMULATION OF TIMBER HOUSE

Abstract

In the 1995 kobe Earthquake, over 100 thousand houses were collapsed, 6,433 people died and 43,782 people were injured. Most of the casualties were crushed or suffocated to death under collapsed houses. In order to reduce human casualties caused by an earthquake, it is very important to know the process of structure collapse. In this study, the three dimentional behaviors of the collapse of timber house under seismic motion was analyzed using the distinct element method (DEM). To validate the simulation technique, two experiments were carried out. In a static experiment, timber joint parameters were determined. Secondally, a dynamic experiment was performed on a simplified structural model in order to verify the results of the DEM analysis. Finally, the numerical simulation technique was applied to a real structural model including the effect of building furniture contents.