DESIGN CONSIDERATION FOR AN

EARTHQUAKE RESISTANCE BUILDING

EARTHQUAKE RESISTANCE DESIGN

 DESIGN - it is analysis of forces on a buildings due to loads acting on it.

 If a building is enough to resist the earthquake, then such building is called
Earthquake resistant structure.
 Such design is called Earthquake resistant designs
POPULAR EARTHQUAKE RESISTANT TECHNIQUES

 Shear walls
 Bracing
 Seismic Dampers
 Isolation
 Bands
 Bearings/Rollers
 Others
SHEAR WALL

 Vertically oriented wide beams

 It carries seismic loads down to the bottom of
foundation
 Provides large strength and stiffness to
buildings.
 Thickness generally varies from 150 mm to
450 mm in high rise buildings.
SHEAR WALL CONSIDERATION

 Should be symmetrical in plan along both

axis
 The opening provided in shear walls should
be symmetrical
 Effective when located along the exterior
parameter of the building
BRACING

A braced frame is a structural system commonly

used in structures subject to lateral loads such as
wind and seismic pressure. The members in a
braced frame are generally made of structural
steel, which can work effectively both in tension
and compression.
 The beams and columns that form the frame
carry vertical loads, and the bracing system
carries the lateral loads.
 It can be problematic as they can interfere with
the design of the façade and the position of
openings so designers adopted it as an internal
or external design feature.
TYPES OF BRACINGS
 Single Diagonal - Trussing, or triangulation, is formed  Cross Bracing - Cross-bracing (or X-bracing) uses two
by inserting diagonal structural members into diagonal members crossing each other. These only
rectangular areas of a structural frame, helping to need to be resistant to tension, one brace at a time
stabilize the frame. If a single brace is used, it must acting to resist sideways forces, depending on the
be sufficiently resistant to tension and compression. direction of loading. As a result, steel cables can also
be used for cross-bracing.
TYPES OF BRACINGS
 K - Bracing - K-braces connect to the columns at mid-  V-Bracing - Two diagonal members forming a V-shape
height. This frame has more flexibility for the provision of extend downwards from the top two corners of a
openings in the facade and results in the least bending in horizontal member and meet at a centre point on the
lower horizontal member (left-hand diagram). Inverted V-
floor beams. K-bracing is generally discouraged in
bracing (right-hand diagram, also known as chevron
seismic regions because of the potential for column
bracing) involves the two members meeting at a centre
failure if the compression brace buckles. point on the upper horizontal member.
SEISMIC DAMPERS

 Dampers are mechanical devices

that look somewhat like huge shock
absorbers and their function is to
absorb and dissipate the energy
supplied by the ground movement
during an earthquake so that the
building remains unhampered.
 These are used in place of structural
elements such as diagonal braces
and acts like shock absorbers in
cars
TYPES OF DAMPERS

 Viscous Damper – Reduce the vibration by

fluid action.
 Friction Dampers – Reduce the vibration by
rubbing action between surfaces
 Tuned mass dampers – Reduce vibration by
harmonic action
BASE ISOLATION

 Base isolators is a technique developed to

prevent or minimize damage to building
during an earthquake. When a building is
built away (isolated) from the ground, resting
on flexible bearings or pads known as base
isolators, it will move little or not at all during
an earthquake
 Reduce the acceleration by ¼ the
acceleration of a fixed building
 It lengthen the building’s period of vibration
BASIC COMPONENTS OF A BASE ISOLATION
 Rubber – The rubber provides flexibility. At the
end of an earthquake, the rubber bearing will
slowly bring the building back to its original
position.
 Lead – lead has plastic property. During an
earthquake, the kinetic energy of the earthquake
is absorbed into heat energy as the lead is
deformed.
 Steel – If layers of steel are used with rubber, the
bearing can move in the horizontal direction but
is stiff in the vertical direction.
BANDS

 Horizontal bands are the most

important earthquake-resistant
feature in masonry buildings.
 The bands are provided to hold
a masonry building as a single
unit by tying all the walls
together, and are similar to a
closed belt provided around
cardboard boxes.
SPHERICAL SLIDING BEARINGS

 It uses a bearing pads that have a spherical

surface and low friction material similar to
Teflon.
 During an earthquake, the building is free to
slide both horizontally and vertically
 It will return to original position after the ground
shaking stops..
OTHERS: SEISMIC OR EXPANSION JOINTS

 Seismic joints are wide expansion joints provide

to separate portions of buildings dissimilar in
mass and in stiffness. The seismic joint coverage
must allow movement, and be architecturally
acceptable.
 Expansion joints are introduced to accommodate
building movements caused by shrinkage, creep,
or temperature changes.
HOW BUILDINGS RESPOND TO EARTHQUAKES
The earthquake as well as wind load acting on the buildings are termed as ‘lateral loads’
since their effect is felt mainly in the horizontal direction. This is in contrast to the
weights of the building, which act vertically down due to gravity. Forces due to
earthquake, called seismic forces, are induced in a building because of the heavy
masses present at various floor levels. Such forces are called inertial forces, is
calculated by the products of the masses and their respective accelerations. If there
is no mass, there is no inertial force.
Accelerations generated by the seismic waves in the ground get transmitted through the
vibrating structure to the masses at various levels, thereby generating the so-called
horizontal seismic forces. The building behaves like a vertical cantilever, and swings
horizontally almost like an inverted pendulum, with masses at higher levels swinging
more. Hence, the generated seismic forces are higher at the higher floor levels.
Because of the cantilever action of the building (fixed to the ground and free at the
top), the forces accumulate from top to bottom. The total horizontal force acting on
the ground storey columns is a sum of the forces (seismic loads) acting at all the
levels above. This is termed as the base shear and it leads to highest stresses in the
lowermost columns.
 1. EFFECT OF STIFFNESS
Buildings are expected to behave elastically under service loads. Elasticity is that property by which a body or a
structure, displaced by a load, regains its original shape upon unloading. It is by virtue of this property, that buildings
that are pushed horizontally by wind or mild earthquake loads, return to the original vertical configuration after the
wind or the tremor has passed.
How much the building deflects under a given load is measured by a property called stiffness, which may be defined
as “the force required to cause unit deflection”. The stiffness required to resist lateral forces is termed as lateral
stiffness. The stiffer the building, the less it will deflect (‘drift’)
 2. EFFECT OF DUCTILITY
The ability of a structure to deform with damage,
without breaking suddenly (without warning), is termed
as ductility. With ductility, a building can continue to
resist seismic forces without collapsing.
In a similar way, buildings too can exhibit either ductile
or brittle (non-ductile) behaviour, depending on the
structural material, design and detailing. Generally,
conventional masonry buildings exhibit brittle behaviour,
when provided with earthquake resistant features. On
the other hand, well-designed buildings made with
reinforced concrete or structural steel can exhibit ductile
behaviour.
 Ductility is required at locations of very
high stress, such as the beam-column joint.
The horizontal bars in the beam should be
anchored well in the joint and the vertical
ties spaced closely near the joint. The
vertical bars and the closely spaced
horizontal ties in the column should be
continuous throughout the joint. These
important details are often overlooked in
reinforced concrete construction, whereby
the desired ductility is not achieved.
 3. EFFECT OF STRENGTH AND INTEGRITY
Every structural component has strength, which is the magnitude of the
maximum internal force (such as axial force or bending moment) it can
resist under a certain type of loading. When this strength is exceeded by
the applied load, the material fails (or collapses). The strength depends not
only on the type of material, but also on other factors, such as the size of
the cross-section. However, the thicker wall will attract higher earthquake
force.
Thus, an important principle adopted in the seismic resistant design of
framed buildings is this: Soil must be stronger than foundations;
foundations must be stronger than columns; columns must be stronger
than beams.
To ensure that forces are safely transmitted from beams to columns, from
columns to foundations, and from foundation to soil, the connections at the
beam-column joints, column- foundation joints and foundation-soil
interface should have the required strength (and ductility).
 4. EFFECT OF LAYOUT AND CONFIGURATION

Providing earthquake resistance to buildings is primarily the responsibility of civil engineers. But architects
also have a major role to play. Some architectural features, relating to overall size and shape, are unfavorable
and invite potential seismic disaster. It is desirable that the client also knows something of these features, if
the building is located in a high seismic zone. Prevention is always better than cure. In such situations, safety
is preferable to fancy looks. Otherwise, structural design has to be done carefully and competently. In
general, if the basic architectural features favoring good seismic resistance are adopted, the cost of making
the building earthquake proof is less.
 The, building should have a simple geometrical shape in
plan, such as rectangular or circular. All rectangular shapes
are not uniformly good. If the building is too long (in one
direction) or too large in plan, it is likely to be damaged
during earthquakes.
Buildings with large cut-outs in the walls, floors and roofs
are undesirable, as this affects their integrity. Similarly,
buildings which have ‘L’, ‘U’, ‘V’, ‘Y’ or ‘H’ shapes in plan are
also undesirable, inviting severe stresses at the interior
corners called re-entrant corners. Each wing of the building
tends to vibrate separately in the event of an earthquake,
causing serious problems at the common core region,
leading to potential collapse.
 Buildings should not only be simple in plan but
also in elevation. The walls and columns should
continue uninterrupted from top to bottom, to
ensure transmission of forces to the supporting
ground through the shortest and simplest path. If
there is any discontinuity in this path of load
transmission, there is a danger of potential damage
to the building in the event of an earthquake.
Hence, hanging or floating columns (columns which
begin in an upper storey from a beam) and
discontinuity of walls in the ground or other storey
(open ground storey) should be avoided.
 Buildings with vertical setbacks (either plaza type
buildings, or with cantilever projection at the top) or
many overhanging projections perform poorly in terms
of seismic resistance. In fact, all overhanging
projections including balconies should be avoided, as
these are the first elements to collapse in the event of
an earthquake.

Plaza Type Building Building w/

overhang projection
 Two buildings or two structurally isolated
sections of a single building should not
be too close to each other, as there is a
danger of possible collision against each
other. This effect is called pounding and
is usually not considered in design. The
effect is more severe for tall buildings. It
is recommended that a calculated gap
subject to a minimum value be
maintained between the buildings to
avoid pounding. Otherwise, there can be
serious damage to both the buildings or
building sections, even if they are
designed adequately individually.
 5. EFFECT OF SOIL
The accelerations that occur in the rock layer of the crust during an
earthquake get transmitted to the building through the soil over the
rock layer. When the soil is relatively soft, the accelerations tend to get
magnified, resulting in the structure attracting higher seismic loads.
This must be taken into account during structural design. Knowledge of
the soil strata is also essential for designing the foundations of the
building.
Buildings located in loose granular soils (sands), in the presence of
subsoil water, have another serious and potential danger that can
occur during an earthquake.
The soil can behave like quicksand through a phenomenon called
liquefaction. This happens because of a sudden increase in pore water
pressure on account of seismic shear waves, causing the water-sand
mixture to flow upwards and practically convert the soil behaviour to
that of a liquid. Buildings located in such soils may sink or go afloat,
and tilt significantly and collapse.
INTRODUCTION TO SEISMIC ANALYSIS AND DESIGN
The subject of earthquake engineering has received a major emphasis in
recent years, and specially in the wake of the 2001 earthquake in Gujarat.
It is now well realized that earthquake loads need to be considered
explicitly in the design of structures.
 Earthquakes cause the ground to shake violently, thereby triggering
landslides, creating tsunamis and floods, and causing the ground to heave
and crack, resulting in large-scale destruction to life and property.
 The study of why and where of earthquakes comes under geology.
 The study of the characteristics of the earthquake ground motion and its
effects on engineered structures are the subjects of earthquake
engineering.
 The effect of earthquakes on structures and the design of structures to
withstand earthquakes with low damage is the subject of earthquake
resistant structural design.
 Local site effects such as ground subsidence, liquefaction and site
amplification are studied under geotechnical earthquake engineering.
Earthquake load differs from other loads in many respects, which makes it more
difficult to design for it. Some of the characteristics of earthquake loading are
as follows
 Earthquake loading is uncertain with respect to its amplitude, duration,
and frequency content.
 Earthquake loading is predominantly lateral and can cause severe damage
unless special provisions are made to resist them.
 Earthquake loading is cyclic and induces reversal of stresses.
 Earthquake loading is dynamic and produces different degree of response
in different structures.
These characteristics make seismic analysis and design extremely difficult and
time- consuming and so simplified procedures are often used in practice.
EARTHQUAKE RESISTANT DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
The key for good seismic design is simplicity in plan and elevation. Structures, which have more than one axis of
symmetry and have uniform distribution of strength and stiffness are said to be regular structures. Structures, which
do not satisfy one or more of the above requirements, are said to be irregular. Irregular structures exhibit special
problems during earthquakes and should be avoided as far as possible.
Masonry and infill (non-structural) walls should be reinforced by vertical and horizontal reinforcing bands to avoid
their failure under a severe earthquake. It should be noted that wood is not ductile and needs to be reinforced with
steel to withstand severe earthquakes. Also other non- structural elements should be carefully designed so that they
do not cause injury to people.
Reinforced Concrete elements should requires extra stirrups at potential hinging locations and extra anchorage
lengths. It should be remembered that steel structures perform better than RC structures and should be adopted for
all important buildings such as schools, multi-storied buildings and hospitals. Pre-cast elements should be tied
securely so that they don’t get dislodged during the earthquake.
Projecting elements such as porches, sun-shades, water tanks, balconies and parapet walls cause serious injuries
to people and so should be designed to withstand earthquake loading without developing instability.
 COMMON IRREGULARITIES AND THEIR EFFECTS ALONG WITH
POSSIBLE RETROFITTING STRATEGIES ARE DESCRIBED BELOW.
1. Asymmetric plan/Asymmetric structural action
Building plan with one or no axis of symmetry or building with asymmetric structural action

 Earthquake induced inertia force acts at centre of mass, CM.

 Building resistance acts at the centre of stiffness, CS.
 Resulting couple twist the building.

Affect all types of buildings such as masonry, reinforced concrete with or without shear walls and steel buildings.
Retrofitting strategy: reduce asymmetry to bring CM near CS.
2. Reentrant corners
Building plans with re-entrant corners
 Re-entrant corners tend to open and close during
vibration.
 Opening leads to cracking and closing leads to crushing
at reentrant corners.

Retrofitting strategy: Cut plan into separate wings

3. Open to sky, Ducts /atriums
Building with large open to sky ducts and/or staircases placed
between floor areas (
 Cutting of floor diaphragms for light, ventilation, staircases
and lifts disturbs force transfer between floor areas.
 Affect multi-storeyed building with reinforced concrete slabs
over floor areas.

Retrofitting strategy: Install horizontal steel bracings in ducts

and separate the staircase.
4. Staggered column buildings
Buildings with columns not in line and/or oriented in
different directions. Buildings with 230mm
columns.
 Inadequate frame action to resist seismic loads
in either direction.
 230mm columns are too weak and flexible for
buildings over 2-storeys.
 Affect reinforced concrete framed buildings
Retrofitting strategy: Provide reinforced concrete shear
walls over entire height.
5. Stilt floor buildings
Buildings with full or partial area of ground floor having stilts to
facilitate parking or other activity, like shops with rolling
shutters
 Absence of walls reduces stiffness of ground storey
making it “soft”
 The soft storey gets damaged during earthquake and the
building tends to sit due to crushing of columns.
 Affect reinforced concrete buildings with strong masonry
walls in upper floors.
Retrofitting strategy: Stiffen the ground storey by RC shear
walls or steel bracings.
6. Plaza type buildings
Buildings with large built-up areas in lower storeys and a tower
rising above as in hotels shopping mall cum office buildings
(Figure 2.8).
 Sudden reduction in stiffness causes damage at the
base of tower.
 Affect all types of buildings including modern reinforced
concrete buildings and older/historic masonry buildings.
Retrofitting strategies: Provide steel bracing and/or reduce
tower height.
7. Clustered buildings
Buildings close to one another as in city business areas
and sometimes having common walls.
 Building hit or pound each other during
earthquakes due to insufficient space for
vibration.
 Affect all types of buildings.
Retrofitting strategy: Increasing gap by demolishing or
provide bridge bearings in between.
8. Non-ductile buildings
Reinforced buildings not detailed as per IS: 13920
and masonry buildings without reinforcement bands.
 Buildings disintegrate due to inadequate
integral action.
 Affect reinforced concrete and masonry
buildings.
Retrofitting strategy: Provide extra frames and tie all
elements together.
9. Buildings with projecting elements
Buildings with large projections like canopies, balconies, sunshades,
parapets, and water tanks in the roofs (Figure 2.11).
 Horizontal projecting elements generally develop stability
problems and tend to overturn.
 Vertically projecting elements experience amplified excitations
and so develop stability problems.
 Affect all types of buildings except light weight sheetings.
Retrofitting strategy: Reduce projections or reduce their weight.
Alternatively they may be braced or anchored to main elements.
Seismic Design Philosophy
Severe earthquakes have an extremely low probability of occurrence during the life of a structure.
If a structure has to resist such earthquakes elastically, it would require an expensive lateral load
resisting system, which is unwarranted. On the other hand, if the structure loses its aesthetics or
functionality quite often due to minor tremors and needs repairs, it will be a very unfavorable design.
The usual strategy is:
In addition to strength requirements at the ultimate load, structures are also designed to have
adequate stiffness in the lateral direction under service loads. This is usually ensured, by limiting the
relative displacement between successive floors, known as the storey drift. For buildings, a maximum
allowable storey drift of 0.004 times the storey height is normally used under moderate earthquakes.
 Analysis and Design for Earthquake Loads
Structures are usually designed for gravity loads and checked for earthquake loading. In conformity with
the design philosophy, this check consists of two steps - the first ensures elastic response under
moderate earthquakes and the second ensures that collapse is not allowed under a severe earthquake.
Due to the uncertainties associated in predicting the inelastic response, the second check may be
dispensed with, by providing adequate ductility and energy dissipation capacity.
The important factors, which influence earthquake resistant design are, the geographical location of the
structure, the site soil and foundation condition, the importance of the structure, the dynamic
characteristics of the structure such as the natural periods and the properties of the structure such as
strength, stiffness, ductility, and energy dissipation capacity. These factors are considered directly or
indirectly in all the methods of analysis.

The response spectrum method has the advantage that, it can account for irregularities as well as
higher mode contributions and gives more accurate results. Therefore, this is the most widely used
method in seismic analysis.
 Calculation of Earthquake Loads
The horizontal seismic coefficient Ah takes into account the location of the structure
by means of a zone factor Z, the importance of the structure by means of a factor I
and the ductility by means of a factor R. It also considers the flexibility of the
structure-foundation system by means of an acceleration ratio Sa/g , which is a
function of the natural time period T. This last ratio is given in the form of a graph
known as the response spectrum. The horizontal seismic coefficient Ah is given by
Ah = Z I Sa / 2 R g
where,
Z = Zone factor corresponding to the seismic zone obtained from a map
I = Importance factor
R = Response reduction factor.
Zone factor Z
Seismic zone II III IV V
Seismic Low Moderate Severe Very severe
intensity
Z 0.10 0.16 0.24 0.36
For important service and community buildings, such as hospitals, schools; monumental structures;
emergency buildings like telephone exchange, television stations, radio stations, railway stations, fire
station buildings; large community halls like cinemas, assembly halls and subway stations, power
stations, the importance factor may be taken as 1.5 but for most buildings it may be taken as 1.0.
The response reduction factor R is also specified for various buildings depending on the type of
detailing adopted.
For example, if a building is detailed as per ductile detailing provisions given in IS 13920, then the R
factor is 5, else it is 3.
The natural time period T is very important and should be calculated correctly. For single storey
structures, it may be taken as T = 2π√(k/m) where k is the lateral (horizontal) stiffness of the
supporting structure and m is the mass of the roof usually taken as the sum of the roof dead load
plus 50% of the live load divided by the acceleration due to gravity.
Fundamental natural period(sec) of MR frame buildings without infills (solid walls),
Ta = 0.075 h0.75 for RC buildings
Ta = 0.085 h0.75 for steel buildings
where, h= height of building in m.
And, for frames with infills,
Ta = 0.09h/√d
where
d= base dimension of the building at the plinth level in m
Finally, the acceleration ratio Sa/g can be obtained from the graph corresponding to Ta and the soil
type in Figure. In this figure, medium soil corresponds to stiff clay or sand and soft soil corresponds
to loose clay and loamy soils.
The base shear is then given by
Vb=Ah W
The base shear calculated above is then distributed along the height of the building using the
formula,
Qi = VB Wi hi *2/ ∑ Wi hi *2
Qi is the lateral force at the top of floor i,
Wi is the total of dead and appropriate amount of live load at the top of floor i,
hi is the height measured from the base of the building to the top of floor i,
n is the number of storeys.
 Capacity Design and Detailing
With reference to framed structures, it has been found that some
collapse mechanisms ensure larger energy dissipation capacities
compared to some other collapse mechanisms. The technique of
ensuring a preferred collapse mechanism by suitably adjusting the
capacities of the members is called Capacity Design.
In practice, due to the difficulties associated with inelastic analysis and
design, no attempt is made to calculate the actual capacities in relation
to seismic demand and it is only ensured that the members and joints of
the structure have adequate ductility and energy dissipation capacities
and the structure as a whole will fail in a preferred collapse mechanism.
REFERENCE:

 https://siet.secab.org/admin/Event/ppts/day%205/Dr.%20Santosh%20Patil/SROB_new_OWN.pptx

 T.K. DattaDepartment Of Civil Engineering, IIT.

https://www.slideshare.net/tushardatta/seismic-analysis-of-structures-i-23230888