Comparative research on gravity load simulation devices for structural seismic tests based on FEA

Structural seismic tests usually need to simulate the gravity load borne by the structure, the gravity load application devices should keep the force value and direction unchanged, and can adapt to the structural deformation. At present, there are two main ways to simulate gravity load in laboratory: roller group and prestress. However, there are few differential analysis between these two ways in the existing experimental studies. In this paper, the simulation software ABAQUS is used to simulate the static pushover analysis of reinforced concrete column and frame, which are the most common models in structural seismic tests. The results show that the horizontal restoring force of the model using prestressed loading method is significantly greater than roller group, and the difference between the two will increase with the increase of the horizontal deformation. The reason for the difference is that the prestressed loading method does not take the adverse effects of gravity second-order effect (P-Delta effect) into account. Therefore, the restoring force obtained under prestressed loading method should be corrected and the additional shear force caused by P-Delta effect should be deducted. After correction, the difference of restoring force between the two gravity load application methods is significantly reduced (when storey-drift is 1/550, the relative error is within 1%; and when storey-drift is 1/50, the relative error is about 3%). The research results of this research can provide reference for the selection and data processing of gravity load simulation devices in structural seismic tests.