How does the high seismic performance of steel structured supermarket construction ensure the safety of crowded places like supermarkets in seismic zones?
Publish Time: 2025-09-23
In earthquake-prone areas, the safety of building structures is directly related to the protection of people's lives and property. This is especially true in densely populated public buildings like supermarkets and shopping malls. Once an earthquake strikes, structural collapse or partial damage can easily lead to secondary disasters such as trampling, crushing, and difficulty escaping. Therefore, improving building seismic resistance has become a top priority in design and construction. In recent years, steel structured supermarket construction, with its superior seismic performance, has gradually replaced traditional concrete structures as the preferred option for commercial buildings in seismic zones, providing a solid safety barrier for crowded places.1. Steel's Material Properties: A Perfect Combination of Flexibility and StrengthThe core advantage of steel structures lies in their inherent high strength and ductility. When subjected to seismic loads, steel not only possesses sufficient bearing capacity to resist horizontal shear and bending moments, but also exhibits excellent plastic deformation capabilities. When an earthquake strikes, the structure experiences repeated horizontal shaking. Steel structures can absorb and dissipate significant amounts of seismic energy through their elastic and plastic deformation, preventing brittle fracture. In contrast, traditional concrete structures are prone to cracking, spalling, or even total collapse during strong earthquakes due to insufficient tensile strength. Steel structures, however, overcome rigidity with flexibility, maintaining overall stability during intense shaking and buying valuable time for evacuation.2. Lightweight and High Strength, Reducing Seismic ForcesAccording to earthquake engineering principles, the horizontal forces exerted on a building during an earthquake are proportional to its mass. While steel structures have a high density, their components are small in cross-section and their overall deadweight is low, typically only about 60% of that of concrete structures. Given the same volume, the lower deadweight of steel structure supermarket construction means less inertial forces generated during an earthquake, significantly reducing the seismic loads borne by the structure. This characteristic is particularly important in soft soil or high-intensity fortified areas. It not only increases the building's safety margin but also reduces the bearing capacity requirements of the foundation, thereby reducing foundation engineering costs.3. Reasonable Structural System Design Enhances Overall Seismic ResistanceModern steel structure supermarket construction generally utilizes frame structures, frame-support structures, or frame-shear wall systems. These systems ensure overall rigidity and stability through scientific mechanical layout. Under horizontal seismic forces, the structure's rigid connections at beam-column joints and the coordinated support system create an effective lateral force-resisting system, preventing excessive displacement or torsional instability. Furthermore, steel structure joints utilize high-strength bolts or welds, ensuring excellent integrity and force transmission. Energy dissipation and vibration reduction technologies, such as buckling-restrained braces or viscous dampers, are incorporated into the design to further enhance the structure's energy dissipation capacity, achieving the seismic fortification goals of "indestructible in minor earthquakes, repairable in moderate earthquakes, and resistant to collapse in major earthquakes."4. Factory Prefabrication and High-Precision Construction Ensure Structural ReliabilitySteel structure components are standardized and manufactured in factories, ensuring high precision and controlled quality. This avoids defects such as honeycombing, cracks, and insufficient strength that can occur with on-site concrete pouring. On-site bolting or welding ensures rapid construction and consistent joint quality. High-precision manufacturing and installation ensure uniform stress distribution during earthquakes, preventing overall failure due to localized weaknesses.5. Suitable for complex functions and large-span spaces, ensuring smooth evacuation routesSupermarkets typically require large, column-free, open spaces to facilitate shelf layout and customer flow. Steel structures can easily achieve column-free spaces exceeding 30 meters, reducing obstruction of evacuation routes by internal load-bearing walls and column grids. During an earthquake, spacious aisles and clear sightlines facilitate rapid and orderly evacuation, avoiding congestion and trampling. Furthermore, steel structures easily integrate with non-structural components such as lightweight partitions, metal roofs, and glass curtain walls, ensuring that the enclosure system is resilient to earthquakes and minimizing the risk of injury from falling objects.6. Facilitates post-disaster assessment and rapid repairSteel structures typically exhibit observable deformation rather than sudden collapse after an earthquake, making it easier for professionals to conduct damage assessments. Minor deformation can be corrected and repaired, while severely damaged components can be quickly removed and replaced to restore functionality. This "repairability" significantly shortens post-disaster reconstruction cycles and has significant social and economic significance for supermarkets, which ensure essential supplies for the public.Steel structure supermarket construction, with its high ductility, light weight, strong integrity, precise construction, and large space, demonstrates exceptional seismic performance in seismic zones. It not only effectively withstands strong earthquake shocks, minimizing building collapse, but also provides strong support for evacuation and post-disaster recovery.
