Structural Selection and Economic Analysis of Isolated and Non-isolated Shopping Mall Located at Seismic Intensity 9

Natural periods of isolated structures become longer and the influence of earthquake on structures thus are effectively reduced.Based on these features,the isolation technology is reasonable to be applied to the short-period structures at the high seismic intensity regions.With a multi-story shopping mall in the city of Kangding,Sichuan Province(Seismic Fortification Intensity 9,site soil of type II),the schemes of a frameshear wall structure,a small-bay frame structure and an isolated frame structure were comparatively analyzed by using the finite element tool,Etabs.Dynamic responses of the isolation structure and non-isolation structures were compared.Economy analysis was also analyzed with empirical data obtained from engineering practices, considering the direct building costs and repair costs after earthquakes.The results show that,with base isolation, the performance of the shopping mall structures on the Zone of Seismic Fortification Intensity 9 is improved effectively,but the direct and repair costs after earthquakes can be reduced for a reasonable structural design.