Introduction to Earthquake

Engineering
Slides prepared by: Joe Davidson B. Guzman
What is Earthquake?
Earthquakes - are broad-banded vibratory ground motions, resulting
from a number of causes including tectonic ground motions, volcanism,
landslides, rockbursts, and man-made explosions (Earthquake
Engineering for Structural Design, W.F. Chen, E.M. Lui 2006)
Dynamic Earth Structure
Earth may be considered to have three concentric
layers:
• Core
innermost part of the Earth
Mainly composed of Iron

• Inner Core
Mainly Solid

• Outer Core
Liquid

• Mantle
Between the crust and the inner core
Dynamic Earth Structure
• The abrupt changes in the
propagation velocity of seismic
waves differentiate the mantle,
the outer core and the inner core

Crust
• Thickness is approximately 7 km
under the oceans, average
thickness is 30 km under the
continents The sudden variation in the
• Has basaltic structure under the seismic wave velocity close to the
oceans whereas it is mainly crustal surface is due to Moho
comprised of basalt and granite discontinuity (boundary between
the mantle and the crust)
under the continents
Dynamic Earth Structure
• Lithosphere
• Rigid and relatively strong
• Mainly formed of the crust and
the outermost part of the
mantle
• Thickness is approximately 125
km
• Asthenosphere
• Lies below the lithosphere
• Forms mainly the weak part of
the mantle (a soft layer) that can
deform through creep
Dynamic Earth Structure
• The interior of the Earth is in
constant motion that is driven by
heat
• The temperature gradient across the
Earth sets up a heat flow towards the
surface from the outer core
(convection)

• Convection currents within the

asthenosphere moves the
lithospheric plates (tectonic plates)
like a conveyor belt
• The movement of these plates
results in two slabs diverging from
each other, or converging to each
other.
Dynamic Earth Structure

• In 1960, Harry Hess proposed

the theory of sea-floor
spreading and suggested that
the ocean floor is formed
continuously by the magma
that rises up from within the
mantle into the central gorges
of the oceanic ridges.
Basic mechanism of sea-floor spreading: the magma
rising up from the mantle pushes the two sides of
the ridge apart, cools off in time and forms the new
oceanic slab
Dynamic Earth Structure
Subduction mechanism
• The relatively younger and
denser oceanic crust
subducts beneath the
continental crust
• Volcanic activity is
frequently observed along
the active margins of
subduction zones
Theory of Global
Plate Tectonics
Earth’s surface is divided
into several lithospheric
slabs called tectonic
plates and they move
relative to each other as
a results of the
underlying convection
currents in the mantle

Vectors (arrows) showing the major

directions of relative motions of the
global tectonic plates
(http://sideshow.jpl.nasa.gov/mbh)
Theory of Global
Plate Tectonics
Tectonic Plates interact at their
boundaries in one of the three
ways as shown:
• New crust is formed at
divergent boundaries and
existing material is consumed
at convergent boundaries.
Transform boundaries
neither consumes nor
generates new material.

Divergent (along oceanic ridges), convergent (along

subduction regions) and transform plate boundaries and their
interaction with each other (Shearer 1999)
Theory of Global Plate Tectonics
Theory of Global Plate Tectonics Earthquake activity around the world in the
period from 1977 to 1994
 Earthquake Activity in the Philippines within
the last century

The Pacific plate is subducting beneath the Philippine Sea

Plate to the east while the west/northwestern part of the
Philippine Sea Plate is subducting beneath the continental
Eurasian plate.
Dynamic Earth Structure

Subduction Mechanism

The red circles on the descending

oceanic crust are the earthquakes.
The interface earthquakes are
those occurring along the contact
surface between the oceanic and
continental crust. The inslab
earthquakes occur at large depths
due to rupturing of subducting
oceanic crust (modified from Press
and Siever 1986).
Notable Earthquakes in the Philippines

Luzon Earthquake (1990)The Hyatt Terraces Hotel

in Baguio City collapsed during the 16 July 1990
Moro Gulf Earthquake (1976) (“Tsunami damage at
Luzon Earthquake. Photo by the Philippine
Lebak, caused by the earthquake of magnitude
Institute of Volcanology and Seismology
(Ms)= 7.9, in Moro Gulf” by .S. Geological Survey
(PHIVOLCS) is available in the public domain.
Photographic Library is available in the public
domain)
Notable Earthquakes in the Philippines

Casiguran Earthquake (1968) Remains of 1st and

2nd floor, north end of Ruby Tower. Photo
Credit: Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Bohol Earthquake (2013)
Seismology (PHIVOLCS Destroyed church after the October 15, 2013,
earthquake; Loon, Bohol, Philippines. Photograph,
by P199, is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
Notable Earthquakes in the
Philippines

Zambales Earthquake (2019) Clark Airport

Zambales Earthquake (2019) Church at Porac,

Pampanga photo takeb by Marvin Natividad, ABI)
Notable Earthquake In the
Philippines

Abra
Earthquake
(2022) The
most recent
earthquake in
the Philippines

Negros Oriental Earthquake (2012)

Photo Credit: Phivolcs-DOST
Earthquake Process and Faults
• The relative motion of the tectonic
plates results in the occurrence of
earthquakes along the major plate
boundaries
• The actual mechanism of
earthquakes can be explained by
the elastic rebound theory
• The elastic rebound theory states
that as plates on opposite sides of a
fault are subjected to stress, they
accumulate energy and deform
gradually until their internal
strength capacity is exceeded
• At that time, a sudden movement An illustration showing the lateral offset of a
occurs along the fault, releasing the fence located on one of the ruptured segments
accumulated energy, and the rocks of San Andreas Fault after the 1906 San
snap back to their original
undeformed shape Francisco earthquake. The red strip is used to
mark the right lateral offset
Earthquake Process and Faults

Rupture on geological faults: An illustration showing the lateral offset of a

As plates on opposite sides of a fault are fence located on one of the ruptured segments
subjected to stress, they accumulate energy and of San Andreas Fault after the 1906 San
deform gradually until their internal strength Francisco earthquake. The red strip is used to
capacity is exceeded mark the right lateral offset
Earthquake Process and Faults

Types of faulting
mechanisms and basic
slip foundations for
each faulting
mechanism (Reiter,
1990)
Source Parameter Definitions
• The “focus” or “hypocenter”
of an earthquake is the point
under the surface where the
rupture is said to have
originated.

• The projection of the focus on

the surface is termed
“epicenter’.
Seismic Waves
A rupture of a fault results in a
sudden release of strain energy that
radiates from the ruptured fault
surface in the form of seismic waves.

Earthquake shaking is generated by

two types of elastic seismic waves:
• Body waves
• Primary or (P) Pressure waves
• Secondary or (S) shear waves
• Surface waves
• Rayleigh waves
• Love waves

The shaking felt is generally a

combination of these waves,
especially at small distances, from the
source or “near-field”
Seismic Waves
• Body waves travel through the
Earth’s interior layers. They include
longitudinal or primary waves (also
known as “P-waves”) and transverse
or secondary waves (also called “S-
waves”)

• P and S waves are also termed

“preliminary tremors” because in
most earthquakes. They are felt first
(Kanai, 1983).
Seismic Waves
• P-waves cause alternate push (or
compression) and pull (or tension) in
the rock. This, as the waves
propagate, the medium expands and
contracts, while keeping the same
form.
• P-waves exhibit similar properties to
sound waves, showing small
amplitudes and short periods and
can be transmitted in the
atmosphere
• P-waves are seismic waves with
relatively little damage potential
Seismic Waves
• Body waves (P and S) were
named after their arrival time
as measured by seismographs
at observation sites
• P-waves travel faster, at
speeds between 1.5 and 8
km/s while S-waves are slower,
usually travelling at 50-60% of
the speed of P-waves
• The actual speed of body
waves depends upon the
density and elastic properties
of the rock and soil through
which they pass
Seismic Waves
• Body waves (P and S) were
named after their arrival
time as measured by
seismographs at
observation sites
• P-waves travel faster, at
speeds between 1.5 and 8
km/s while S-waves are
slower, usually travelling at
50-60% of the speed of P-
waves
• The actual speed of body
waves depends upon the
density and elastic
properties of the rock and
soil through which they
pass
Seismic waves
• Surface waves propagate across the
outer layers of the Earth’s crust. They
are generated by constructive
interference of body waves travelling
parallel to the ground surface and
various underlying boundaries.
• Surface waves include Love (indicated
as “L or LQ-waves) and Rayleigh
(indicated as R or LR-waves”) waves
• These waves induce generally large
displacements and hence are also
called “principal motion” (Kanai, 1983)
Seismic waves
• They are most distinct at
distances further away from
the earthquake source
• Surface waves are most
prominent in shallow
earthquakes while body
waves are equally well
represented in earthquakes
at all depths
• Because of their long
duration, surface waves are
likely to cause severe
damage to structural
systems during earthquakes
Seismic waves
• LQ-waves are generated by
constructive interference of SH body
waves and hence cannot travel
across fluids
• Their motion is horizontal and
perpendicular to the direction of
their propagation, which is parallel
to the Earth’s surface as illustrated
• LQ-waves have large amplitudes and
long periods. LQ waves of long
period (60-300 seconds) are also
called G-waves.
• LR-waves are caused by constructive
interference of body waves, such as
P and SV.
• LR-waves exhibit very large
amplitude and regular waveforms.
• LR-waves are slower than S-waves.
Seismic Waves
• Surface waves are slower than body
waves
• LQ-waves are generally faster then LR-
waves
• Moreover, the amplitudes of P and S-
waves show amplitudes linearly
decreasing with the increase in
distance x,
• The amplitude of surface waves
attenuate in inverse proportion to the
square root of distance x
• P-waves damp more rapidly than S-
waves; attenuations increase with the Amplitudes and periods are of great importance
because they influence the energy content of
wave frequencies seismic waves
Progressive waves
• A final point worth noting about the various types of seismic waves is the
likelihood of rotatory vibrations, also referred to as “progressive waves”, at the
ground surface.
• These waves occur in addition to translational oscillations and are generated
either when a plane wave is incidentally oblique to the ground surface or when
surface waves are present
• Progressive waves may excite rocking and torsional vibrations especially in
high-rise structures (Okamoto, 1984).
• Rotatory earthquake motions are complex and not yet fully understood. They
are subject to active research