earthquake analysis

hello forum! I have a friend who is researching the analysis of facades in seismic regions prone to earthquakes. What tools in grasshopper might be used to analyze the effect of an earthquake on an architectural structure... I thought she could do a shortest path analysis and optimization for exit routes but I am looking for other perspectives to share with her as well? Any ideas? Is there a way to shake some geometry and study the structural results? Is there a way to shake things in kangaroo? Thanks ! -Ethan

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by taz on February 11, 2015 at 11:03pm

Egress requirements are code based and fall under the category of life safety, thus not really seismic specific.

I would say you could use kangaroo to "simulate" the earthquake behavior of facade components, but an actual "analysis" (structurally speaking) is not really practical.

For a generic facade system assembly (idealized as rectangular panels spanning floor to floor) you could start with a combination of rigid body rotation and sliding and add collision behavior.

Then if you want to get tricky you could look to incorporate elastic material properties into your panels (something to represent framing and infill materials) like bending & axial stiffness, joint rotational stiffness, possibly shell element behavior, etc. Behavioral characteristics of a model can be very system, geometry and detail specific.

Post-yield behavior (i.e. permanently deformed metal and broken glass) is a whole 'nother ball of wax, but usually only building structure worries about that.

tl;dr: In reality it's complicated but you could make a simulation in kangaroo where things jiggle around.

PS: L.A. says "hello"

Permalink Reply by Ethan on February 12, 2015 at 10:05am

Thanks for your reply taz. I was also thinking along the same lines and with my colleague have begun a definition to explore this idea. My plan is to use kangaroo to bounce particles around a box that would represent the ground and then to apply those movements as forces to a building that I analyze with karamba and perhaps optimize with Galapagos. The facade part is tricky so at first I will try to analyze and optimize just the structure of the building assuming that if the structure is strong the facade will have less chance of damage... Once the structure is understood I will move on to the facade assembly as you suggest. I will keep you informed of my progress.

as far as egress goes I found this interesting video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7_LFXz2Z38

I am now also looking for videos that can calculate length of egress paths and optimize those somehow maybe by adjusting room or door placements. thanks again ethan

Permalink Reply by Anett Bako on March 10, 2017 at 10:33am

Hi Ethan,

I am wondering if this project worked out for you as you describe it, using kangaroo an galapagos. I am doing something similar, simulating and earthquake for tower buildings. I just started this university project and I am just a beginner in grasshopper. I planning to design multiple towers that resist earthquakes. I was thinking to start from analyzing different shapes/structures to see what would be better to use and that would influence how my building will look or function. Could you please give me some advice how I can achieve this. I am looking at the moment at topological optimization using Millipede, but I need to find a way to stimulate earthquakes.

Thank you!

Permalink Reply by lizsecurro on October 17, 2016 at 1:16am

Your home may have some degree of structural damage to foundations, cripple walls, chuck of walls to the floor or roof, brickwork chimney, and around the garage opening or large window openings if smooth story the weather is met where do most earthquakes occur.

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