Seismic Evaluation of Functional and Operational Components in Hospital Buildings

• Main Authors: K.C. KUO, 郭耕杖
• Other Authors: G.C. Yao
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2001
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/41887705905183563170

碩士 === 國立成功大學 === 建築學系 === 89 === ABSTRACT Due to damages and malfunctions of functional and operational components(FOC), many hospitals in the disaster area of the Chi-Chi earthquake couldn’t maintain normal emergency medical operations after the quake, although structures of these buildings performed well. It reminded us that nonstructural components should be included in the seismic resistant improvement of hospitals. A seismic evaluation method is adopted in this thesis to identify seismic resistant weak points of FOC in hospitals. The evaluation method is composed of two parts. First is seismic evaluation for FOC systems, including emergency electricity supply, air conditioning, utility water supply, hot water supply and telecommunication. System’s components are related by logic tree diagrams to show interrelationships in a system. This research then use score sheets developed by the EQE Company to quantify seismic resistant capacity of every component. Finally, following the logic tree’s calculation principles, a final score for the whole system can be obtained. From evaluation results of several investigated cases, we found that emergency power supply is the most important FOC system, and it should satisfy the most conservative seismic resistant requirement. Cooling towers are generally the weakest link in this system. To ensure water supply capacity, a seismic sensor is suggested to be installed in the main water supply line. Also, other redundant communication media should be prepared besides common telecommunication. The second part is seismic evaluation of nonstructural components in important medical space which includes emergency room, operation room, ICU etc. Nonstructural components in these area are divided as architecture elements and equipments. Based on previous research results, the proposed evaluation measures consisted of calculation and engineering judgment. The evaluation results of architecture elements and equipments separately represents index of safety and functionality in each medical space. From investigated cases, we found that fallen brick walls and suspended ceilings were the largest threat to safety. FOC systems and medical spaces separately represent resources supply and user ends in a hospital. Through this evaluation, we found out seismic weak links both in supply and user ends. Retrofit methods are suggested for weak links in order to keep hospitals’ emergency medical operations normal after an earthquake.