ISET Golden Jubilee Symposium, October 20-21, 2012

BEHAVIOUR OF BUILDING, BRIDGES, DAMS AND PORTS DURING BHUJ

EARTHQUAKE OF JANUARY 26, 2001

Pankaj Agarwal, S.K. Thakkar and R.N. Dubey

Summary

A massive earthquake of magnitude (ML = 6.9 on Richter scale, mb =7.0, MS = 7.6 and MW = 7.7) occurred near
Bhachau, Gujrarat on the morning of 51st Republic day of India (January 26, 2001, Friday) at 08:46:42.9 hours
(IST). A number of infrastructures facilities such as building, bridges, dams and ports were damaged. A summary
of damages and lesson learnt that occurred due to this earthquake are reported here.

DAMAGE IN REINFORCED CONCRETE BUILDINGS

Reinforced concrete buildings have been damaged on a very large scale in Bhuj earthquake of January 26, 2001. The
principal causes of damage to buildings are due to presence of soft storeys, floating columns, mass irregularities, poor
quality of material and faulty construction practices, inconsistent seismic performance, soil and foundation effect,
pounding of adjacent structures and inadequate ductile detailing in structural components were features of damages.
Figure 1 shows some of the examples of failure in RC buildings.
 
 

(a) Soft storey failures in Apollo Apartment at (b) Nilima Park Apartment, Ahmedabad, large
Ahmedabad, ground floor was completely scale damage in the upper floors due to floating
collapsed columns construction
 

(c) Collapse of half portion of A-block of Mansi (d) Anand building, Bhuj, damage resulting from
Complex, Ahmedabad due to presence of a pounding
massive swimming pool on roof

Figure 1: Typical example of failure in Multi-storied RC building in Bhuj earthquake, 2001

EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE TO BRIDGES
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The bridges both on the highway and railway have suffered damages due to Bhuj earthquake. Old Surajbari bridge
more than 30 year old, 2 lane highway bridge near Bhuj that sustained significant damage. A New Surajbari two lane
highway bridge close to the existing bridge was under construction also suffered damage to its elastomeric bearings
and upstands. The Machhu bridge consisting of three spans of 27.6 m also suffered damage. It is a balanced cantilever
bridge resting on low height piers. The approach to the bridge has developed cracks. The seven span Railway bridge at
Bhachau sustained minor damage. It was a steel girder bridge having simply supported spans resting on about 4m high
RC piers. The damage to bridge piers and its approaches were repaired and bridge was being used after the earthquake.
Road bridge at Bhachau, is a multi-span simply supported bridge on low height piers under construction. The bridge
pier cap got cracked with wide separation from the bearing blocks and tilting of pier in the end span. The damage also
occurred to abutment and approaches. Figure 2 shows some typical example of damages in bridges in Bhuj earthquake,
2001

(a) Old Surajbari bridge (damage to bearings, (b) Railway bridge near Bhachau, minor
approaches, pounding of superstructure) damage to bridge piers and approaches

(c) Multi-span Road bridge on low height (d) Multi-span Road bridge on low height
pier near Bhachau, bridge under pier near Bhachau under construction
construction (cracking of piers, separation (severe damage to approach)
from bearing blocks)

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(e) Rudramata bridge is functional without any (f) Rudramata bridge, Bhuj (cracking of road
repair and settlement of approach road)

Figure 2: Typical example of damages in highway and railway bridges in Bhuj earthquake, 2001

EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE TO DAMS

There is an evidence of extensive damage to medium and minor irrigation schemes in Kachchh and Saurashtra regions
of Gujarat. There are 20 medium and 165 minor irrigation schemes in the kachchh district. Out of these 5 medium and
14 minor irrigation schemes are severely damaged and 11 medium and 125 minor irrigation schemes are moderate to
heavily damaged. In Saurashtra region, there are 2 major, 11 medium and 287 minor irrigation dams. Out of these
reportedly 9 medium dams are severely damaged and 31 are moderate to heavily damaged. Majority of damages are in
the form of cracking of earthen dams. The width of cracks vary from few cm to 50/60cm. Similarly the depth of these
cracks varies upto 8m or more. Earth dams such as Rudramata, Kasawati, Fatehgarh, Suvi, Tappar, Kaila, Chery and
Shivalakha are damaged severely. The damage to the earth dams includes longitudinal and transverse cracks,
settlement and displacements. Figure 3 shows some typical example of damages in earthen dams in Bhuj earthquake,
2001 
 

(a) Rudramata Irrigation Scheme: River Khari, (b) Head regulator badly damaged, Rudramata
village - Nokharia Irrigation Scheme
 

 
(c ) A wide crack (4 to 5 inches) on crest of (d) Head regulator damaged, Kayala dam
Kayala dam along the length

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(e) U/s slope failure- cracks along the length of (f) Head regulator and u/s slope failure of Nirona
Niaona dam dam

Figure 3: Typical example of damages in Earthan dams in Bhuj earthquake, 2001

 
EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE TO KANDLA PORT
The Kandla Port is located approximately 40 km to the South of epicenter of earthquake. The R.C. Jetties, Wharf
structures, Ware Houses, Oil tankers, Navigation tower, Administrative building suffered damage in the earthquake.
The cracking of filled ground is observed at many places. There is wide spread liquefaction in the area. The ground in
the area suffered damage in the form of wide spread cracking and settlement. The older jetties supported on 0.5 m
diameter piles are damaged at same places. The new jetties supported on 1.0 m diameter piles performed well. The
navigation tower, 22 m high six storeyed R.C. frame navigation tower got tilted. The building is supported on pile
foundations. The tilting of tower is possibly due to lateral ground deformation and liquefaction of soil. The
administrative building adjoining the navigation tower had a soft storey failure. Many of the R C Piles of 50 year old
jetty are found to be cracked 30 cm below the pile caps. Lateral spreading of the soil led to the lateral translation of
piles. Both flexural and shear cracking were observed in piles.

(a) Tilting of navigation tower towards (b) Soft-storey failure to administrative

water fronts buildings of Kandala Port

Figure 4: Typical example of damages in Kandala Port in Bhuj earthquake, 2001

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LESSONS LEARNT FROM DAMAGES

The occurrence of Bhuj earthquake, 2001 has caused significant damage to infrastructures facilities. The lessons learnt
from damages are presented below:
i. The multi-storeyed reinforced concrete buildings with vertical irregularities like soft storey construction and
buildings with mass irregularities such as massive swimming pool on the roof of the building and building with
floating columns should be designed on the basis of dynamic analysis and inelastic design. The ductility
provisions are most important in such situations.
ii. The types of damage that occurred in bridges are categorised as follows: damage to bearings and stoppers,
pounding action of adjoining spans, cracking and tilting of piers, damage to abutments and retaining walls,
damage to bridge railing and parapets, cracks in approach road, cracking on road near expansion joints,
cracking of river bed and liquefaction of soil. The damage to the earth dams mainly due to longitudinal and
transverse cracks, settlement and displacements.

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