Motions of rigid bodies and criteria for overturning by earthquake excitations

This investigation deals with motions of rigid bodies on a rigid floor subjected to sinusoidal and earthquake excitations, and overturning of the bodies. Experiments and simulations of frequency sweep tests were conducted, and it is concluded that the horizontal velocity as well as the acceleration must be taken into account as criteria for overturning. Simulations by earthquake excitations show that the criteria are also applicable to the earthquake excitations. Therefore it is possible to estimate the lower limits of the maximum horizontal acceleration and velocity of the input excitations, from the overturning of bodies.