CHAPTER-3

Earthquake Loading and

Earthquake Resistant
Structures
Lectuer-3
By; G/MESKEL D.
 What is an Earthquake?
 Movements within the Earth’s crust cause stress
to build up at points of weakness, and rocks to
deform.
 Stored energy builds up in the same way as
energy builds up in the spring of a watch when it
is wound.
 When the stress finally exceeds the strength of
the rock, the rock fractures along a fault, often at
a zone of existing weakness within the rock. The
stored energy is suddenly released as an
earthquake.
 Cont.…
 Earthquakes are essentially vibrations of the earth’s crust
 Two distinct mechanisms cause earthquakes:
Volcanic eruption
Tectonic movements of the earth’s crust.
 Tectonic movements; are the major causes of observed
earthquakes. They are disturbances resulting from a
rupture or a sudden movement along an existing fault in
the earth’s crust.
 Major earthquakes occur most frequently in particular
areas of the earth’s surface that are called zones of high
probability. However, it is theoretically possible to have
a major earthquake anywhere on the earth at some time.
 Cont.…
 During an earthquake the ground surface moves in all
directions.
 The most damaging effects on structures are generally the
movements in a direction parallel to the ground surface
(that is, horizontally) because of the fact that structures
are routinely designed for vertical gravity loads.
 There is a great uncertainty in the amplitude, duration,
and frequency content of the motions that may be
expected at a particular site.
 Major earthquakes are usually rather short in duration,
often lasting only a few seconds
 Cont.…
Movement of body waves away from the focus of the earthquake. The
epicenter is the location on the surface directly above the earthquake's focus.
Cont.…
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Cont.…
 Cont.…
Body waves
Behavior of a building during an earthquake
 Behavior of a building during an earthquake
Earthquake of June 16, 1964 in Niigata, Japan had a magnitude
of 7.4. Liquefaction of some soils in the area caused large
apartment buildings to tip over on their sides.
 Cont.…
A view of a parking lot on the campus of California State
University. Columns of reinforced concrete failed after the 1994
Northridge earthquake and its aftershocks.
 Cont.…
The earthquake of March 27, 1964, in the Gulf of Alaska
generated a tsunami. This photo shows a beached fishing boat
that was carried landward by the tsunami wave.
Cont.…
2011 Japan Earthquake
 Cont.…
2011 Japan Earthquake
 Date 14:46:23, 11 March 2011
 Duration 6 minutes
 Magnitude 9.0
 Depth 32 km
 Type Megathrust earthquake
 Countries or regions affected Japan (primary); Pacific Rim (tsunami, secondary)
 Total damage Tsunami wave, flooding, landslides, fires, building and
infrastructure damage, nuclear incidents including radiation releases
 Peak ground acceleration 2.99 g
 Tsunami: 37.9 meters
 Casualties 12,787 deaths; 4,661 injured; 14,991 people missing
 over 125,000 buildings damaged or destroyed. The earthquake and tsunami
caused extensive and severe structural damage in Japan, including heavy
damage to roads and railways as well as fires in many areas, Landslides and a
dam collapse.
Earthquake Effects - Fires

Loma Prieta, CA 1989 (M =7.1)

Earthquake Effects - Ground Shaking

Loma Prieta, CA 1989 (M =7.1)

Earthquake Effects - Ground Shaking

Japan Earthquake 2011 (M =9)

Earthquake Effects - Surface Faulting

El-Asnam, Algeria 1980 (M = 7.2)

Guatemala, 1976 (M = 7.9)

 Major past EQ of Ethiopia
 Langano (1906): Mercalli Scale 8, 110 Km
 Kara Kore (1961): Richter scale 6.5, 150 Km
Karakore Earthquake (1961)

CEng 7505 Earthquake Eng'g

‘Earthquakes
Don’t Kill …
Buildings Do’
 MEASUREMENT OF EARTHQUAKES
• Modern recording equipment and practices provide us
with representations of the ground movements at various
locations
• There are two terms used to define the measurement of
earthquakes:
Magnitude: refers to a measure of its size in terms of
energy released and radiated in the form of seismic
waves.
Intensity: is the term intended to denote the potential
destruction of an earthquake at a particular location. It
depends on focal depth, epicenter distance, local geology
and structural characteristics in addition to the magnitude
of earthquake.
 Cont.…
 The strength of an earthquake can be measured by a
device called a seismograph.
 When an earthquake occurs this device converts the
wave energy into a standard unit of measurement like
the Richter scale.
 In the Richter scale, units of measurement are
referred to as magnitudes.
 The Richter scale is logarithmic.
 Thus, each unit increase in magnitude represents 10
times more energy released.
 Cont.…
• The following equation can be used to
approximate the amount of energy released
from an earthquake in joules when Richter
magnitude (M) is known:
Energy in joules = 1.74 x 10(5 + 1.44*M)
DESIGN OF EARTHQUAKE RESISTANT STRUCTURES

A structure should be able to:

– Resist earthquakes of minor intensity with out
damage
– Resist moderate earthquakes with minor structural
and some non-structural damages
– Resist major catastrophic earthquakes with out
collapse
 Seismic Load Resistive Structural Systems
The various elements of structural systems of buildings,
which serve as seismic, load resistive system consists of:
Horizontal diaphragms: consist of elements such as roofs,
floor framing and/or the deck system having sufficient
strength and stiffness with rigid and useful planes.
Open rigid frames: consist of beams and columns framed
together to produce moment resisting system and are the most
flexible of the basic type of lateral resistive system.
Braced frames: refers to the use of trussing or triangulation
of the frame to achieve its lateral stability. The trussing causes
the lateral loads to induce only axial forces in the members of
the frame as compared to the behavior of rigid frame.
Vertical diaphragms: shear walls are walls of buildings and
essentially function as lateral load resistive system, Most
common type includes: concrete masonry, wood shear walls,
RC shear walls.
 Cont.…

Lateral-force-resisting systems:
(a) steel moment-resisting frame;
(b) reinforced concrete moment-resisting frame;
(c) braced steel frame;
(d) reinforced concrete shear walls;
(e)steel frame building with cast-in-place concrete shear walls;
(f) steel frame building with in-filled walls of no reinforced masonry.
Cont.…
RESPONSE OF STRUCTURES TO EARTHQUAKE MOTIONS
Cont.…
Cont.…
Cont.…
Cont.…
 Appropriate Configurations
Building and its structure Should;
 Be Simple Symmetric and Regular in Plan and
Elevation
 have a uniform and continuous distribution of mass,
stiffness, strength and ductility.
 have the largest possible number of defense lines.
 have well separated non-structural components
 be detailed so that the inelastic deformations can
be constrained (controlled) to develop in desired
regions and according to a desirable Hierarchy
 be provided with balanced stiffness and strength
between its members, connections and supports.
 Plan Regularity
• Gaps separating adjacent
structures must large enough
to avoid hammering of
adjacent structures due to
out-of-phase relative motion
of the independent
structures
• Openings should not
jeopardize diaphragm action
of the slabs and be
symmetrically placed
 Regularity in Elevation
• Tall and slender buildings should be
avoided
• Avoided Concentration of masses at
the top of a building
• Setbacks should be avoided
• If required, adequate structural
separation should be provided.
• Irregularities within the framing
system should be avoided
• Any connections ( bridging) between
two independent buildings should be
such as to prevent horizontal force
transfer between the two structures
• Avoided Staggered floor
arrangements
 Cont.…
When setbacks are present, the following additional conditions apply:
•a) for gradual setbacks preserving axial symmetry, the setback at any
floor shall be not greater than 20 % of the previous plan dimension in
the direction of the setback (see Figure a and Figure b)
•b) for a single setback within the lower 15 % of the total height of the
main structural system, the setback shall be not greater than 50 % of the
previous plan dimension (see Figure's c). In this case the structure of
the base zone within the vertically projected perimeter of the upper
storeys should be designed to resist at least 75% of the horizontal shear
forces that would develop in that zone in a similar building without the
base enlargement;
•c) if the setbacks do not preserve symmetry, in each face the sum of
the setbacks at all storeys shall be not greater than 30 % of the plan
dimension at the ground floor above the foundation or above the top of
a rigid basement, and the individual setbacks shall be not greater than
10 % of the previous plan dimension (see Figure d).
Criteria for regularity of buildings with setbacks
Consequences of structural regularity on seismic
analysis and design

Regularity Allowed Simplification Behaviour factor

Linear-elastic
Plan Elevation Model (for linear analysis)
Analysis

Yes Yes Planar Lateral forcea Reference value

Yes No Planar Modal Decreased value
No Yes Spatialb Lateral forcea Reference value
No No Spatial Modal Decreased value
 Earthquake Design Provisions
There are two accepted methods of estimating magnitude
and distribution of earthquake induced lateral forces.
Equivalent static (building code) method
Dynamic methods:
• The Equivalent static method of analysis is applied to
buildings whose response is not significantly affected by
contributions from higher modes of vibration. These are
buildings, which are regular in plan and elevation and
have fundamental periods of vibration less than 2sec.
However, the dynamic analysis is applicable to all types
of buildings.
 The complete analysis and design process may be divided into
the following principal steps:
a) Determination of design earthquake forces:
1. Calculation of base shear corresponding to the computed
or estimated fundamental period of vibration of the
structure
2. Distribution of the base shear over the height of the
building
3. Distribution of story shear into the lateral force resisting
systems of the building (shear walls, frame, dual system…)
b) Analysis of the structure under the lateral forces in
combination with gravity loadings or any other loads to obtain
the member design forces.
c) Designing members and joints for the most unfavorable
condition of gravity and lateral loads, with emphasis placed on
the design and detailing of members and their connections to
ensure their ductile behavior.
 a) Determination of Design Earthquake Forces
1. Determination of base shear
2. Distribution of base shear over height of a building
Determination of base shear
The seismic base shear force, Fb, for each main direction is determined
from:
Fb = Sd (T1) m 
Where
Sd(T1) = ordinate of the design spectrum at period T1
T1 is the fundamental period of vibration of the building for lateral
motion in the direction considered;
m is the total mass of the building, above the foundation or above the
top of a rigid basement, computed
λ is the correction factor, the value of which is equal to: λ= 0.85 if T1 <
2 TC and the building has more than two storeys, or λ = 1.0 otherwise.
Determination of horizontal component design spectrum for elastic
analysis at period T1
 Cont.…
where
T is the vibration period of a linear single-degree-of-freedom system;
ag is the design ground acceleration on type A ground (ag = γIagR);
TB is the lower limit of the period of the constant spectral acceleration
branch;
TC is the upper limit of the period of the constant spectral acceleration
branch;
TD is the value defining the beginning of the constant displacement
response range of the spectrum;
S is the soil factor;
 is the damping correction factor with a reference value of η = 1 for 5%
viscous damping.
q is the behaviour factor;
β is the lower bound factor for the horizontal design spectrum.
NOTE The value to be ascribed to β for use is found in the National Annex.
The recommended value for β is 0,2.
 Cont..
• I importance factor
• agR reference peak ground acceleration on
type A ground

fig. Shape of the elastic response spectrum

 Cont..
The values of the period TB, TC and TD and of the soil factor
S describing the shape of the elastic response spectrum
depend upon the ground type.
Ground
type S TB(s) TC(s) TD(s)

A 1.0 0.05 0.25 1.2

B 1.35 0.05 0.25 1.2
C 1.5 0.10 0.25 1.2
D 1.8 0.10 0.30 1.2
E 1.6 0.05 0.25 1.2
Values of the parameters describing the recommended Type 1 elastic
response spectra
 Cont..

Ground type S TB(s) TC(s) TD(s)

A 1.0 0.15 0.4 2.0

B 1.2 0.15 0.5 2.0

C 1.15 0.20 0.6 2.0

D 1.35 0.20 0.8 2.0

E 1.4 0.15 0.5 2.0

Values of the parameters describing the recommended Type 2 elastic response

spectra
 Cont..

Recommended Type 1 elastic response spectra for ground types A to E (5% damping)
 Cont..

Recommended Type 2 elastic response spectra for ground types A to E (5% damping
Cont..
 Cont..
 Alternatively, for structures with concrete or masonry shear walls the value Ct in
expression may be taken as being

 where

 Ac is the total effective area of the shear walls in the first storey of the
building, in m2;
 Ai is the effective cross-sectional area of the shear wall i in the first storey
of the building, in m2;
 lwi is the length of the shear wall i in the first storey in the direction parallel
to the applied forces, in m, with the restriction that lwi/H should not exceed 0.9.
 Alternative, the estimation T1 (in s) may be made by using the following
expression:

 d is the lateral elastic displacement of the top of the building, in m, due to

the gravity loads applied in the horizontal direction .
 Distribution of the horizontal seismic forces
The seismic action effects shall be determined by
applying, to the two planar models, horizontal forces
Fi to all storeys.
where
Fi is the horizontal force acting on storey i;
Fb is the seismic base shear
Si , sj are the displacements of masses mi, mj in
the fundamental mode shape;
Mi , mj are the storey masses
 Cont…
• When the fundamental mode shape is
approximated by horizontal displacements
increasing linearly along the height, the
horizontal forces Fi should be taken as being
given by:
• where
• zi, zj are the heights of the masses mi,mj
above the level of application of the seismic
action (foundation or top of a rigid basement).
 3- Distribution of story shear (seismic or wind) into
the lateral force resisting systems of the building
• Center of mass (Xm, Ym): it is a point on a floor level where the
whole floor mass and its inertial effects can be replaced using
a lumped equivalent mass.

• Center of seismic force: it is a point on a floor level where a

horizontal seismic force Fi passes through. This point is same
as the center of mass.
• Center of stiffness (Xs, Ys): a point where the stiffness or
strength of the floor is concentrated.
• Shear center (Xi, Yi): a point where the center of stiffness
(shear center) of the ith shear wall or column is located.
• Lever arm ( ): the distance between the center of
stiffness of the floor and the shear center of the ith shear wall
or column.

• Eccentricities (ex, ey): the difference between the center of

mass and center of stiffness of the floor.