BEHAIVOUR OF EARTHQUAKE RESISTING

MASONRY BUILDING AS PER IS 4326:1993

Seismic acitivities & 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.
 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: 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: It is the 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.
IS 4326:1993 Earthquake Resistant Design and
Construction of Buildings- Code of Practice

This standard provides guidance in selection of materials, special

features of design and construction for earthquake resistant
buildings including
 masonry construction,
 timber construction,
 prefabricated construction etc.
In this standard, it is intended to cover the specified
features of design and construction for earthquake resistance of
buildings of conventional types.
The general principles to be observed in the
construction of such earthquake resistant buildings as
specified in this standard are
 Lightness,
 Continuity of Construction,
avoiding/reinforcing Projecting and suspended
parts,
 Building configuration,
strength in various directions,
 stable foundations,
Ductility of structure,
Connection to non-structural parts and
fire safety of structures.
Special Construction Features like
Crumple Section,
 Foundation design,
 Roofs and Floors and
Staircases
Separation of Adjoining Structures,have been elaborated in the
standard. It also covers the details pertaining to the type of
construction,
 masonry construction with rectangular masonry units,
masonry bearing walls,
 openings in bearing walls,
 seismic strengthening arrangements,
framing of thin load bearing walls,
 reinforcing details for hollow block masonry, flooring/roofing with
precast components
timber construction.
Common Building Types Traditional Building
Technologies, economics, weaknesses
In Kashmir the most popular building technologies depend
primarily upon the locally available materials as well as the locally
available skills.
Barring some exceptions, the structures have masonry load bearing
walls. Only in recent times people have started building RC frame
structures for homes and small infrastructure buildings.
The most common building materials are
 bricks,
 stone (rubble),
mud,
timber of different types,
 Galvanized Iron sheets, etc.
In recent years RCC has also become popular with some. Lime once
used for masonry is rarely used now on account of limited availability.
 Table 1: Commonly Used Building Systems
Component Options - Popularity Status
Description
A. Roof Timber planks Poor Extinct
and Shingles on
timber
understructure –
two sided
pitched
Mud on timber Poor Extinct
understructure -
flat
Corrugated High Current
Galvanized Iron
(CGI)
Sheeting on
timber - pitched
Component Options - Popularity Status
Description
B. Wall Un-Coursed High Current
Rubble (stone)
Walls
Un-burnt Bricks Poor Limited
Brick Moderate Current

Timber in with High Current

Stone or Brick
infill
Mud as a mortar Moderate Current

Cement as a Limited Current

mortar
constituent
Floor Timber High Current
Preference is greatly dictated by what is available
locally which varies from place to place, since this
has a great bearing on the cost. Stones are used in
the
hilly areas
most easily available.
Wood is often used as,
 posts,
horizontal struts and
diagonal bracings,
with infill of stone to construct Dhajji type
walls that are very thin and light.
No. Descriptions Cause
Table
A
2: Types of Damage and causes
Walling
1 Corner vertical Poor wall to wall connection, opening too close to corner
crack
2 Diagonal crack Too many wall openings including doors, windows, inbuilt
cup-boards, spacing between openings too little
3 Horizontal Excessive bending stresses caused by vertical bending
crack resulting from inadequate lateral support to wall, extra high
wall, pitched roof imparting lateral thrust on wall due to
absence of truss action etc.
4 Vertical crack Excessive bending stresses caused by horizontal bending
resulting from excessive wall length, absence of strong
connection between the exterior wall and the cross walls
(including Dhajji Diwar, absence of diaphragm action due
to low rigidity in attic timber floor, absence of anchoring of
attic floor to wall etc.
No. Descriptions
5 Collapse of a portion
of wall
6 Cracking at lintel
bearing
7 Falling off of stone
infill in Dhajji Diwar
8 Collapse of Dhajji
Diwar
B Roof & Floor
1 Breaking of
individual element
2 Collapse, partial or
full
Cause
Excessive local damage resulting in to instability of
a
portion of wall
Inadequate bearing length and absence connection
between the lintel and the band
Absence of containment of infill material
Poor connection between Dhajji Diwar and base as
well as ceiling
Rotten material
Lack of anchoring of roof to wall and collapse of
support
wall
 As in the earlier earthquakes in the
subcontinent,
 the poor construction quality and
 absence of earthquake resisting features
are the prime reasons for the damage.
The basic laws of masonry construction including the
rigor required by modern materials like
cement
 steel
are routinely violated.
This has contributed greatly to the vulnerability
of structures. One observation that is peculiar to
Kashmir earthquake is that the roofs have suffered little
or no damage in many houses. The walls collapsed
bringing the roofs down, often, in intact condition.
earthquake resisting features: Some of these
features required,
Vertical Reinforcement:
It was a great challenge to convince the
trainees to a level that they are able to counter the
demand for pseudo RC columns made by the
house-owner. The resemblance between the
behavior of a tree that generally withstands ground
shaking and a house that has ductility induced by
such reinforcement was used to convince them in
favor of the vertical reinforcement against pseudo
RC columns.
The skeleton of the structure is created using a framework of
interwoven bamboo. Then, the masonry work of stone and mud is
executed over this framework. Such walls are referred to as dhajji
walls;
The attic is a very important part of the house. Some people think
that it is only a storage room where you can put stuff that you
don’t need. But nowadays, more and more people are starting to
make use of the space in the attic more effectively.
 Containment reinforcement

Link/tie

Masonry with containment reinforcement and links/ties connecting them through

bed joints.
 CAPTIVE COLUMNS:
Beam Captive column

opening opening opening

c
c o
masonr masonr l masonr
o
y y u y
l
u m
m n
n
Solution:
1. Add ties at closer spacing. Preferably spiral ties.
2. Provide masonry walls on either side equal to twice the opening
sizes by reducing the openings.
3. The best solution is to avoid the opening so that no captive column
is created.
CAPTIVE COLUMNS: SOLUTIONS.

Beam L L L L
L
OPENING
1 2 OPENING 1 OPENING
a

c c
o o
masonr l masonr l masonr
y u y u y
m m
n n
SOFT STOREY:
This case is usually by providing car park at the ground floor.
In this case try to provide masonry walls as possible as to
provide stiffness to columns.

If not possible design the columns and beams in soft

storey for moments and shears by 2.5 times from the
analysis results. Clause 7.10.3a –IS 1893(part1)-2002
b) Besides the columns designed and detailed for the calculated storey
shears and moments, shear walls placed symmetrically in both
directions of the buildings as far as away from the centre of the
buildings as feasible; to be designed exclusively for 1.5 times the
lateral storey shear forces calculated as before. (clause 7.10.3.b)
In another solution is to provide (cross bracings (in elevation) without
hindrance to vehicular movements.

L,T, + SHAPE COLUMNS CAN BE USED BUT DESING IS A STILL A

MATTER .
 SOME BASIC BRACING TYPES:

DIAGONAL BRACING X- BRACING V- BRACING

INVERTED V- BRACING K- BRACING

CONSTRUCTION STAGE:
1. Good planning and design will not alone aid in resisting seismic forces
but good workmanship and construction practice will add more strength
for resisting the seismic forces.
2. Select good materials . Follow the mix design as obtained by the lab.
3. Provide the covers as per codal provisions. Do not use the aggregates,
marble pieces and other means except the mortar cover blocks.
4. Follow the design details as furnished by the structural engineer and do
not make any deviations.
5. Compact the concrete by means of needle vibrator.
6. Cure the concrete for at least a minimum period.
7. Experienced supervisor should be employed to have good quality
control at site.
 Earthquake Earth-quake Resistant Construction
Recommendation regarding Overall
Arrangement
of

Cross-section of RC EQ Resistant Measures

band for two bars and for
four bars
Masonry Buildings

RC band Details at corner Corner Bar Layout for EQ

and T junction. Provision
Designing Masonry Buildings for Earthquakes
Masonry Materials:
Masonry Units Fired bricks,
concrete blocks (hollow or solid) and
natural stone
are used for the construction of masonry walls.
In all cases the quality of masonry units should comply with the
local national requirements with regard to materials and
manufacture,
dimensions and tolerances,
mechanical strength,
water absorption,
 frost resistance,
soluble salts content,
 fire resistance, etc.
Reinforcing Steel:
Plain or deformed bars may be used for structures,
reinforced masonry and confined masonry.
 Especially shaped prefabricated ladder-type or truss-
type reinforcement is to be sued in mortar bed-joints, as
shown in Figure 10.
The vertical distance between reinforcements should
not exceed 600 mm.
The reinforcing bars should be anchored adequately
into the tie-columns or intersecting walls.
Minimum thickness of mortar cover above reinforcing
bars should be 15 mm.
Construction Systems:
Unreinforced Masonry
This form of construction is not considered earthquake resistant and
its use should be disallowed.
Reinforced Masonry
Two systems of reinforced masonry are in common use:
1. Reinforced hollow units masonry.
This is achieved by placing bed joint reinforcement of the type
illustrated in Figure 10 at 600 mm centres, and

verticals bars as shown in Figure 11. The holes containing the

vertical bars are filled with concrete as the construction of the wall
progresses.
2. Reinforced cavity masonry.
As shown in Figure 12, this system consists of two leaves of
masonry units, separated by a cavity into which the vertical and
horizontal reinforcement is placed and the cavity is filled with either
concrete infill or mortar. The leaves are usually 100 mm thick and
the cavity 60-100 mm.
Confined Masonry
This is a construction system where masonry structural walls are
surrounded on all four sides with reinforced concrete (Figure 13).
Separation Joints:
When the building form is complex, various parts of the building may move
differently, which can produce critical stresses at the points of connection between
parts.

Often the best solution is to provide seismic separation joints to ensure independent
movements of the parts, as shown in Figure 2. The width of the joints should not be
less than 30 mm.

When the building height exceeds 9 m the width of the joints is to be increased by
10 mm for each additional height of 3 m.
In order to ensure structural integrity, vertical confining elements
should be located at all corners and recesses of the building, and at all
joints and wall intersections.
 In addition, they should be placed at both sides of any wall opening
whose area exceeds 2.5 m2 (Figure 14.)
Walls:General Principles
• Walls are to be uniformly distributed along each principal axis of
the plan.

• The minimum thickness of structural walls should be 240 mm. The

total cross sectional area of structural walls along each of the two
axes should not be less than 3% of the gross floor area.

• Adequate foundations and good anchorage between walls and

floors are essential.

• Distances between structural walls of reinforced masonry should

not be more than 6m; distances in confined masonry should not be
more than 8m.
Door and window openings
The sizes and positions of wall openings have strong effect
on the in-plane resistance of masonry shear walls. When subjected
to
 seismic loads,
stress concentration takes place in the opening zones,
causing cracking and deterioration of masonry.
In order to improve the behaviour of masonry buildings
when subjected to earthquakes, the following requirements should
be met:
• Openings should, where possible, located in those walls which are
subjected to smaller intensity of vertical gravity loads.

• An opening should be located not closer than 600 mm to the

inside corner of its wall.
Lintels
Lintels should have a minimum of 250 mm bearing length at both ends
to prevent local collapse due to crushing of supports during an
earthquake.
The width of a lintel should not be less than150 mm.
 If the distance between top of lintel and underside of beam above is
less than 60 cm, the two should be united as shown in Figure 15-a.
In the case of openings larger in area than 2.5 m2, the lintel should be
anchored to the tie columns as shown in Figure
Floors and Roofs
 During earthquakes, floors and roofs should act as rigid
horizontal diaphragms, which distribute the seismic forces among
structural walls in proportion to their stiffness.
 One of the main reasons for the poor behaviour of existing
masonry buildings is a lack of proper horizontal diaphragm action of
floor and roof structures and or lack of proper connections between
them and the structural walls which carry them.
 Use of timber floors and roofs in high-risk seismic zones
is only recommended where the requisite carpentry skills exist and if
specially designed details to ensure the integrity of these elements
and their anchorage to the supporting walls.
 Jack arches in lime mortar spanning between steel
joists are adequate, provided the spans do not exceed
900 mm and steel cross bracing welded to corners of the
outer joists above on the upper surface of the floor or
roof is provided.
 Use of deformed bars for this is not allowed
because they produce brittle welded joints. In the case
of reinforced concrete floors and roofs, two-way slabs
are to be used in preference to one-way slabs.
 Connections to walls are to follow the details
illustrated in Figure
Tie Beams
The function of tie beams is to transfer horizontal shear induced
by the earthquakes from the floor and roof to the structural walls.
They connect the structural walls with each other and improve
the rigidity of the horizontal diaphragms.
Tie beams should not be smaller in section than 150 x 150 mm.
The reinforcement should not be less than 4 no. 12mm ø with
stirrups 6 mm ø at 200 mm centres. Reinforcement should be spliced
and anchored at cornets and wall intersections.
Bars should overlap by a minimum distance of 60 times the
diameters of the bars. Parapets should be reinforced vertically and
horizontally. The reinforcement should be tied in with the
reinforcement in the tie beam.
Cantilever Slabs and overhangs
These elements can cause harmful vertical vibration
during heavy earthquakes. To reduce this, spans should
not exceed those shown on Figure
THANKY
OU