Seismic Evaluation of Modular Office Furniture System

This paper presents the results of a preliminary experimental investigation into the seismic behaviour of a free standing modular office furniture system. The experimental study consisted in visually observing the behaviour of a full scale typical furniture unit under uniaxial (horizontal) components of various earthquake ground motions. Two different orientations of the unit relative to the direction of the earthquake excitation were considered. The results of the study showed excellent behaviour of the unit. No permanent structural damage and only minor non-structural damage (mainly books falling off a shelf) was observed. The shifting, rocking and vertical movements of the unit were very small. The unit remained always stable against the possibility of overturning.