Earthquake Engineering

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Earthquake
One of the most devastating natural phenomena
Earthquake is a sudden tremor or movement of earth’s crust
Written record: China far back 3000 years; Japan about 1600 years back;
USA: about 350 years; West Coast USA: 200 years
Earthquake occurrence: million years and continued, but human have brief
experience with this
Earthquake Engineering: deals with the effect of earthquake and their
environment and with methods of reducing those effects
Relatively young research field ( 50 years)
Broad field: Geology, Seismology, Geotechnical Engineering, Structural
Engineering, Risk analysis, and Other technical field
Should consider Social, Economic and Political factors

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Seismic Hazard
Seismic hazard: Hazard associated with earthquakes
Earthquake Engineering practice involves identification and mitigation of
seismic hazard
Important seismic hazards:
a)Ground shaking
b)Structural hazard
c)Liquefaction
d)Landslides
e)Retaining Structure failure
f) Lifeline hazards
g)Tsunami and Seiche hazards

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Ground shaking
Chopra, 2020

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Ground shaking

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Structural damage

https://highways.dot.gov/public-roads/fall-1996/aftermath-
kobe-earthquake
Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Structural damage

Collapse of Hanshin Expressway in

Kobe's Higashinada Ward, Hyogo
Prefecture, western Japan, Jan. 17,
1995, following the Great Hanshin
Earthquake.

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Structural damage

RC frame buildings failure, 26 January 2001 M7.9 Bhuj Earthquake, over 20,000 people died, 1,66,000 injured
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Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Structural damage

Pancake collapse of 4-storey L-shaped RC framed school building in

Ahmedabad, after 26 January 2001 M7.9 Bhuj Earthquake

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Structural damage

Ground storey collapse of a 4-storey building with open ground

storey at Bhuj, after 26 January 2001 M7.9
Bhuj Earthquake
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Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Structural damage

Insufficient connection between the RC elevator core and rest

of the building, after 26 January 2001 M7.9
Bhuj Earthquake

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Liquefaction

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Liquefaction

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Niigata_earthquake

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Liquefaction

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Niigata_earthquake 15 tilt in the 6-storey control tower at Kandla

port due to liquefaction and consequent lateral spreading towards the bay, after 26 January 2001 M7.9
Bhuj Earthquake

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Liquefaction

Sand boil (6-8m in diameter and 20cm in height) from the liquefied
area in the Great Runn of Kutch, after 26 January 2001 M7.9 Bhuj Earthquake

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Landslide

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Seismic Waves
• Seismology is the study of generation, propagation and
recording of seismic waves
• Two types of Seismic Waves:
• Body wave (P- Primary, compressional or longitudinal wave
and S- Secondary, shear or transverse wave) and
• Surface wave (Love wave and Rayleigh wave)
• Body waves are seismic waves that travel through the body of
the earth. Body waves are reflected and transmitted at
interfaces where seismic velocity and/or density change, and
they obey Snell's law.
Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Seismic Waves
• P-Waves (P stands for primary or pressure or push-
pull) also called as longitudinal waves or
compressional waves due to particle compression
during their transport.
• These waves involve compression and rarefaction of
the material as the wave passes through, but not
rotation.
• P-wave is transmitted by particle movement back and
forth along the direction of propagation of the wave.
• The most correct description of P-waves is as a
dilational or irrotational waves. P-waves has the
greatest speed and appears first on seismograms.

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Seismic Waves
• P-wave

http://www.geo.mtu.edu/UPSeis/images/P-wave_animation.gif

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Seismic Waves
• S-Waves (S stands for secondary or shear or shake) also
known as transverse waves, because particle motions are
transverse to the direction of movement of the wavefront,
or perpendicular to the ray.
• These waves involve shearing and rotation of the
material as the wave passes through it, but not volume
change.
• S-waves have speeds less than P-waves, and appear on
seismograms after P-waves.

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Seismic Waves
• S-wave

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Seismic Waves

• Surface waves are seismic waves that are guided along the surface of
the earth and the layers near the surface.
• These waves do not penetrate the deep interior of the earth, and are
normally generated by shallow earthquakes.
• Surface waves are larger in amplitude and longer in duration than
body waves.
• These waves arrive at seismograph after the arrival of P- and S-waves
because of their slower velocities.
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Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Seismic Waves
• Love waves (named for A.E.H. Love, who discovered them) travel
by a transverse motion of particles that is parallel to the ground
surface. This wave is somewhat similar to S-waves.
• Love waves cannot exist in a uniform solid, and can only occur
when there is a general increase of S- wave velocity with depth.
Their existence is another proof of the Earth’s vertical
inhomogeneity.
• The particle motion is transverse and horizontal.
• Love wave velocities are greater than Rayleigh waves, so Love
waves arrive before Rayleigh waves on seismograph.
Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Seismic Waves
• Love wave

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Seismic Waves
• Rayleigh waves or descriptively called "ground roll" in exploration
seismology. The particle motion of this wave is confined to a
vertical plane containing the direction of propagation and
retrogrades elliptically. The particle displacements are greatest at
the surface and decrease exponentially downward.
• Rayleigh waves show dispersion, and its velocity is not constant but

varies with wavelength. This wave is similar to how ocean waves

propagate.
• VR < VS, Period is typically ~ 20 s, with wavelength ~ 100km
12

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Seismic Waves
• Rayleigh wave

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Seismic Waves

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Internal Structure of the Earth

• Roughly spherical shape (Equatorial Dia = 12,740km and Polar

Dia = 12,700km)
• Mass = 4.9 x 1024 kg (with SGavg = 5.5)
• Consists of 4 layers
• Crust
• Mantle (upper and lower mantles)
• Outer Core
• Inner Core

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Internal Structure of the Earth

https://www.usgs.gov/

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
 Internal Structure of the Earth
• Thinnest layer of the Earth (≈ 70km thick)
• Consists of a variety of rocks (basaltic & granitic)
• Divided into large chunks called as tectonic plates (around 6
continental large and 14 small sub- continental plates), floating
on top of the mantle.
• Continental crust: thick (25-70km) and light as made of rocks with
a low density = 2.85 g/cm3, Conrad Discontinuity: b/w Upper and
lower Continental crust
• Oceanic crust: thin (6-11km) and heavy as made of rocks with a
high density = 3.55 g/cm3
Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Internal Structure of the Earth
• Thickest layer of the Earth (≈ 2850km thick)
• Crust – Mantle boundary : Mohorovičić discontinuity or
Moho (in 1909) works as reflector and refractor of seismic
waves
• ≈ 83% volume or 68% mass of Earth (Sgavg = 4 to 5)
• Material is viscous and at semi molten state
• Source region responsible for Earthquake, Sea floor
spreading, Continental drift and Orogeny
• Behaves as solid under rapidly applied stress (seismic) and
flow like fluid under long-term stresses
Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Mantle
• Divided into 2 layers, upper and lower mantles
• Heat within upper and lower mantle layers drives convection currents.
• Upper mantle: Shallower (≈ 650km thick) and consists of semisolid rock
(Magma) flows slowly due to convection currents (1,000°C)
• Lower mantle: Exhibits uniform velocity structure and Chemically
homogeneous (1,000-3,500°C) and has no seismic activity

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Outer Core
• Liquid core (≈ 2260km thick)
• Core- Mantle boundary or Gutenberg
discontinuity: s-wave velocity drops to zero
and precipitous drops in p-wave velocity
• Primarily consists of Molten iron (SGavg = 9 to
12)

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Inner Core

• Solid core (≈ 1200km thick)

• Consists of Nickel-Iron material compressed
under extreme pressure (SGavg = upto 15)

Kramer, 1996

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Continental Drift: Wegener, 1915

Kramer, 1996

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Plate Tectonics

• Consists of large intact blocks called as

tectonic plates (6 continental- sizedand 14
of subcontinental-sized)
• Continental-sized plates: African, American,
Antarctic, Australian- Indian, Eurasian and
Pacific
• Subcontinental-sized plates: Caribbean,
Cocos, Nazca, Phillipinns etc.

Kramer, 1996

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Plate Tectonics

Kramer, 1996

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Plate Tectonics

Kramer, 1996

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Plate Tectonics

• Kinematic theory
• Thermomechanical equilibrium of earth’s material
• Sinking of cool &
dense material
• Rise of warm and light material
• Dragging due to convection currents imposed
shear stress at base

Kramer, 1996

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Plate Tectonics
• Spreading ridge boundaries: Plates move apart from
each other (e.g. Pacific Ocean Ridge, Mid-Atlantic
Ridge)

Kramer, 1996

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Plate Tectonics
• Subduction zone boundaries: Relative movement of
plates towards each other (e.g. Western coasts of
Mexico and Chile, Eastern coasts of Japan, Cascadia
subduction zone)

Kramer, 1996

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Plate Tectonics
• Transform fault boundaries : Plates move past each
other without creating new crust and consuming
old crust (e.g. The San Andreas fault, Motagua
fault, Alpine fault, The Dead Sea fault)

Kramer, 1996

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Fault Movements

https://openpress.usask.ca/physicalgeology/chapter/13-3-fractures-faults-and-joints-2/

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur
Fault Movements

The San Andreas fault

https://openpress.usask.ca/physicalgeology/chapter/13-3-fractures-faults-and-joints-2/

Paulami Das Choudhury, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UEM Jaipur