Earthquake Resistant Structure

Earthquake Resistance Structure
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
A large number of earthquakes are felt all over the globe every year. The small
ones are unnoticed while the large ones are felt over thousands of kilometers.
Earthquakes have damaged and destroyed man’s work since time immemorial.
In this explanation of the nature, causes and effects of it’s terrifying natural
calamity and also emphasize on the possibilities of minimizing its disastrous
consequences.
An earthquake is the vibration, sometimes violent to the earth’s surface that follows a
release of energy in the earth’s crust. This energy can be generated by a sudden
dislocation of segments of the crust, by a volcanic eruption or even by a manmade
explosion. The dislocation of the crust causes most destructive earthquakes. The crust
may first bend and then stresses exceed the strength of rocks, they break. In the process
of breaking, vibrations called seismic waves are generated .These waves travel outward
from the source of earthquake along the surface and through the earth at varying speeds
depending on the material through which they move. These waves can cause disasters on
the earth’s surface.
No structure on the planet can be constructed 100% earthquake proof; only its resistance
to earthquake can be increased. Treatment is required to be given depending on the zone
in which the particular site is located. Earthquake occurred in the recent past have raised
various issues and have forced us to think about the disaster management. It has become
essential to think right from planning stage to completion stage of a structure to avoid
failure or to minimize the loss of property. Not only this, once the earthquake has
occurred and disaster has taken place; how to use the debris to construct economical
houses using this waste material without affecting their structural stability.
The field of Earthquake Engineering has existed in our country for over 35 years now.
Indian earthquake engineers have made significant contributions to the seismic safety of
several important structures in the country. However, as the recent earthquakes have
shown, the performance of normal structures during past Indian earthquakes has been less
satisfactory. This is mainly due to the lack of awareness amongst most practicing
SVPM’s COE Malegaon Bk. Page 1

engineers of the special provisions that need to be followed in earthquakeresistant design

and thereafter in construction.
1.1 DEFINITION
An earthquake is an oscillatory movement produced due to release of strain
energy below or within the crust of earth’s surface. It generates elastic vibrations or
waves, which moves in all directions from the point of origin and cause earthquake.
1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT
Most of the loss of life in past earthquakes has occurred due to the collapse of buildings,
constructed in traditional materials like stone, brick, adobe and wood, which were not
particularly engineered to be earthquake resistant. In view of the continued use of such
buildings in most countries of the world, it is essential to introduce earthquake resistance
features in their construction. Earthquake-resistant or aseismic structures are designed to
protect buildings to some or greater extent from earthquakes. While no structure can be
entirely immune to damage from earthquakes, the goal of earthquake-resistant
construction is to erect structures that fare better during seismic activity than their
conventional counterparts. According to building codes, earthquake-resistant structures
are intended to withstand the largest earthquake of a certain probability that is likely to
occur at their location. This means the loss of life should be minimized by preventing
collapse of the buildings for rare earthquakes while the loss of the functionality should be
limited for more frequent ones.
Currently, there are several design philosophies in earthquake engineering, making use of
experimental results, computer simulations and observations from past earthquakes to
offer the required performance for the seismic threat at the site of interest. These range
from appropriately sizing the structure to be strong and ductile enough to survive the
shaking with an acceptable damage, to equipping it with base isolation or using
structural vibration control technologies to minimize any forces and deformations. While
the former is the method typically applied in most earthquake-resistant structures,
important facilities, landmarks and cultural heritage buildings use the more advanced
(and expensive) techniques of isolation or control to survive strong shaking with minimal
damage.

1.3 0BJECTIVE
 To prevent building collapse during earthquakes.
 To minimize the risk of death or injury to people in or around those buildings.
 To reduce the vague utilization of products by non engineered earthquake

resistant structure.
 Comparison between engineered and non engineered earthquake resistant

structures.
 To make effective use of SIMCON, RHCBM AND MID-LEVEL

ISOLATION in construction.
 To reduce cost in earthquake resistant construction.
1.4 SCOPE
Its overall goal is to make such structures more resistant to earthquakes.

An earthquake (or seismic) engineer aims to construct structures that will not be
damaged in minor shaking and will avoid serious damage or collapse in a
major earthquake.
1.5 ADVANTAGES
 No additional formwork or any special construction machinery is required for

reinforcing the hollow block masonary.
 Only semi-skilled labour is required for this type of construction.
 It is faster and easier construction system, when compared to the other

conventional construction system.
 It is also found to be cost-effective.

1.6 SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONSIDERATION IN SEISMIC SAFETY OF

BUILDINGS
There are a number of socioeconomic constraints such as the following, which do

not permit the adoption of high level of safety in the buildings for the masses:
i) Lack of concern for seismic safety due to frequent occurrence of earthquakes.
ii) Lack of awareness that buildings could be made earthquake resistant at small
additional cost only, hence lack of motivation.
iii) Lack of financial resources for additional inputs for meeting earthquake resistance
requirements in building construction.
iv) Other normal priorities on financial inputs in the daily life of the people.
v) Scarcity of cement, steel as well as timber in the developing countries in general.
vi) Lack of skill in a seismic design and construction techniques and unorganized nature
of the building sector.
Such considerations therefore compel the continued use of seismically suitable

construction practices.
1.7 IMPORTANCE OF SEISMIC RESISTANCE STRUCTURE
Most of the loss of life in past earthquakes has occurred due to the collapse of
earthquakes has occurred due to the collapse of building constructed in traditional
material like stone, brick, earthen, wood and non engineered reinforced concrete, which
were not particularly engineered to be earthquake resistant .In view of continued use of
such buildings in most countries of the world, it is essential to introduce earthquake
resistant features in their construction.

CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
 Raju Sarkar1,2, Karan Narang3 and Sonam Yangdhen studied in comparison

to constructing newer structures, rebuilding damaged property post an earthquake
requires vast financial aid, emotional support as well as technical expertise as it is
more difficult and time-consuming. Sustainable development strategies call for a
proper decision-making time frame. For execution of retrofitting and new
construction of houses during post-earthquake reconstruction phase, available
codal provisions must follow. There are no shortcuts available for relocation
and/or elevation of residences, and upgradation of critical infrastructure. Citizens
should be provided with appropriate waiver in costs as well as their customary
and legitimate requirements must be met. This includes environmental
scrutinisation and appropriate cost benefit analysis
 M.Gopinath , P.Sathishkumar , K.Sakthivelan ,PR.Venkatesan studied in
Earthquakes are one of the natural phenomena resulting in the collapse of
infrastructure or building major damaging earthquakes have shown the
vulnerability of building with soft storey. This paper focuses on the effect of soft
storey. Severe structural damage suffered by several modern buildings during
recent earthquakes illustrates the importance of avoiding sudden changes in lateral
stiffness and durability. In order to improve the earthquake resistance of such RC
building, the use of shear wall and bracing system are introduced in the structure.
This structure considering (G+9) of which ground floor acts as soft storey. In this
paper a model of building has created using STAAD.Pro software, with this
model shear wall and bracings are provided, based on seismic analysis
displacement and storey drift were calculated by using static method.
 C.V.R. Murty, Ravi Sinha, and Sudhir K. Jain studied in the field of
Earthquake Engineering has existed in our country for over 35 years now. Indian
earthquake engineers have made significant contributions to the seismic safety of
several important structures in the country. However, as the recent earthquakes
have shown, the performance of normal structures during past Indian earthquakes
has been less satisfactory. This is mainly due to the lack of awareness amongst

most practising engineers of the special provisions that need to be followed in

earthquakeresistant design and thereafter in construction. A workshop was
conducted at IIT Kanpur to discuss the role of earthquake-resistant construction in
Civil Engineering curriculum. The workshop also discussed the avenues for
dissemination of this knowledge to the students, practising engineers and other
people. In this paper, the main recommendations of the workshop and an action
plan, that can be implemented in the next few years, have been described.
 Kahar Sunoko , Josef Prijotomoa B. V. Totok Noerwasito studied Phenomenon
after the 2006 earthquake in Bantul marked the re-use of building materials in the
construction of residential ruins after the earthquake that done by the victim as the
practice of architecture without architects. This research to get answers about the
reuse of materials (building materials) ruins after the earthquake and ideas. This
research was conducted in naturalistic paradigm with qualitative methods,
provides a method of post-earthquake rebuilding homes that can be done alone by
the occupants by reusing building materials rubble without guidance practitioner
(architect).
CHAPTER 3

BASIC DESIGN CONCEPT
3.1 I.S CODE PROVISION

Importance of Seismic Design Codes
Ground vibrations during earthquakes cause forces and deformations in structures.
Structures need to be designed to withstand such forces and deformations.
Seismic codes help to improve the behaviour of structures so that they may
withstand the earthquake effects without significant loss of life and property.
Countries around the world have procedures outlined in seismic codes to help
design engineers in the planning, designing, detailing and constructing of
structures. An earthquake-resistant
building has four virtues in it, namely:
(a) Good Structural Configuration: Its size, shape and structural system carrying loads
are such that they ensure a direct and smooth flow of inertia forces to the ground.
(b) Lateral Strength: The maximum lateral (horizontal) force that it can resist is such that
the damage induced in it does not result in collapse.
(c) Adequate Stiffness: Its lateral load resisting system is such that the earthquake-induced
deformations in it do not damage its contents under low-to-moderate shaking.
(d) Good Ductility: Its capacity to undergo large deformations under severe earthquake
shaking even after yielding, is improved by favorable design and detailing strategies.
Seismic codes cover all these aspects.
Indian Seismic Codes
Seismic codes are unique to a particular region or country. They take into account the
local seismology, accepted level of seismic risk, building typologies, and materials and
methods used in construction. Further, they are indicative of the level of progress a
country has made in the field of earthquake engineering. The first formal seismic code in
India, namely IS 1893, was published in Detailing of Reinforced Concrete Structures
Subjected 1962. Today Forces, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has the following
seismic codes:

IS 1893 (Part I), 2002, Indian Standard Criteria for Earthquake Resistant Design of
Structures (5th Revision)
IS 4326, 1993, Indian Standard Code of Practice for Earthquake Resistant Design and
Construction of Buildings (2nd Revision)
IS 13827, 1993, Indian Standard Guidelines for Improving Earthquake Resistance of
Earthen Buildings
IS 13828, 1993, Indian Standard Guidelines for Improving
Earthquake Resistance of Low Strength Masonry Buildings
IS 13920, 1993, Indian Standard Code of Practice for Ductile to Seismic
3.2 FAILURE MECHANISMS OF EARTHQUAKE
1. Free Standing Masonry Wall

Consider the freestanding masonry walls shown in Fig. In Fig. a, the ground motion is
acting transverse to a freestanding wall A. The force acting on the mass of the wall tends
to overturn it. The seismic resistance of the wall is by virtue of its weight and tensile
strength of mortar and it is obviously very small. This wall will collapse by overturning
under the ground motion.
The freestanding wall B fixed on the ground in Fig. (b) is subjected to ground motion in
its own plane. In this case, the wall will offer much greater resistance because of its large
depth in the plane of bending. Such a wall is termed a shear wall. The damage modes of
an unreinforced shear wall depend on the length-to-width ratio of the wall. A wall with
small length-to-depth ratio will generally develop a horizontal crack due to bending
tension and then slide due to shearing. A wall with moderate length-to-width ratio and
bounding frame diagonally cracks due to shearing as shown at (c).
A wall with large length-to-width ratio, on the other hand, may develop diagonal tension
cracks at both sides and horizontal cracks at the middle as shown at (d).

Failure mechanism of freestanding walls.
2. Wall Enclosure Without Roof
Now consider the combination of walls A and B as an enclosure shown in Fig.

For the X direction of force as shown, walls B act as shear walls and, besides taking their
own inertia, they offer resistance against the collapse of wall A as well. As a result walls
A now act as vertical slabs supported on two vertical sides and the bottom plinth. The
walls A are subjected to the inertia force on their own mass. Near the vertical edges, the
wall will carry reversible bending moments in the horizontal plane for which the masonry
has little strength. Consequently cracking and separation of the walls may occur along
these edges shown in the figure.
It can be seen that in the action of walls B as shear walls, the walls A will act as
flanges connected to the walls B acting as web. Thus if the connection between walls A
and B is not lost due to their bonding action as plates, the building will tend to act as a
box and its resistance to horizontal loads will be much larger than that of walls B acting
separately. Most non-reinforced masonry enclosures, however, have very weak vertical
joints between walls meeting at right angles due to the construction procedure involving
toothed joint that is generally not properly filled with mortar. Consequently the corners
fail and lead to collapse of the walls. It may also be easily imagined that the longer the

walls in plan, the smaller will be the support to them from the cross walls and the lesser
will be the box effect.
Failure mechanism of wall enclosure without roof.
3. Roof on Two Walls
Roof on two walls.
In Fig. a roof slab is shown to be resting on two parallel walls B and the earthquake
force is acting in the plane of the walls. Assuming that there is enough adhesion between
the slab and the walls, the slab will transfer its inertia force at the top of walls B, causing
shearing and overturning action in them. To be able to transfer its inertia force to the two
end walls, the slab must have enough strength in bending in the horizontal plane. This
action of stab is known as diaphragm action. Reinforced concrete or reinforced brick
slabs have such strength inherently and act as rigid diaphragms. However, other types of

roofs or floors such as timber or reinforced concrete joists with brick tile covering will be
very flexible. The joists will have to be connected together and fixed to the walls suitably
so that they are able to transfer their inertia force to the walls. At the same time, the walls
B must have enough strength as shear walls to withstand the force from the roof and its
own inertia force. Obviously, the structure shown in Fig, when subjected to ground
motion perpendicular to its plane, will collapse very easily because walls B have little
bending resistance in the plane perpendicular to it. In long barrack type buildings without
intermediate walls, the end walls will be too far to offer much support to the long walls
and the situation will be similar to the one just mentioned above.
4 . Roof on Wall Enclosure
Now consider a complete wall enclosure with a roof on the top subjected to
earthquake force acting along X-axis as shown in Fig. If the roof is rigid and acts as a
horizontal diaphragm, its inertia will be distributed to the four walls in proportion to their
stiffness. The inertia of roof will almost entirely go to walls B since the stiffness of the
walls B is much greater than the walls A in X direction. In this case, the roof at the top
will restrain the plate action of wall A and horizontal bending of wall A will be reduced.
On the other hand, if the roof is flexible the roof inertia will go to the wall on which it is
supported and the support provided to plate action of walls A will also be little or zero.
Again the enclosure will act as a box for resisting the lateral loads, this action decreasing
in value as the plan dimensions of the enclosures increase.
5. Roofs and F1oors
Roof on wall enclosure.
The earthquake-induced inertia force can be distributed to the vertical structural

elements in proportion to their stiffness, provided the roofs and floors are rigid to act as
horizontal diaphragms. Otherwise, the roof and floor inertia will only go to the vertical
elements on which they are supported. Therefore, the stiffness and integrity of roofs and
floors are important for earthquake resistance.
The roofs and floors, which are rigid and flat and are bonded or tied to the
masonry, have a positive effect on the wall, such as the slab or slab and beam
construction be directly cast over the walls or jack arch floors or roofs provided with
horizontal ties and laid over the masonry walls through good quality mortar. Others that
simply rest on the masonry walls will offer resistance to relative motion only through
friction, which may or may not be adequate depending on the earthquake intensity. In the
case of a floor consisting of timber joists placed at center to center spacing of 20 to 25cm
with brick tiles placed in directly over the joists and covered with clayey earth, the brick
tiles have no binding effect on the joists. Therefore, relative displacement of the joists is
quite likely to occur during an earthquake, which could easily bring down the tiles,
damaging property and causing injury to people. Similar behaviour may be visualized
with the floor consisting of precast reinforced concrete elements not adequately ties
together. In this case, relative displacement of the supporting walls could bring down the
slabs. slabs. together. In this case, relative displacement of the supporting walls could
bring down the slabs.
6. Shear Wall with Openings
Shear walls are the main lateral earthquake resistant elements in many buildings.
For understanding their action, let us consider a shear wall with three openings shown in
Fig. Obviously, the piers between the openings are more flexible than the portion of wall
below (sill masonry) or above (spandrel masonry) the openings. The deflected form under
horizontal seismic force is also sketched in the figure.
The sections at the level of the top and bottom of opening are found to be the worst
stressed in tension as well as in compression and those near the mid-height of piers carry
the maximum shears. Under reversed direction of horizontal loading the sections carrying
tensile and compressive stresses are also reversed. Thus it is seen that tension occurs in
the jambs of openings and at the corners of the walls.

Deformation of a shear wall with openings.
3.3 ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES AND DESIGN ASPECTS
A desire to create an aesthetic and functionally efficient structure drives architects to

conceive wonderful and imaginative structures. Sometimes the shape of the building
catches the eye of the visitor, sometimes the structural system appeals, and in other
occasions both shape and structural system work together to make the structure a marvel.
However, each of these choices of shapes and structure has significant bearing on the
performance of the building during strong earthquakes. The wide range of structural
damages observed during past earthquakes across the world is very educative in
identifying structural configurations that are desirable versus those which must be
avoided.
Size of Buildings: In tall buildings with large height-to-base size ratio (Figure 1a), the
horizontal movement of the floors during ground shaking is large. In short but very long

buildings (Figure 1b), the damaging effects during earthquake shaking are many. And, in
buildings with large plan area like warehouses (Figure 1c), the horizontal seismic forces
can be excessive to be carried by columns and walls.
Horizontal Layout of Buildings: In general, buildings with simple geometry in plan

(Figure 2a) have performed well during strong earthquakes. Buildings with re-entrant
corners, like those U, V, H and + shaped in plan (Figure 2b), have sustained significant
damage. Many times, the bad effects of these interior corners in the avoided by making
the buildings in two parts. For rectangular plan shapes using a separation joint at the
junction (Figure 2c). Often, the plan is simple, but the columns/walls are not equally
Buildings with such features tend to twist during earthquake, shaking.
Vertical Layout of Buildings: The earthquake forces developed at different floor levels
in a building need to be brought down along the height to the ground by the shortest path;

any deviation or discontinuity in this load transfer path results in poor performance of the
building. Buildings with vertical setbacks (like the hotel buildings with a few story’s
wider than the rest) cause a sudden jump in earthquake forces at the level of discontinuity
Buildings that have fewer columns or walls in a particular story or with

unusually tall storey (Figure 3b), tend to damage or collapse, which is, initiated that
storey. Many buildings with an open ground storey intended for parking collapsed or
were severely damaged in Gujarat during the 2001 Bhuj earthquake. Buildings on sloppy
ground have unequal height columns along the slope, which causes ill effects like
twisting and damage in shorter columns (Figure 3c). Buildings with columns that hang or
float on beams at an intermediate storey and do not go all the way to the foundation have
discontinuities in the load transfer path (Figure 3d). Some buildings have reinforced
concrete walls to carry the earthquake loads to the foundation. Buildings, in which these
walls do not go all the way to the ground but stop at an upper level, are liable to get
severely damaged during earthquakes.

CHAPTER 4
BRICK MASONRY BUILDING
As most of the houses employ brick as one of the cheapest and viable
construction material, it needs to be modified construction technique and made
adaptable to various forces of nature and hence reduce the harmful after effects of an
earthquake.
4.1 Typical Damage and Failure of Masonry Buildings

The creation of tensile and shearing stresses in walls of masonry buildings is
the primary cause of different types of damage suffered by such buildings. The
typical damages and modes of failure are briefly described below:
4.1.1 Non -Structural Damage

The non-structural damage is that due to which the strength and stability of the
building is not affected. Such damage occurs very frequently even under moderate
intensifies of earthquakes:
- Cracking and overturning of masonry parapets, roof chimney, large cantilever
cornices and balconies.
- Falling of plaster from walls and ceiling particularly where it was loose.
- Cracking and overturning of partition walls, filler walls and cladding walls from
inside of frames. (Though not usually accounted for in calculations, this type of
damage reduced the lateral strength of the building.
- Cracking and failing of ceilings.
- Cracking of glass panes.
- Failing of loosely placed objects, overturning of cupboards, etc.
4.1.2 Damage and Failure of Bearing Walls

i) Failure due to racking shear is characterized by diagonal cracks, which could be due to
diagonal compression or diagonal tension. Such failure may be either through the
pattern of joints or diagonally through masonry units, these cracks usually initiate at

the corner of openings and sometimes at center of wall segment. This kind of failure
can cause partial or complete collapse of the structure (fig.).
ii) A wall can fail as a bending member loaded by seismic inertia forces on the mass of
the wall itself in a direction, transverse to the plane of the wall. Tension cracks occur
vertically at the center, ends or corners of the walls. Longer the wall and longer the
openings, more prominent is the damage (Fig.). Since earthquake effects occur along
both axes of a building simultaneously, bending and shearing effects occur often
together and the two modes of failures are often combined. Failure in the piers occurs
due to combined action of flexure and shear. Unreinforced gable end masonry walls
are very unstable and the strutting action of purlins imposes additional force to cause
their failure. Horizontal bending tension cracks are caused in the gables.
Cracking in bearing wall building due to bending and shear
iii) The deep beam between two openings one above the other is a weak point of the wall
under lateral in-plane forces. Cracking in this zone occurs before diagonal cracking of
piers (Fig). In order to prevent it and to enable the full distribution of shear among all
piers, either a rigid slab or RC band must exist between them.

Cracking of spandrel wall between opening
iv) Walls can be damaged due to the seismic force of the roof, which can cause the
formation of tension cracks and separation of supporting walls (Fig). This mode of
failure is the characteristic of massive flat roofs (or floors) supported by joists, which
in turn are supported by bearing walls, but without proper connection with them. Also
if the connection with foundation is not adequate, walls crack there and slide. This
may cause failure of plumbing pipes too.
v) Failure due to Torsion and Warping: The damage in unsymmetrical building occurs
due to torsion and warping in an earthquake. This mode of failure causes excessive
cracking due to shear in all walls. Larger damage occurs near the corner of the
building.
Fall of roof because of inadequate connection between roof and wall
vi) Arches across openings in walls are often badly cracked since the tend to lose their
end thrust under in plane shaking of walls.

vii) Under severe prolonged intense ground motions, the following happens:
- The cracks become wider and the masonry units become loose
- Partial collapse and gaps in walls occur due to falling of loose masonry
units, particularly at location of piers.
- Falling of spandrel masonry due to collapse of piers.
- Falling of gable masonry due to out of plane cantilever action.
- Walls get separated at corners and intermediate T-junctions and f all
outwards.
- Roof collapse, either partial or full
- Certain types of roofs may slide off the top of walls and the roof beams fall
down
- Masonry arches across wall openings as well as those used for roof collapse
completely.
4.1.3 Failure of Ground

i) Inadequate depth of foundation: Shallow foundations deteriorate as a result of
weathering and consequently become weak for earthquake resistance.
ii) Differential settlement of foundation: During severe ground shaking, liquefaction of
loose water-saturated sands and differential cornpaction of weak loose soi1s occur
which lead to excessive cracking and tilting of buildings which may even collapse
completely.
iii) Sliding of slopes: Earthquakes cause sliding failures in man-made as well as natural
hill slopes and any building resting on such a slope have a danger of complete
disastrous disintegration.
4.1.4 Failure of Roofs and Floors

i) Dislodging of roofing material: Improperly tied roofing material is dislodged due
to inertia forces acting on the roof. This mode of failure is typical of sloping
roofs, particularly when slates, clay tiles etc. are used as roofing material.
Brittle material like asbestos cement may be broken if the trusses and sheeting purlins
are not properly braced together.

ii) Weak roof to support connection is the cause of separation of roof truss from supports,
although complete roof collapse mostly occurs due to collapse of supporting
structure. The rupture of bottom chord of roof truss may cause a complete collapse of
truss as well as that of walls (Fig).
Failure due to rupture of bottom chord of roof truss

iii) Heavy roofs as used in rural areas with large thickness of earth over round timbers
cause large inertia forces on top of walls and may lead to complete collapse in
severe earthquake shocks.
iv) Lean-to roofs easily cause instability in the lower supporting walls or piers and
collapse easily due to lack of ties.
4.1.5 Causes of Damage in Masonry Buildings

The following are the main weaknesses in the materials and unreinforced masonry
constructions and other reasons for the extensive damage of such buildings:
- Heavy weight and very stiff buildings, attracting large seismic inertia forces.
- Very low tensile strength, particularly with poor mortars.
- Low shear strength, particularly with poor mortars.
- Brittle behaviour in tension as well as compression.
- Weak connection between wall and wall.
- Weak connection between roof and wall.
- Stress concentration at corners of windows and doors.
- Overall asymmetry in plan and elevation of building.

- Asymmetry due to imbalance in the sizes and positions of openings in the walls.
- Defects in construction such as use of substandard materials, unfilled joints
between bricks, not-plumb walls, improper bonding between walls at right angles
etc.
4.2 General Construction Aspects
4.2.1 Choice and Quality of Building Materials

Earthquake performance of a masonry wall is very sensitive to the properties
of its constituents, namely masonry units and mortar. The properties of these materials
vary across India due to variation in raw materials and construction methods. A variety of
masonry units are used in the country, e.g., clay bricks (burnt and unburnt), concrete
blocks (solid and hollow), stone blocks. Burnt clay bricks are most commonly used.
These bricks are inherently porous, and so they absorb water. Excessive porosity is
detrimental to good masonry behaviour because the bricks suck away water from the
adjoining mortar, which results in poor bond between brick and mortar, and in difficulty
in positioning masonry units. For this reason, bricks with low porosity are to be used, and
they must be soaked in water before use to minimize the amount of water drawn away
from the mortar. Various mortars are used, e.g., mud, cement-sand, or cement-sand-lime.
Of these, mud mortar is the weakest; it crushes easily when dry, flows outward and has
very low earthquake resistance. Cement-sand mortar with lime is the most suitable. This
mortar mix provides excellent workability for laying bricks, stretches without crumbling
at low earthquake shaking, and bonds well with bricks. The earthquake response of
masonry walls depends on the relative strengths of brick and mortar. Bricks must be
stronger than mortar. Excessive thickness of mortar is not desirable. A 10mm thick mortar
layer is generally satisfactory from practical and aesthetic considerations. Indian
Standards prescribe the preferred types and grades of bricks and mortars to be used in
buildings in each seismic zone.
4.2.2 Wall Enclosure
Masonry walls are slender because of their small thickness compared to their
height and length. A simple way of making these walls behave well during earthquake

shaking is by making them act together as a box along with the roof at the top and with
the foundation at the bottom. A number of constructional aspects are required to ensure
this box action. Firstly connections between the walls should be good. This can be
achieved by (a) ensuring good interlocking of the masonry courses at the junctions, and
(b) employing horizontal bands at various levels, particularly at the lintel level.
Secondly, the sizes of door and window openings need to be kept small. The smaller the
openings, the larger is the resistance offered by the wall. Thirdly, the tendency of a wall
to topple when pushed in the weak direction can be reduced by limiting its length-to-
thickness and height- to-thickness ratios (Figure). Design codes specify limits for these
ratios. A wall that is too tall or too long in comparison to its thickness, is particularly
vulnerable to shaking in its weak direction (Figure).
4.2.3 Influence of openings
Openings are functional necessities in buildings. However, location and size of
openings in walls assume significance in deciding the performance of masonry buildings
in earthquakes. To understand this, consider a four-wall system of a single storey
masonry building (Figure). During earthquake shaking, inertiaforces act in the strong
direction of some walls and in the weak direction of others. Walls shaken in the weak
direction seek support from the other walls, i.e., walls B1 and B2 seek support from walls
A1 and A2 for shaking in the direction shown in Figure To be more specific, wall B1

pulls walls A1 and A2, while wall B2 pushes against them. At the next instance, the
direction of shaking could change to the horizontal direction perpendicular to that shown
in Figure. Then, walls A and B change the roles; Walls B1 and B2 become the strong ones
and A1 and A2 weak. Thus, walls transfer loads to each other at their junctions (and
through the lintel bands and roof). Hence, the masonry courses from the walls meeting at
corners must have good interlocking. For this reason, openings near the wall corners are
detrimental to good seismic performance.
Openings too close to wall corners hamper the flow of forces from one wall to
another (Figure). Further, large openings weaken walls from carrying the inertia forces in
their own plane. Thus, it is best to keep all openings as small as possible and as far away
from the corners as possible.

4.2.4 Detailing of staircase

Indian Standards suggest a number
of earthquake resistant measures to develop good box-type action in masonry buildings
and improve their seismic performance. For instance, it is suggested that building having
horizontal projections when seen from the top, e.g., like a building with plan shapes L, T,
E and Y, be separated into (almost) simple rectangular blocks in plan, each of which has
simple and good earthquake behaviour. During earthquakes, separated blocks can
oscillate independently and even hammer each other if they are too close. Thus, adequate
gap is necessary between these different blocks of the building. The Indian Standards
suggest minimum seismic separations between blocks of buildings. However, it may not
be necessary to provide such separations between blocks, if horizontal projections in
buildings are small, say up to ~15-20% of the length of building in that direction.
Inclined staircase slabs in masonry buildings offer another concern. An integrally
connected staircase slab acts like a cross-brace between floors and transfers large
horizontal forces at the roof and lower levels (Figure). These are areas of potential
damage in masonry buildings, if not accounted for in staircase design and construction.
To overcome this, sometimes, staircases are completely separated (Figure) and built on a

separate reinforced concrete structure. Adequate gap is provided between the staircase
tower and the masonry building to ensure that they do not pound each other during strong
earthquake shaking.
4.2.5 Dowels at corners and junctions
Masonry buildings are brittle structures and one of the most vulnerable of the entire
building stock under strong earthquake shaking. The large number of human fatalities in
such constructions during the past earthquakes in India corroborates this. Thus, it is very
important to improve the seismic behaviour of masonry buildings. A number of
earthquake-resistant features can be introduced to achieve this objective.
Ground vibrations during earthquakes cause inertia forces at locations of mass in
the building. These forces travel through the roof and walls to the foundation. The main
emphasis is on ensuring that these forces reach the ground without causing major damage
or collapse. Of the three components of a masonry building (roof, wall and foundation),
the walls are most vulnerable to damage caused by horizontal forces due to earthquake. A
wall topples down easily if pushed horizontally at the top in a direction perpendicular to
its plane (termed weak direction), but offers much greater resistance if pushed along its
length (termed strong direction). The ground shakes simultaneously in the vertical and
two horizontal directions during earthquakes. However, the horizontal vibrations are the
most damaging to normal masonry buildings. Horizontal inertia force developed at the
roof transfers to the walls acting either in the weak or in the strong direction. If all the
walls are not tied together like a box, the walls loaded in their weak direction tend to
topple to ensure good seismic performance; all walls must be joined properly to the
adjacent walls. In this way, walls loaded in their weak direction can take advantage of the
good lateral resistance offered by walls loaded in their strong direction (Figure). Further,
walls also need to be tied to the roof and foundation to preserve their overall integrity.

4.2.6 Horizontal Reinforcement in Walls

Horizontal reinforcing of walls is required for imparting to them horizontal
bending strength against plate action for out of plane inertia load and for tying the
perpendicular wall together. In the partition walls, horizontal reinforcement helps
preventing Shrinkage and temperature cracks. The following reinforcing
arrangements are necessary.
Role of Horizontal Bands
Horizontal bands are the most important earthquake-resistant feature in masonry
buildings. The bands are provided to hold a masonry building as a single unit by tying all
the walls together, and are similar to a closed belt provided around cardboard boxes

There are four types of bands in a typical masonry building, namely gable band,
roof band, lintel band and plinth band (Figure), named after their location in the building.
The lintel band is the most important of all, and needs to be provided in almost all
buildings. The gable band is employed only in buildings with pitched or sloped roofs. In
buildings with flat reinforced concrete or reinforced brick roofs, the roof band is not
required, because the roof slab also plays the role of a band. However, in buildings with
flat timber or CGI sheet roof, roof band needs to be provided. In buildings with pitched or
sloped roof, the roof band is very important. Plinth bands are primarily used when there
is concern about uneven settlement of foundation soil. The lintel band ties the walls
together and creates a support for walls loaded along weak direction from walls loaded in
strong direction. This band also reduces the unsupported height of the walls and thereby
improves their stability in the weak direction. During the 1993 Latur earthquake (Central
India), the intensity of shaking in Killari village was IX on MSK scale. Most masonry
houses sustained partial or complete collapse (Figure). On the other hand, there was one
masonry building in the village, which had a lintel band and it sustained the shaking very
well with hardly any damage (Figure).

Design of Lintel Bands
During earthquake shaking, the lintel band undergoes bending and pulling actions
(Figure). To resist these actions, the construction of lintel band requires special attention.
Bands can be made of wood (including bamboo splits) or of reinforced concrete (RC)
(Figure); the RC bands are the best. The straight lengths of the band must be properly
connected at the wall corners. This will allow the band to support walls loaded in their

weak direction by walls loaded in their strong direction. Small lengths of wood spacers
(in wooden bands) or steel links (in RC bands) are used to make the straight lengths of
wood runners or steel bars act together. In wooden bands, proper nailing of straight
lengths with spacers is important. Likewise, in RC bands, adequate anchoring of steel
links with steel bars is necessary.
4.2.7 Vertical Reinforcement
Embedding vertical reinforcement bars in the edges of the wall piers and anchoring
them in the foundation at the bottom and in the roof band at the top (Figure), forces the
slender masonry piers to undergo bending instead of rocking. In wider wall piers, the
vertical bars enhance their capability to resist horizontal earthquake forces and delay the
X-cracking. Adequate cross-sectional area of these vertical bars prevents the bar from
yielding in tension. Further, the vertical bars also help protect the wall from sliding as
well as from collapsing in the weak direction.

CHAPTER 5
STONE BUILDINGS
Stone has been used in building construction in India since ancient times since it
is durable and locally available. There are huge numbers of stone buildings in the
country, ranging from rural houses to royal palaces and temples.
5.1 Typical Damage and Failure of Stone Buildings
Random rubble and half -dressed stone buildings (see Fig.) have suffered
extensive damage and complete collapse during past earthquakes having intensified of
MSK VII and more.
The following are the main ways in which such buildings are seen to be damaged:
- Separation of walls at corners and T-junctions takes place even more easily than in
brick buildings due to poorer connection between the walls.
- De-lamination and bulging of walls, that is, vertical separation of internal wythe
and external wythe through the middle of wall thickness (see Fig). This occurs due
mainly to the absence of "through" or bond stones and weak mortar filling between
the wythes. In half-dressed stone masonry, the surface stones are pyramidal in shape

having more or less an edge contact one over the other, thus the stones have an
unstable equilibrium and easily disturbed under shaking condition.
- Crumbling and collapsing of bulged wythes after delamination under heavy weight
of roofs/ floors, leading to collapse of roof along with walls or causing large gaps in
walls.
- Outward overturning of stone walls after separation at corners due to inertia of
roofs and floors and their own inertia when the roofs were incapable of acting as
horizontal diaphragms. This particularly happened when the roof consisted of round
poles, reed matting and clay covering.
Frequently, such stone houses, under MSK VII or higher intensifies, are
completely shattered and razed to the ground, the walls reduced to only heaps of rubble.
People get buried and more often killed. Thus such buildings, without the seismic
improvements as suggested here below, can be considered as dangerous particularly in
seismic zones defined by Zones A and B
(a) Ensure proper wall construction- The wall thickness should not exceed 450mm.
Round stone boulders should not be used in the construction! Instead, the stones should
be shaped using chisels and hammers. Use of mud mortar should be avoided in higher
seismic zones. Instead, cement-sand mortar should be 1:6 (or richer) and lime-sand
mortar 1:3 (or richer) should be used.

(b) Ensure proper bond in masonry courses: The masonry walls should be built in
construction lifts not exceeding 600mm. Through-stones (each extending over full
thickness of wall) or a pair of overlapping bond-stones (each extending over at least ¾ths
thickness of wall) must be used at every 600mm along the height and at a maximum
spacing of 1.2m along the length (Figure).
(c) Provide horizontal reinforcing elements: The stone masonry dwellings must have
horizontal bands. These bands can be constructed out of wood or reinforced concrete, and
chosen based on economy. It is important to provide at least one band (either lintel band
or roof band) in stone masonry construction (Figure).
(d) Control on overall dimensions and heights: The unsupported length of walls between
cross-walls should be limited to 5m; for longer walls, cross supports raised from the
ground level called buttresses should be provided at spacing not more than 4m. The
height of each storey should not exceed 3.0m. The wall should have a thickness of at least
one-sixth its height. Although, this type of stone masonry construction practice is
deficient with regards to earthquake resistance, its extensive use is likely to continue due
to tradition and low cost. But, to protect human lives and property in future earthquakes,
it is necessary to follow proper stone masonry construction.


CHAPTER 6
NON-ENGINEERED REINFORCED CONCRETE BUILDING
With the spread of reinforced concrete construction to semi-urban and rural area in
various countries, often buildings are constructed using reinforced concrete columns and
beams, without proper engineering design, based on the experience of local masons and
petty contractors. The serious deficiency is in concrete quality in respect of mixing,
compacting and curing. The aim of this chapter is to provide working guidelines for such
low-rise, (up to three storeys) small buildings in R.C. frame constructions in which
columns are supposed to resist vertical as well as horizontal seismic loads.
6.1 Typical Damage and Collapse of RC Buildings
The following types of damage are quite common in reinforced concrete buildings:
a. Sliding of Roofs off Supports
Where the beams simply rest on walls or columns, they are bound to slide, when
the earthquake intensity exceeds the f Fictional resistance and many times leave the
support and f all down, particularly if the bearing length is small.
b. Falling of Infill Walls
The infill panel walls in between reinforced concrete columns overturn outside the
framework if not held tight or connected with the frames.
c. Short Column Effect

When infill walls with wide openings are attached to the columns, the portions of the
columns that will deform under lateral seismic loads become very short as compared
to their normal height. Such short columns become much stiffer than other columns
and attract much larger shear forces under which they get severe diagonal tension
which may lead to failure of the column, see Fig.
d. Diagonal Cracking in Columns

Columns are subjected to diagonal cracking due to large seismic shears caused
under, severe ground shaking. If twisting of the ' building also occurs, the cracks may
take spiral form reducing the load capacity of the columns severely.
e. Diagonal Cracking of Column-Beam Joint
Many times diagonal cracking occurs through the junction of the column with the
beam, which seriously impairs the strength of the frame.
f. Pulling out of Reinforcing Bars Where the anchor length of column bars or
overlaps between the longitudinal bars are not adequate for developing full tensile

strength of the bar, they are often pulled out due to tensions caused in the column under
severe reversal of stresses.
g. Collapse of Gable Frames
Reinforced concrete gable frames, often used for school workshops, gymnasia and
assembly halls, or cinema halls, have a tendency of spreading out with no secondary
resistance available once a joint fails. These are often found to fail and collapse,
unless very carefully designed and detailed.
h. Foundation Sinking and Tilting
Sinking or tilting of foundations of columns due to seismic shaking occurs in
loose soft soils and can lead to severe cracking of the superstructure and even
collapse.
In reinforced concrete work, the most important requirement for good behavior is
good quality of concrete, which is not usually achieved in non-engineered construction.
Here simple guidelines are given for making concrete of adequate strength.
a. Measuring Material In non-engineered reinforced concrete constructions, the

proportions of concrete mix are usually kept 1:2:4 by volume of cement: sand: aggregate.
The aggregate may be in the form of river shingle, or crushed stone, of maximum 2Omm
size. A 50kg cement sack has a nominal volume of 0.0317m3. It will be best to make the
concrete mixture using whole bags of cement. For measuring sand and aggregate, a
wooden box with handles having a volume equal to one sack of cement will be most
accurate as well as convenient to use. The measurements of such a box are shown in Fig.
Such box can also be made of steel sheets.

Measuring Box
b. Mixing Materials: - Where mixing is done manually without using a power driven
mixer, it should be done on an impervious platform, say, using iron sheets or cemented
floor. For making a mix of 1:2:4, four boxes of aggregates should first be measured and
flattened on the platform, then two boxes of sand should be spread on the aggregate and
finally one full sack of cement opened on top. The material should first be mixed
thoroughly in dry state so as to obtain uniform colour and then water is added. The
quantity of water should be enough to make a soft ball of the mixed concrete in hand. A
little wetter mix is better for hand compaction and drier mix where vibrator is used for
compaction.
c. Formwork: - The quality of not only the concrete surface but also the strength of
concrete depends on the surface of the formwork and its imperviousness to the leakage or
oozing out of the water and cement through the joints. Wooden formwork with well-
formed surface and joints between planks should be used. Use of water resistant plywood
for the skin of the formwork will give very good surface of the concrete.
d. Casting and Compacting Concrete: -The concrete should normally be cast in one
continuous operation so as to avoid discontinuity of more than one hour. Mixed concrete
should not be allowed to stay on the platform by more than 45 minutes and must be
placed in the forms and compacted continually. Hand compaction must be done by
rodding through the freshly placed concrete. Simply leveling the surface with trowels will
leave voids in the mass. It may be mentioned that lack of compaction results in large
reduction in concrete strength, hence utmost attention should be given to this factor. For
rodding, good results will be obtained by using 16mm diameter rods about 50cm long.
e. Curing of Concrete: - Concrete work requires water-curing for a minimum of 14 days

so as to gain its strength, otherwise the gain of strength is low and concrete becomes
brittle. Concrete slabs may be kept under water by ponding of water over it by making
earthen barriers around the edges. Columns should be Kept covered with wet empty
gunny bags. Keeping the side forms intact on the bean webs will prevent the evaporation

of water from the concrete and help in curing. Covering any concrete surface with
polyethylene sheets after wetting the surface will help retain the moisture.
f. Construction Joints: -Where a joint is to be made, the surface of the concrete shall be
thoroughly cleaned and all laitance removed. The surface shall be thoroughly wetted, and
covered with a coat of neat cement slurry immediately before placing of new concrete.
Construction joints in floors shall be located near the middle of the spans of slabs, beams
or girders, unless a beam intersects a girder at this point, in which case the joints in
the girders shall be offset a distance equal to twice the width of the beam. Provision of
Keys should be made for transfer of shear through the construction joint.
6.3 Solution for short column

In new buildings, short column effect should be avoided to the
extent possible during architectural design stage itself. When it is not possible to avoid
short columns, this effect must be addressed in structural design. The Indian Standard IS:
13920-1993 for ductile detailing of RC structures requires special confining
reinforcement to be provided over the full height of columns that are likely to sustain
short column effect. The special confining reinforcement (i.e., closely spaced closed ties)
must extend beyond the short column into vertically above and below by a certain
distance as shown in Figure. In existing buildings with short columns, different retrofit
solutions can be employed to avoid damage in future earthquakes. Where walls of partial
height represent, the simplest solution is to close the openings by building a wall of full
height – this will eliminate the short column effect. If that is not possible, short columns
need to be strengthened using one of the well-established retrofit techniques. The retrofit
solution should be designed by a qualified structural engineer with requisite back
ground the columns

CONCLUSION
1. There is a need for search of a more reliable parameter to define damage

potentials.
2. Best use of design application for earthquake resistant building should be done.
3. One of the most effective ways of earthquake disasters mitigation is to

improve existing methods of the earthquake resistance design; to develop new and
better methods of design, construction and maintenance of existing building.
4. Engineering design aims to link economic, social, and environmental and of course
safety factors to produce the best solution.
5. This use of earthquake design should be effectively used in earthquake prone

countries to saving human as well as wildlife.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
WEBSITES: -
1. www.nicee.org
2. www.google.com
3. www.shockandvibration.com
BOOKS: -
1. Guidelines for Earthquake resistant non-engineered construction.

2. Earthquake Spectra
3. Civil engineering & Construction - October 2003
4. Tenth symposium on earthquake engineering - November 16-18, 1994 (volume –II)
STUDY CENTER OF EARTHQUAKE RESISTANCE STRUCTURE: -
1. National information center of earthquake engineering. I.I.T ,Kippur. (NICEE)

2. International association for earthquake engineering. Tokyo, Japan. (IAEE)

3. Earthquake engineering research institute. California, USA. (EERI)

Earthquake Resistant Structure

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Earthquake Resistance Structure

SVPM’s COE Malegaon Bk. Page 1

engineers of the special provisions that need to be followed in earthquakeresistant design

1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT

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 To prevent building collapse during earthquakes.

 To minimize the risk of death or injury to people in or around those buildings.

 To reduce the vague utilization of products by non engineered earthquake

 Comparison between engineered and non engineered earthquake resistant

 To make effective use of SIMCON, RHCBM AND MID-LEVEL

 To reduce cost in earthquake resistant construction.

Its overall goal is to make such structures more resistant to earthquakes.

 No additional formwork or any special construction machinery is required for

 Only semi-skilled labour is required for this type of construction.

 It is faster and easier construction system, when compared to the other

 It is also found to be cost-effective.

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1.6 SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONSIDERATION IN SEISMIC SAFETY OF

There are a number of socioeconomic constraints such as the following, which do

Such considerations therefore compel the continued use of seismically suitable

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 Raju Sarkar1,2, Karan Narang3 and Sonam Yangdhen studied in comparison

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most practising engineers of the special provisions that need to be followed in

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BASIC DESIGN CONCEPT

3.1 I.S CODE PROVISION

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3.2 FAILURE MECHANISMS OF EARTHQUAKE

1. Free Standing Masonry Wall

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Failure mechanism of freestanding walls.

2. Wall Enclosure Without Roof

Now consider the combination of walls A and B as an enclosure shown in Fig.

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Failure mechanism of wall enclosure without roof.

3. Roof on Two Walls

Roof on two walls.

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Roof on wall enclosure.

The earthquake-induced inertia force can be distributed to the vertical structural

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Deformation of a shear wall with openings.

3.3 ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES AND DESIGN ASPECTS

A desire to create an aesthetic and functionally efficient structure drives architects to

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Horizontal Layout of Buildings: In general, buildings with simple geometry in plan

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Buildings that have fewer columns or walls in a particular story or with

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4.1 Typical Damage and Failure of Masonry Buildings

4.1.1 Non -Structural Damage

4.1.2 Damage and Failure of Bearing Walls

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Cracking in bearing wall building due to bending and shear

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Cracking of spandrel wall between opening

Fall of roof because of inadequate connection between roof and wall

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4.1.3 Failure of Ground

4.1.4 Failure of Roofs and Floors

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Failure due to rupture of bottom chord of roof truss