AMPLIFICATION FACTORS FOR EQUIPMENT DESIGN SUBJECTED TO SEISMIC LOADING

A mathematical technique is developed to evaluate the seismic response of primary equipment supported directly by the main structure and als o the response of secondary equipment supported by the primary equipme nt. The method can be used for structures ranging from the simple to t he complex, and is amenable to calculations based on standard spreadsh eet or numerical software or, if desired, can be programmed The techni que can be used to develop amplification factors for seismic motion be tween ground structure and equipment. Alternatively the method can be utilized to develop the ground response (or structure motion spectra f ar various structural damping ratios and also floor response (or equip ment response) spectra directly from a ground motion spectrum given as datum. The results are compared with the results from other well-esta blished methods. The proposed method has an advantage over the other m ethods in that it enables direct computation of the third level respon se, i.e, response of the secondary equipment supported by the primary equipment; also, the method can be readily applied to any shape of gro und motion response spectrum given as datum.