Earthquake Dynamic Analysis Of A Hospital Building

This paper deals with the construction of the new Acute Care Hospital which forms part of the redevelopment of the Royal North Shore Hospital complex in Sydney. The hospital as a building essential to post-disaster recovery function has the highest importance level for a structure in accordance with AS1170.4:2007. This means that the structure requires dynamic analysis to be performed as the building is more than 12 m in height.

The Acute Care Hospital is 9 storeys high with allowance for 2 additional storeys. It is characterised with irregularities on the floor plate size and layout. The earthquake resistance elements of the building are the shear walls in the form of multiple lift and stair cores.

Using Finite Element Modelling (FEM) software namely Strand7, a three-dimensional computer model was developed and dynamic analysis was carried out using response spectrum method. Dynamic analysis output highlighted the different lateral load distribution among the cores when compared to static analysis and gives an indication of the true principal orthogonal directions of the building.