Seismic Performance Assessment of Wheelchairs in Buildings

This study employs a systematic identification method to analyze the risk of overturning for wheelchair users inside buildings under earthquake excitation through shaking table experiments and numerical analysis. Experimental results indicate that under a sinusoidal wave of 300 gal, the most severe rocking and overturning response occurs at the excitation frequency of 0.9–1.1 Hz, while some degree of rocking may occur at 0.8–2.3 Hz. If floor height is translated into the natural frequency of the building, all wheelchairs will have a risk of overturning at the threshold floor acceleration of 300 gal for buildings with a total height of 4–13 stories, and the risk is highest for buildings of 9–11 stories. Numerical analysis, by RecurDyn, extends above shaking table experiment findings to wheelchair response at higher excitation level and lower excitation frequencies. It is found that if excitation is larger than 300 gal, buildings taller than 11 stories also pose a overturning threat to wheelchair users.