Analysis of Structure with Beams Curved in Elevation using Shake Table

Arches are compressive structures and don't have tensile stresses. An arch derives its strength directly from its shape. An arch can carry a much greater load than a horizontal beam of the same size and material, because downward pressure forces the voussoirs together instead of apart. The resulting outward thrust must be resisted by the arch's supports. The research highlighted a use of ach beams in RCC structure to increase stiffness of structure against lateral forces due to earthquake. The arch action will help to minimize the effect of earthquake forces, to verify the actual behavior of structure a proto type aluminum model is made and tested on shake table. The total area of plain beam and arch beam is kept constant to maintain the uniformity in the analysis. The location of an arch plays important role in achieving the stability in structure so, three different cases with change in location of an arch beams are made for study. The cases are designed by considering arch beams are located at inner core, corners and outer periphery of structure. The testing is done on shake table by considering natural frequency of model and outcomes such as displacement, story drift etc. are used for comparison. The use of an arch beams showed significant changes in the behavior of structure, the model with outer peripheral curved beams shown excellent performance in minimizing earthquake forces. The model with curved beams at central core position also performed well with economy in construction.