Throughout history, objects of art have been damaged and sometimes destroyed in earthquakes. Even though the importance of providing seismically adequate design for nonstructural components has received attention over the past decade, art objects in museums, either on display or in storage, require further research. The research reported in this study was undertaken to investigate the seismic vulnerability of art objects. Data for this research was gathered from three museums in Montreal. The seismic behaviour of three unrestrained display cases, storage shelves, and a 6m long dinosaur skeleton model structure was investigated according to the seismic hazard for Montreal and representative museum floor motions were simulated for that purpose. Particular attention was paid to the support conditions, the effects of modified floor surface conditions, the sliding and rocking response of unrestrained display cases, the location (floor elevation) of the display case and/or storage shelves, art object mass, and the dynamic properties of the display cases/storage shelves. The seismic vulnerability of art objects was evaluated based on the seismic response of the display cases/storage shelves at the level of art object display. The display cases were investigated experimentally using shake table testing. Computer analyses were used to simulate the seismic behaviour of storage shelves, and the seismic sensitivity of the dinosaur structure was determined via free vibration acceleration measurements. The floor contact conditions and floor elevation had a crucial effect on the unrestrained display cases, causing them to slide or rock vigorously. The distribution of content mass had a large impact on the response of the shelving system. As a result of experimental and analytical analyses, recommendations and/or simple mitigation techniques are provided to reduce the seismic vulnerability of objects of art.

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