Inelastic Dynamic Analysis of An Rc Building Impacted By a Tsunami Water-borne Shipping Container

In the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 26, 2004, buildings without in-fill walls in the first story, which allow the unimpeded flow of tsunami waves, have been constructed in the regions of low seismic risk. However, columns in such buildings could be susceptible to impact of tsunami water-borne massive objects. In the present study, the impact of a tsunami water-borne shipping container on a reinforced concrete (RC) building is considered. The impact force-time histories are obtained from a high-fidelity finite element analysis, for a range of container velocities. These force-time histories are used in the impact analysis of the RC building and potential failure modes of the impacted column, changes in column axial forces, and floor displacements are studied. For the range of container velocities considered, it is found that although the axial load carrying capacity of the impacted column has significantly decreased, the building remains stable due to redistribution of internal forces to adjacent members.