Shaking table tests on China Pavilion for Expo 2010 Shanghai China

Modern structural engineering tends to progress towards more novel high-rise structures through gradually improved methods of design and wide use of new materials. The National Hall of China Pavilion for Expo 2010 Shanghai is such a building specially designed with a shape of an inverted trapezoid in elevation and local discontinuity of floor slabs in plan for aesthetic and functional considerations. The preliminary analysis shows that the fundamental vibration mode of this structure is a torsional mode due to the special shape, thus resulting in the period ratio between the first torsional mode and the first translational mode exceeding the limit value stipulated in Chinese code. Shaking table tests of a 1/27-scale structural model were performed to observe the seismic response characteristics, and verify the seismic safety of the structure. This paper presents the results of the shaking table tests in terms of dynamic properties, global responses, as well as local responses. It was found that the torsional effects were not significant by the analysis of the ratio between the maximum displacement and the average displacement of floor and torsional angle. Finally, weak points were identified, and some corresponding suggestions were put forward to improve the overall seismic performance of this structure. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.