Collapse of the single layered cylinder shell with model experimental study

With the rapid development of the large-span space structure, it has been widely used in the public buildings such as gymnasiums, exhibition hall, airplane terminal, etc. in China recently. The large-span latticed shell buildings are usually the landmark buildings in a city, so its collapse will cause serious economic and personal loss, which will affect national security and social stability. The shaking table test was conducted on the single layered cylinder shell model in this paper, and the dynamic amplification effects of the lower support frame and the dynamic responses of the whole model were obtained under different seismic motion inputs. The seismic performance of the single layered cylinder shell was evaluated under different ground motion inputs and input principal directions, and the collapse mode was obtained. The results show that the input principal direction has great effect on the dynamic characteristics of the model, and the dynamic amplification effect of the lower support frame increases with the magnitude increase of the ground motion inputs. There is no obvious impact effect and the dynamic strain responses behave elastic during the collapse process, and the whole shell collapse because of local instability. It concludes that the single layered cylinder shell has the risk of progressive collapse under the seismic motions, so the collapse resistance of single layered cylinder shell should be enhanced or it should be optimum designed to prevent the progressive collapse. This experimental study will provide references to the seismic design and engineering practices.