5/14/13 SOURCES OF EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE

Contribute Your Articles

Building Concrete Construction How To Guide Geotechnical Earthquake Structural Search...

SOURCES OF EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE SUBSCRIBE

Subscribe by E-Mail to receive latest updates.

SIGN UP

Road & Pavement Profiler

www.Dipstick.com ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dipstick® Is the Most Accurate and the
Most Specified in 63 Countries This blog is authored and maintained
by Gopal Mishra. He is the founder of
The Constructor.

WE ARE ON FACEBOOK

Find us on Facebook
Vibration of the structure in response to ground shaking at its foundation is the concern of
The Constructor- Complete Civil
the structural engineer, and which is taken into account by codal provisions of the different Engineering Website
seismic-resistant design codes. However, these codes do not include any provision due to Like You like this.
other effects, which may even exceed that due to vibration, as the procedure of their
estimation and the needed steps for the design are outside the scope of the structural You and 66,253 others like The Constructor- Complete
Civil Engineering Website.
engineering discipline. Even then, it is essential that the structural engineer should be aware
of the different seismic hazards in order to advise the client of potential damage involved in
selecting sites in such zones. Hence, the first step in the design procedure of a future
structure should be the analysis of the suitability of the site selected with proper
F acebook social plugin
consideration for the potential of any one of the following types of damage.

The different ‘Direct’ and ‘Indirect’ seismic effects are as follows

Direct effects:
CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT

• Ground failures, which include Surface faulting, Vibration of soil (or effects of seismic CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT
waves), Ground cracking, Liquefaction, Ground lurching, Differential settlement, Lateral
spreading and Landslides. GENERAL CONTRACTORS

(A) Damage due to surface faulting:

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
These damages to buildings and facilities along the fault scarps vary widely from completely
demolished houses to rupture of the foundations, tilting of the foundation slabs and walls. ENGINEERING DESIGN
Sometimes houses also have minor damage.
ads by Yahoo!

(B) Damage due to liquefaction:

The instability of the soil in the area affected by internal seismic waves can cause POPULAR

significant damage. The mechanical characteristics of the soil layers, the depth of the water
C oncrete Technology How To Guide
table and the intensities and duration of the ground shaking influence the soil response.
Deposits of loose granular materials if present in the site may be compacted by the ground Geotechnical Engineering Structural
vibrations induced by the earthquake. This will cause large settlement and differential
GE Lab Tests Structural Design
settlements of the ground surface. Further, the compaction of the soil may result in the
development of excess hydrostatic pore water pressures of sufficient magnitude to cause Material Testing Guide C onstruction Buildings
liquefaction of the soil, resulting in settlement, tilting and rupture of structures. The seismic-
Building Materials Soil Foundation
resistant design provisions of most codes only assure an effective design and construction
of structures against damage due to the possible vibratory response of the structure to the C onstruction Management Structure Design
shaking introduced at their foundation by the ground. However, it may not be possible to
have success in all such cases. The only option remains in those areas is to prohibit the Structural Analysis Water Resources

construction of building structures there.

Earthquake Engineering

(C) Damage due to ground shaking:

theconstructor.org/earthquake/sources-of-earthquake-damage/5639/ 1/3
5/14/13 SOURCES OF EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE
Integrated field inspection and post-earthquake analyses of structural damage due to
earthquake shaking is one of the most effective means of having expertise knowledge on
seismic response with a view to improving the state of the art and of the practice in
seismic-resistant design and construction. Such integrated inspection and analyses revealed
that in addition to the soil conditions mentioned above, the seismic performance of a
structure is very sensitive to type of foundation; configuration of the structure; structural
material; and design and construction detailing.

(D) Damage due to sliding of superstructure on its foundation:

One of the basic guidelines in the seismic-resistant design and construction of structures is
that the whole structure-foundation system should work as a unit, and that the
superstructure be tied or anchored properly to the foundation.

• Vibrations transmitted from the ground to the structure.

(E) Damage due to Structural Vibration:

I. Wood-Frame Houses:

The inertia forces develop during the vibratory response of a structure to earthquake ground
shaking whose intensity depends on the product of the mass and acceleration. Hence, it is
of the utmost importance to reduce the mass of the structure to a minimum. It is obvious
that timber is the most efficient earthquake-resistant material for low-rise buildings among
the traditional structural materials – timber, masonry, concrete, steel and aluminum.
However, provision of proper lateral bracing and tying of all components together from the
roof down to the foundation are to be followed.

II. Concrete structures:

Concrete is a comparatively heavy material and have a very good compressive strength. Due
to its very small tensile and flexural strengths steel reinforcement is provided when used in
structures. Such reinforced concrete can be used effectively in seismic-resistant
construction. To overcome its relatively low strength per unit weight when normal weight
aggregates are used, the use of lightweight aggregate concrete offers a significant
advantage in seismic regions. members carefully: the proper amount and correct detailing of
the reinforcing steel plays an important role in the seismic response of a reinforced concrete
structure.

III. Steel structures:

Steel comes out of steel plants having excellent quality control. The stiffness per unit
weight of steel is practically the same as of any other traditional constructional material.
However, its strength, ductility and toughness per unit weight are significantly higher than
concrete and masonry materials. Accordingly, the slenderness of steel structural members
usually exceeds significantly that of other structural members. Hence, buckling becomes a
serious problem. The danger of buckling becomes much more at higher yielding strength of
the steel. Further, the plate elements used extensively to form the structural shapes are
prone to local buckling, particularly when strained in the inelastic range. Accordingly, the
compactness requirements for the cross section of the critical regions of structural members
are more stringent in earthquake-resistant design than that of normal condition. Moreover,
the field-connection of the structural members is another problem in achieving efficient
seismic-resistant construction.

Indirect effects (or Consequential Phenomena):

i. Tsunamis

ii. Seiches

iii. Landslides

iv. Floods

v. Fires

theconstructor.org/earthquake/sources-of-earthquake-damage/5639/ 2/3
5/14/13 SOURCES OF EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE
Jobs Australia
5 urge nt positions le ft. Apply now! Jobs Australia
jobrapido.com /jobs+australia

Search...

« SMART NANO-MATERIALS IN DEPOLLUTANT PHOTO- »

CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY CATALYTIC CONCRETE (DPCC)

Co ns t ruct io n Co nt ract o rs S ave t he Enviro nment

Co ns t ruct io n Pro ject s Haz ard

S it e Engineering Dis as t er Kit s

Engineering Jo bs Enviro nment al Co ns ervat io n

New Ho us e Builders General Co nt ract o r

ads by Yahoo!

Tags: Earthquake Design Earthquake Engineering earthquakes

Home » Earthquake Engineering » Earthquake Destruction » SOURCES OF EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE

Add a comment...

Post to Facebook Posting as Bhaskar Wabhitkar (Change) Comment

F acebook social plugin

HOME ABOUT US CONNECT CONTACT US PRIVACY POLICY

Copyright © 2012 The Constructor

theconstructor.org/earthquake/sources-of-earthquake-damage/5639/ 3/3