Overturning risk of furniture in earthquake-affected areas

Abstract

The main aim of this study is to develop a new straightforward approach to assess the overturning risk of furniture. The proposed formula is based on the geometrical parameters of the furniture and seismic intensity measures. In particular, the equation is identified by fitting the data obtained by Housner’s mechanical model from the literature. The new equation is compared with the model of Kaneko and Hayashi, which, to the authors’ knowledge, is the only existing formulation in the literature to assess the overturning risk of furniture so far. Furthermore, to evaluate the consistency of the proposed formula, a comparison with the literature experimental data has also been performed.