Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Seismic performance
Earthquake or seismic performance defines a
structure's ability to sustain its due functions,
such as its safety and serviceability, at and after
a particular earthquake exposure.
Size of Buildings
Adjacency of Buildings
Configuration
Earthquake is a natural phenomenon occuring with all uncertanities.
Engineering design aims to link economics, social, environmental and
safety factor to produce the best solution. India is a large country. Nearly
two thirds of its area is earthquake prone. A large part of rural and urban
buildings are low-rise buildings of one two three stroyes. Many of them
may not be adequately designed from engineers trained in earthquake
engineering. Most loss of life and property due to earthquakes occur due
to collapse of buildings. The number of dwelling units and other related
small-scale constructions might double in the next two decades in India
and other developing countries of the world. This amplifies the need for a
simple engineering approach to make such buildings earthquake resistant
at a reasonably low cost.
The behaviour of a building during earthquakes depend critically on its
overall shape, size and geometry, in addition to how the earthquake
forces are carried to the ground. Hence, at the planning stage itself,
architects and structural engineers must work together to ensure that the
unfavourable features are avoided and a good building configuration is
chosen. The main objective of seismic resistant construction is that the
structure does not collapse during mild earthquakes. This also helps in
The building shall not collapse or harm human lives during severe
In the latter case, they may exceed the elastic limit and the building
should be designed with sufficient ductility to survive collapse.
In order to satisfy these aims, building design should conform following
rules:
(a)
simple as possible.
(b)
ground.
(c)
definite.
(e)
will
not
provide
obstacles
to
safety
use
of
building.
2.0 Classification
Intensity of an earthquake is measured by an instrument called
Richter Scale. Classifications of earthquakes are as follows:
Slight:
Moderate:
Great:
cant be felt .
-
cause
substantial damage.
2.
Heavy dead weight and very stiff buildings, attracting large seismic
inertia forces.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
in the wall.
10.
direction (Fig 2(b)). Further, walls also need to be tied to the roof and
foundation to preserve their overall integrity.
Improving Behavior of Masonry Walls
Masonry walls are slender because of their small thickness
compared to their height and length. A simple way of making these walls
behave well during earthquake shaking is by making them act together as
a box along with the roof at the top and foundation at the bottom. A
number of construction aspects are required to ensure this box action.
Firstly, connections between the walls should be good. This can be
achieved by
(a)
(b)
level.
Secondly, the size of the doors and window opening need to be kept
small. The smaller the opening, larger is the resistance offered by the wall.
Thirdly, the tendency of wall to topple when pushed in the weak direction
can be reduced by limiting its length-to-thickness and height-to-thickness
ratios. Design codes specify limits to these ratios. A wall that is too tall or
too long in comparison to its thickness, is particularly vulnerable to
shaking in its weak direction. (Fig (3))
4.0 Importance of Reinforcements in Masonry Building
The walls, if constructed with plain masonry would be incapable of
resisting the magnitude of horizontal shear and bending forces imposed
on them during earthquakes. For this reason, in the modern reinforced
masonry systems, reinforcing steel is incorporated to resist the shear and
tensile stresses, so developed. When these walls are subjected to lateral
forces acting on them, they behave as flexural members spanning
vertically between floors and horizontally between pilasters/ lateral walls.
Therefore reinforcement in both vertical and horizontal directions is
required to be provided to develop resistance against torsion.
Load Considered
various
parts
of
the
country
including
that
in
Uttar-
Kashi, Latur and Bhuj and technological advancement in the field, the
Sectional Committee decided to revise the standard into five parts which
deals with different types of structures:
only.
It
covers
general
principles
and
design
criteria,
Following are the major and important modifications made in this revision:
a)
The seismic zone map is revised with only four zones, instead of five.
Erstwhile Zone I has been merged to Zone II and hence Zone I does not
appear in the new zoning; only Zones II, III, IV and V do. The killari area
has been included in Zone III and necessary modifications made, keeping
in view the probabilistic Hazard Evaluation. The Bellary isolated zone has
been removed. The parts of eastern coast area have shown similar hazard
to that of the killari area, the level of Zone II has been enhanced to Zone
III and connected with Zone III of Godawari Graben area.
b)
The values of seismic zone factors have been changed; these now
d)
arrangements,
details
for
framing
hollow
of
block
load
masonry,
bearing
walls,
flooring/roofing
Resistance
of
Earthen
Buildings Guidelines
The guidelines covered in this standard deal with the design and
construction aspects for improving earthquake resistance of earthen
houses, without the use of stabilizers such as lime, cement, asphalt, etc.
The provisions of this standard are applicable for seismic zones III, IV and
V. No special provisions are considered necessary in Zone II. However,
considering inherently weak against water and earthquake, earthen
buildings should preferably be avoided in flood prone, high rainfall areas
and seismic zones IV and V.
It
has
been
recommended
that
such
buildings
should
be
light,
single storeyed and of simple rectangular plan. Qualitative tests for the
suitability of soil have been suggested.
Guidelines for Block or Adobe Construction, Rammed earth construction,
Seismic strengthening of bearing wall buildings, Internal bracing in
earthen
houses
and
earthen
constructions
with
wood
or
cane
if cement-sand mortar not leaner than 1:6 is used in masonry and through
stones or bonding elements are used in stone walls.
The various provisions of IS 4326:1993 regarding general principles,
special construction features, types
of construction, categories
of
specifically
to
monolithic
reinforced
concrete
on
minimum
and
maximum
reinforcement
have
been
in
beams
at
joint
face,
splices
and
anchorage
on
Exterior
Beam-Column
Joint
with
the
Partial
tendon
with
(two)
strands
of
17.7 mm
and
That's the general idea behind the levitating house developed by the
Japanese company Air Danshin. The product of inventor Shoichi Sakamoto,
the house sits, during more stable times, on a deflated air bag. When
sensors feel a tremor, they switch on a compressor within a second. The
compressor pumps air into an airbag, inflating it within a few more
seconds, and ultimately lifting the entire house a good three centimeters
off its supposedly earthquake-proof concrete foundation. There the
structure will hover, its inhabitants able to casually go about their
business, for the duration of the quake. Then the airbag deflates and the
house gently settles back down.
example, research conducted at the city of Megiddo (now part of presentday Israel) suggests that a massive earthquake may have devastated the
city, leading to the sandwich-like layers found in excavations. And a series
of earthquakes may have brought down the Harappan civilization (in
what's now Pakistan), which disappeared suddenly in 1900 B.C.E.
We're
just
as
susceptible
today
to
the
aftereffects
of
powerful
for
Safety
and
Design
of
Structures
Subject
to
Underground Blasts
This standard deals with the safety of structures during underground
blasting and is applicable to normal structures like buildings, elevated
structures,
bridges,
retaining
walls,
concrete
and
masonry
dams
Seismic
Instrumentation
standard
covers
recommendations
for
instrumentation
for
Plan of building
(i) Symmetry : The
(vi)
Separate
Buildings
for
Different
Functions: In view of the difference in
importance of hospitals, schools, assembly halls,
residences,
communication
and
security
buildings, etc., it may be economical to plan
separate blocks for different functions so as to
affect economy in strengthening costs.
REQUIREMENTS OF STRUCTURAL
SAFETY
Conventional Approach
Design depends upon providing the building with
strength, stiffness and inelastic deformation
capacity which are great enough to withstand a
given level of earthquake-generated force. This
can be accomplished by selection of an
appropriate structural configuration and careful
detailing of structural members, such as beams
and columns, and the connections between them.
Basic Approach
Design depends upon underlying more advanced
techniques for earthquake resistance is not to
strengthen the building, but to reduce the
earthquake generated forces acting upon it. This
can be accomplished by de-coupling the
structure from seismic ground motion it is
possible to reduce the earthquake induced forces
in it by three ways.
1.Increase natural period of structures by Base
Isolation.
2.Increase damping of system by Energy
Dissipation Devices.
3.Mitigate earthquake effects completely by
using Active Control Devices
Design Philosophy
1.Under minor but frequent shaking, the main
members of the buildings that carry vertical
and
horizontal
forces
should
not
be
damaged; however buildings parts that do
not carry load may sustain repairable
damage.
2.Under moderate but occasional shaking, the
main members may sustain repairable
damage, while the other parts that do not
carry load may sustain repairable damage.
3.Under strong but rare shaking, the main
members may sustain severe damage, but
the building should not collapse.
Earthquake
resistant
design
is
therefore
concerned about ensuring that the damages in
buildings during earthquakes are of acceptable
variety, and also that they occur at the right
places and in right amounts. This approach of
earthquake resistant design is much like the use
of electrical fuses in houses: to protect the entire
electrical wiring and appliances in the house, you
sacrifice some small parts of electrical circuit,
called fuses; these fuses are easily replaced after
the electrical over-current. Likewise to save the
building from collapsing you need to allow some
pre-determined parts to undergo the acceptable
type and level of damage.
How it Works
To get a basic idea of how base isolation works,
first examine the above diagram. This shows an
earthquake acting on base isolated building and
a conventional, fixed-base, building. As a result
of an earthquake, the ground beneath each
building begins to move. . Each building
responds with movement which tends towards
the right. The buildings displacement in the
direction opposite the ground motion is actually
due to inertia. The inertia forces acting on a
building are the most important of all those
generated during an earthquake.
In addition to displacing towards right, the unisolated building is also shown to be changing its
shape from a rectangle to a parallelogram. We
say that the building is deforming. The primary
cause of earthquake damage to buildings is the
deformation which the building undergoes as a
result of the inertial forces upon it.
itself escapes the deformation and damagewhich implies that the inertial forces acting on
the base isolated building have been reduced.
Experiments and observations of base-isolated
buildings in earthquakes to as little as of the
acceleration of comparable fixed-base buildings.
Acceleration is decreased because the base
isolation system lengthens a buildings period of
vibration, the time it takes for a building to rock
back and forth and then back again. And in
general, structures with longer periods of
vibration tend to reduce acceleration, while
those with shorter periods tend to increase or
amplify acceleration.
mN
xN
m2
x2
m1
x1
kN
k2
k1
Base isolator
mb
x
&
&g
The latest Friction-ViscoElastic Damper Device (FVEDD) combines the advantages of pure
frictional and viscoelastic mechanisms of energy
dissipation. This new product consists of friction
pads and viscoelastic polymer pads separated by
steel plates. A prestressed bolt in combination
with disk springs and hardened washers is used
for maintaining the required clamping force on
the interfaces as in original FDD concept.
After development of passive devices such as
base isolation and TMD. The next logical steps is
to control the action of these devices in an
optimal manner by an external energy source the
resulting system is known as active control
device system. Active control has been very
widely used in aerospace structures. In recent
years significant progress has been made on the
analytical side of active control for civil
engineering structures. Also a few models
explains as shown that there is great promise in
the technology and that one may expect to see in
the foreseeable future several dynamic Dynamic
Intelligent Buildings the term itself seems to
have been joined by the Kajima Corporation in
Japan. In one of their pamphlet the concept of
Active control had been explained in every
simple manner and it is worth quoting here.
People standing in swaying train or bus try to
maintain balance by unintentionally bracing their
legs or by relaying on the mussels of their spine
and stomach. By providing a similar function to a
building it can dampen immensely the vibrations
Tendon Control
Various analytical studies have been done using
tendons for active control. At low excitations,
even with the active control system off, the
tendon will act in passive modes by resisting
deformations in the structures though resulting
tension in the tendon. At higher excitations one
may switch over to Active mode where an
actuator applies the required tension in tendons.