SOFT STOREY

Soft story configuration in structures is a type of construction where any one story of the
building is more flexible (less stiff) when compared with other floors. This may be located at the
bottom, or at any intermediate points, where the floor above or below it may be stiffer compared
to itself. This accounts to be a weak element in the perspective of seismic forces. During an
earthquake motion, the soft story behavior is based on the criteria that the ground motion will
look for all possible weakness in the structure. This weakness may be a sharp variation in the
stiffness, ductility or in the strength parameters. These variations result in the poor distribution of
masses throughout the floor, which itself is undesirable. Many structural damages recorded due
to earthquake had a major problem of change in stiffness and strength along their vertical
configuration. It is not only essential to have symmetry along the horizontal direction, i.e. in the
plan, but also in the vertical direction. This is a factor that assures lateral stiffness. Abrupt
changes in the vertical plan should be avoided to the maximum. A typical example of the same is
an open story building, where the bottom floor is constructed open for considering the parking
utilities and people spaces, as shown in figure.1. This floor hence has a lower structural stiffness
compared to the above floor. It represents a vertical symmetry.

Fig.1: An Open Storey Building- Bottom floor resembles soft story configuration
The presence of walls in upper stories makes them much stiffer compared to the bottom stories.
This makes the upper stories to behave like a single block. Under dynamic forces, most of the
horizontal displacement take place at the bottom soft story alone. This would result in the
swinging of building back and forth like a pendulum, as shown in figure.3. This irregularity if is
minor in nature, the system will resist the seismic forces, as per the seismic codes. For this, it is
essential to give specially characterized strength for that story to resist the dynamic force, by the
structural engineer. This is carried out by extra ductile detailing and additional strength giving
materials.
Structural Behavior of Soft Storey When it comes to vertical symmetry i.e. the form of soft
story construction, rather than the energy absorption by the reinforcing bars or the steel sections
in their plastic zones, there is higher energy concentration at the soft story levels. This would
result in serious damage to those columns that are in that zone

Improvement in Design Strategies

The initial specification is to determine when a building must be considered as a soft story and a
weak story building. The second provision is to determine the higher value of forces for the soft
story structure. The design must be proceeded by determining the forces in each of the structural
element ie the columns, beams and the shear walls, by neglecting the consideration of masonry
walls or assume the building to be as bare frame during the calculation.
REENTRANT CORNERS
IS 1893 (PART 1): 2002 defines re-entrant corner as a location in a structure where in the
projection of the building component beyond that point exceeds 15% of its plan dimension in the
given direction. When the building is subjected to ground motion inertial forces are mobilized.
These forces travel along different paths known as „load paths‟ through various structural
components and finally being transferred to the soil through foundation. In case of buildings with
re-entrant corners, the shape of the plan is such that it necessitates indirect load paths which lead
to local stress concentration at point where load path bends. Reentrant corners in a building pose
two major serious threats. Firstly, they cause differential motions in different wings of the
building due to variation in rigidity leading to local stress concentration at the notch of the re-
entrant corner. On the other hand, they induce significant torsion in the building. Irregular
buildings are more vulnerable to earthquakes and have demonstrated poor performance in the
previous earthquakes. The reentrant corner is one such irregularity which causes stress
concentration and torsion in the building. As per the guidelines of Indian code dynamic analysis
has to be performed for irregular buildings.

SEISMIC DESIGN PHILOSOPHY AS PER IS 1893:2002 Part 1

1. The philosophy of seismic design can be summarized as: The design philosophy adopted in
the code is to ensure that structure possess at least a minimum strength to:
a. Resist minor earthquake (< DBE), which may occur frequently, without damage.
b. Resist moderate earthquake (DBE) without significant structural damage through some non-
structural damage.
c. Resist major earthquake (MCE) without collapse. ―Design Basis Earthquake is defined as the
maximum earthquake that reasonably can be expected to experience at the site once during
lifetime of the structure. The earthquake corresponding to the ultimate safety requirements is
often called as Maximum Considered Earthquake (MCE). Generally DBE is half of MCE.
2. Actual forces that appear on the structures during earthquakes are much higher than the design
forces specified in the code. It is recognised that the complete protection against earthquakes of
all sizes is not economically feasible and design based alone on strength criteria is not justified.
The basic criteria of earthquake resistant design should be based on lateral strength as well as
deformability and ductility capacity of the structure with limited damage, but no collapse.
Ductility in the structures will arise from inelastic material, behaviour and detailing of the
reinforcement in such a manner that brittle failure is avoided and ductile behaviour is induced by
allowing steel to yield in controlled manner. Therefore, the gap between the actual and design
lateral forces is narrowed down by providing ductility in the structure and additional reserve
strength in the structures over and above the design strength.
3. The design lateral forces specified in the code shall be considered in each of the two
orthogonal directions of the structure. For structures, which have lateral force resisting elements
in the two orthogonal directions only, the design lateral force shall be considered along one
direction at a time, and not in both directions simultaneously. Structures, having lateral force
resisting elements in direction other than the two orthogonal directions, shall be analysed
considering the load combinations as specified in the code.
4. The response of a structure to ground vibrations is a function of nature of foundation soil;
material, form, size and mode of construction of structures; and the duration and characteristics
of ground motion. This code specifies design forces for the structures standing on rock or firm
soils, which do not liquefy or slide due to loss of strength during ground vibrations
CONSIDERATIONS FOR MAKING RC BUILDINGS EARTHQUAKE RESISTANT
1. Stronger Columns: Stronger columns weak beam theory must be adopted in buildings
as when dispatching the forces toward the footing from the structure, columns play a
vital role than that of the beams

2. Symmetrical dimensions: Structure should not be too long or too high (both cases
make the structure irregular and easily susceptible to seismic forces)
3. Horizontal Irregularities should be avoided: Structure might be of various shapes but
for earthquake resistant design, a simple and regular shape such as rectangular can be
beneficial
4. Providing lateral force resisting elements: Shear walls and cross bracings should be
provided as a part of lateral force resisting system of the frame. In some very
important structures, base isolators are also provided. Use of waste tyre pads as
isolators and isolators made of concrete and rubber can serve for low cost features
5. Proper spacing: Adequate spacing must be maintained between two buildings so as to
prevent pounding.
6. Light weight: Earthquake force is a function of mass, the building shall be as light as
possible. Also, as inertia forces accumulate downwards from the top of the building,
the columns and walls at lower storey’s experience higher earthquake-induced forces
and are therefore designed to be stronger than those in storeys above. Roofs and
upper storeys of buildings, in particular, should be designed as light as possible.
7. Quality of construction and materials: The different structural components: beams,
columns, should be ductile so as to easily undergo allowable displacements within a
limit. Stiff members can be very easily cracked being brittle. Concrete mix and
reinforcement should be of proper standards.
8. Short Columns: When a building is rested on sloped ground, during earthquake
shaking all columns move horizontally by the same amount along with the floor slab
at a particular level. If short and tall columns exist within the same storey level, then
the short columns attract several times larger earthquake force and suffer more
damage as compared to taller ones. The short column effect also occurs in columns
that support mezzanine floors or loft slabs that are added in between two regular
floors.
9. Vertical Irregularities should be avoided: Mass and stiffness of different components
should be regularly distributed throughout the height of the building. Irregularities
need to be avoided. The components of the structure like walls and columns should
not be discontinued