A study on slip and fall of stacked cargoes in automated warehouse

An automated warehouse is a system which automatically controls the storing and shipping of a large number of cargoes in small floor spaces. In the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, many automated warehouses shut down because of the fall of stacked cargoes, and the recovery needs a long time. The importance of the seismic countermeasure preventing the fall of cargoes is noticed from the business continuity planning. The authors developed two countermeasures; one is the vibration control system and the other is the base isolation system. For developing these countermeasures, it is important to clarify the falling behaviors of cargoes. Shaking table tests were conducted for evaluating them. This paper describes the experimental results focusing on the dynamic characteristics of cargoes.