Seismic rehabilitation of the Saint-Aubin educational center

The project carried out under this project consisted of measuring the degree of vulnerability of the Saint-Aubin polyvalent located in Baie-Saint-Paul, built between 1972 and 1975, to support a major earthquake that could hit the region, taking into account Structural and non-structural elements.

The earthquake study carried out within the framework of this project made it possible to quantify the vulnerability of the building (mostly made of concrete) under study and to propose guiding concepts on the various solutions and / or to identify the additional studies required in order to enhance the Earthquake resistance to an important seismic event. The seismic level envisioned in Baie-Saint-Paul is therefore much higher than that found elsewhere in Quebec. In addition, the presence of liquefiable soils at the Baie-Saint-Paul site represented a major challenge, as the rehabilitation scenarios had to take account of the set-back caused by this situation.

Within the framework of the present mandate, several rehabilitation scenarios have been envisaged for the seismic rehabilitation of the polyvalent. The multi-purpose St-Aubin of Baie-Saint-Paul represents an imposing real estate complex with 20,500m² of floors spread over 3 distinct wings. Conventional rehabilitation solutions with regard to the use of more efficient dynamic devices have been studied in order to choose the scenario representing the best profit / cost ratio.

The use of dynamic "Scorpions" type shock absorbers designed and manufactured by Cast-Connex reduced the scope of structural work by half. Since this is a seismic rehabilitation project only, the rehabilitation of non-structural elements (including mechanical equipment) was the responsibility of the structural engineer. In addition to upgrading work, the project included updating all facades of the building. In addition, the precise evaluation of the differential settlements associated with the liquefaction of the soil made it possible to optimize the interventions in the subsoil.