Mitigation of tsunami debris impact by fender structures for reinforced-concrete buildings

Abstract

The impact of large debris such as loaded shipping containers can cause significant damage to buildings at shorelines. In this study, the building and protection structures are connected with fenders to reduce the impact of large debris. The objective is to study the building with a fender structure that reduces the impact of the shipping container. For a fender structure, cone-shaped rubber fenders are used to absorb the impact energy. Various fender reactions are considered as a parameter to conduct the efficiency of the fender. Tsunami pushover analyses using the force-controlled and displacement-controlled methods are used to obtain the capacity of the building. The energy approach for shipping container impact is used to evaluate the resistance of the building. Capacity curves, energy absorptions, inter-story drift ratios of the buildings with and without fender structures are studied. The fender can effectively absorb the debris impact. A design recommendation is proposed for the building with a fender structure. It is found that fender yield forces in the fender structure is the key parameter for the performance of the main building. Then, a three-dimensional tsunami pushover analysis is conducted on the building with 6 fender units. It is found that building with fenders can effectively resist all types of shipping container impact cases.