J1810105 Evaluation Method of Residual Load Bearing Capacity for Escalator Truss Structure under Compressive Load Condition

Abstract

The Great East Japan Earthquake occurred on Mar 11th 2011. Therefore, several accidents have been happened with the escalators falling down. Receiving these damages, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) has finally decided to make a review of quake-resistance standards. In new standard, they established larger earthquake amplitude. It is necessary for us to make a new evaluation method against the structural members of remaining escalator in case of giving compressive load. In our research, we propose a new evaluation method using elasto-plastic finite element analysis. In order to confirm validity, we did compression experiment with the use of three-tenth scale-down escalator. Experiment and simulation had the similar results in buckling load, stress and deformation volume.