Haiti Earthquake 2010

Every year, earthquakes take the lives of thousands of people , and destroy property worth billions. The 2010 Haiti Earthquake killed over 1,50,000 people and destroyed entire cities and villages. Designing Earthquake Resistant Structures is indispensable. It is imperative that structures are designed to resist earthquake forces, in order to reduce the loss of life. The science of Earthquake Engineering and Structural Design has improved tremendously, and thus, today, we can design safe structures which can safely withstand earthquakes of reasonable magnitude.

Index of all posts on Earthquake Resistant Structures

1. Design Earthquake Resistant Buildings | Engineering Tips
2. Earthquakes and Natural Calamities
3. Types of Seismic Waves
4. Hazardous Effects of Earthquakes
5. Effect of Earthquakes on Structures
6. Building Stiffness and Flexibility | Earthquake Engineering
7. Inertial Forces in a Structure
8. Effects of Deformations in Structures
9. Horizontal and Vertical Shaking of a Structure
10. Flow of Inertia Forces to Foundations
11. How Earthquakes affect Reinforced Concrete Buildings
12. Building Planning | Earthquake Resistant Buildings
13. Earthquake Resistant Structures by Planning and Design Approach
14. Design Philosophy of Earthquake Resistant Designs
15. Building Construction Materials for Earthquake Resistance
16. Concept of Earthquake Resistant Engineering
17. Seismic Base Isolation Technique for Building Earthquake Resistance
18. Energy Dissipation Devices for Earthquake Resistant Building Design
19. Active Control Devices for Earthquake Resistance

Haiti Earthquake 2010

Basically, there is the Conventional approach to achieving earthquake resistance, then there is the basic approach, and nowadays, there are Active Control Devices which can counteract the effects of earthquakes on buildings.

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.

]]> http://articles.architectjaved.com/earthquake_resistant_structures/earthquake-resistant-structures-by-planning-and-design-approach/feed/ 1 http://articles.architectjaved.com/earthquake_resistant_structures/concept-of-earthquake-resistant-engineering/ http://articles.architectjaved.com/earthquake_resistant_structures/concept-of-earthquake-resistant-engineering/#comments Tue, 15 Jun 2010 00:05:35 +0000 Architect http://articles.architectjaved.com/earthquake_resistant_structures/?p=67 If two bars of same length and same cross-sectional area – one made of ductile material and another of a brittle material. And a pull is applied on both bars until they break, then we notice that the ductile bar elongates by a large amount before it breaks, while the brittle bar breaks suddenly on reaching its maximum strength at a relative small elongation. Amongst the materials used in building construction, steel is ductile, while masonry and concrete are brittle.

Comparison of Brittle and Ductile Building materials

The correct building components need to be made ductile. The failure of columns can affect the stability of building, but failure of a beam causes localized effect. Therefore, it is better to make beams to be ductile weak links then columns. This method of designing RC buildings is called the strong-column weak-beam design method. Special design provisions from IS: 13920-1993 for RC structures ensures that adequate ductility is provided in the members where damage is expected.

Quality Control in Construction

The capacity design concept in earthquake resistant design of buildings will fail if the strengths of the brittle links fall below their minimum assured values. The strength of brittle construction materials, like masonry and concrete is highly sensitive to the quality of construction materials. Workmanship, supervision, and construction methods. Similarly, special care is needed in construction to ensure that the elements meant to be ductile are indeed provided with features that give adequate ductility. Thus, strict adherence to prescribed standards, of construction materials and processes is essential in assuring an earthquake resistant building. Regular testing of materials to laboratories, periodic training of workmen at professional training houses, and on-site evaluation of the technical work are elements of good quality control.

Popular Earthquake Resistant Techniques

Conventional seismic design attempts to make buildings that do not collapse under strong earthquake shaking, but may sustain damage to non-structural elements (like glass facades) and to some structural members in the building. This may render the building non-functional after the earthquake, which may be problematic in some structures, like hospitals, which need to remain functional in the aftermath of earthquake. Special techniques are required to design buildings such that they remain practically undamaged even in a severe earthquake. Buildings with such improved seismic performance usually cost more than the normal buildings do.

Two basic technologies are used to protect buildings from damaging earthquake effects. These are Base Isolation Devices and Seismic Dampers. The idea behind base isolation is to detach (isolate) the building from the ground in such a way that earthquake motions are not transmitted up through the building or at least greatly reduced. Seismic dampers are special devices introduced in the buildings to absorb the energy provided by the ground motion to the building (much like the way shock absorbers in motor vehicles absorb due to undulations of the road)

Base Isolation Technique

The concept of base isolation is explained through an example building resting on frictionless rollers. When the ground shakes, the rollers freely roll, but the building above does not move. Thus, no force is transferred to the building due to the shaking of the ground; simply, the building does not experience the earthquake.

Now, if the same building is rested on the flexible pads that offer resistance against lateral movements (fig 1b), then some effect of the ground shaking will be transferred to the building above. If the flexible pads are properly chosen, the forces induced by ground shaking can be a few times smaller than that experienced by the building built directly on ground, namely a fixed base building (fig 1c). The flexible pads are called base-isolators, whereas the structures protected by means of these devices are called base-isolated buildings. The main feature of the base isolation technology is that it introduces flexibility in the structure.

As a result, a robust medium-rise masonry or reinforced concrete building becomes extremely flexible. The isolators are often designed, to absorb energy and thus add damping to the system. This helps in further reducing the seismic response of the building. Many of the base isolators look like large rubber pads, although there are other types that are based on sliding of one part of the building relative to other. Also, base isolation is not suitable for all buildings. Mostly low to medium rise buildings rested on hard soil underneath; high-rise buildings or buildings rested on soft soil are not suitable for base isolation.

Concept of Base Isolation

Lead-rubber bearings are the frequently-used types of base isolation bearings. A lead rubber bearing is made from layers of rubber sandwiched together with layers of steel. In the middle of the solid lead “plug”. On top and bottom, the bearing is fitted with steel plates which are used to attach the bearing to the building and foundation. The bearing is very stiff and strong in the vertical direction, but flexible in the horizontal direction.

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 un-isolated 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.

Response of Base Isolated Buildings

The base-isolated building retains its original, rectangular shape. The base isolated building itself escapes the deformation and damage-which 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 ¼ 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.

Spherical Sliding Base Isolation

Spherical Sliding Base Isolation

Spherical sliding isolation systems are another type of base isolation. The building is supported by bearing pads that have a curved surface and low friction. During an earthquake the building is free to slide on the bearings. Since the bearings have a curved surface, the building slides both horizontally and vertically. The forces needed to move the building upwards limits the horizontal or lateral forces which would otherwise cause building deformations. Also by adjusting the radius of the bearings curved surface, this property can be used to design bearings that also lengthen the buildings period of vibration