EARTHQUAKE, ITS EFFECTS, DESIGN CONSTRUCTION
OF BUILDINGS
INTRODUCTION
Earthquake is
a natural phenomenon, which can occur any time anywhere. Therefore, the
Buildings must be built in such a way that they are safe during such
occurrence. IS: 1893, Code of Practice For “CRITERIA FOR EARTHQUAKE RESISTANT
DESIGN OF STRUCTURES” give the guidelines for the design of structures. This
has been revised (2002) taking care of the experiences of several Earthquakes,
which occurred after 1984 when the code was last revised. During various
Earthquakes, large number of buildings failed and many lessons are learnt
especially after Gujrat Earthquake (2001). This paper describes in brief the
phenomenon of Earthquakes, various provisions that can be made for calculating
the Design forces. It also brings out many provisions, which can be implemented
in design and/or construction of buildings to make them earthquake resistant.
HOW EARTHQUAKES OCCUR?
Earth is a
Spherical body made up of mainly four layers consisting of Inner & Outer
Core, Mantle and Crust as shown in Figure 1. The Core of Earth is very hot.
There is enormous temperature and pressure gradient between Core (innermost
layer) and Crust (outermost / top layer), which generates convection currents
in the Mantle. These currents cause the Crust and a portion of the Mantle to
slide over the outer Core. It also gives rise to the development of strain
energy, which causes crust to slide over mantle. Earth’s crust consists of 7
major tectonic plates (that contain continents and ocean basins), which keep
moving in different directions. As a result of such movements, strains are
building up at plate interfaces. In course of time, when this cumulative strain
energy becomes excessive for the rock plates to sustain, it gets released in
the form of a slip occurring between adjoining plates. The interface of plates
is called fault or fault zones. Some of these faults are active, whereas others
are not. When the amount of energy stored inside Earth’s body increases and
exceeds the breaking strength of the Earth’s crust in a active fault zone, then
it suddenly breaks and releases the energy stored inside the Earth causing
vibrations or Earthquake. There are many other explanations about the
occurrence of earthquakes.
Tsunami
When the
epicenter of earthquake is on Sea floor, then vibrations are also caused on the
body of seawater. Therefore, earthquakes on sea floor are the origin of tsunami
waves. After an earthquake has occurred beneath the sea floor at shallow depth,
it takes some time (say few minutes to few hours) for dynamic waves of large
heights to be formed. The shock embedded wave travels at a speed of about 1000
km per hour or so and reaches Coastline.
Fig. 1 –
Earth’s Core & Crust Showing 4 Layers of Earth’s Body
MAGNITUDE AND SCALE OF AN EARTHQUAKE
Rupture of
earth’s crust generally commences at a deep point, somewhere inside the Earth’s
body on the fault plane, which is called Focus or Hypocentre of the quake. At
this point, the first rupture of the fault surface takes place. The point right
above the focus is called the Epicentre as shown in Figure -2. The magnitude of
an earthquake is the measure of the energy released from the Focus. It is
commonly measured in terms of Richter’s scale.
EPICENTER
FOCUS Fig. 2 – Typical Position of Epicentre & Focus (Hypocentre) inside
earth’s body
The relation
between the energy released and magnitude is: Log E = 11.8 + 1.5 M Where,
M – Magnitude of earthquake
E – Amount of energy released during an Earthquake.
By definition, Magnitude is the logarithm to the base 10 of the maximum trace
amplitude, measured in microns (10-6 m), which the Standard Short Period
Torsion (Wood – Anderson) Seismometer would register due to the earthquake at
an epicentral distance of 100 km.
It is seen from above relation that energy released by an earthquake increases
by a factor of 32 for each unit increase in magnitude. That is, each increase
in magnitude number is a 10 – fold bigger wave and has 32 – fold increase in
energy released by that wave. It is said that Bhuj Earthquake (2001) at
magnitude 7.7 released so much energy, which was about 100 times the energy
given by Atom Bomb dropped on Hiroshima during World War II. The magnitude of
earthquake by itself is not sufficient to indicate whether Structural damage at
any place can be expected. This is only a measure of the size of earthquake and
energy released at its source. The effect of an earthquake in an area depends
on the distance of the structure from the focus and nature of the Earth’s crust
at the location of the Structure. Thus, how an individual, positioned on the
earth’s surface in different parts of the World, feels the severity of an
Earthquake is called Earthquake Intensity. This is a measure of damage occurred
to a structure and is defined by Modified Mercalli Scale. The intensities are
classified on 12 level scales in IS: 1893-2002 ranging from bare minimum to
total destruction of structure.
SEISMIC ZONING MAP OF INDIA
As per IS:
1893 – 2002 Pt I code of practice for “Criteria for Earthquake Resistant Design
of Structures”, India is now divided into four earthquake zones as shown in
Figure – 3. In this revision, Zone I has been eliminated. Some areas of Zone II
like Killari area in Maharashtra etc have been upgraded and shifted to Zone
III. Approximately 12 percent of India (Bhuj, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttaranchal,
the North-East, north Bihar and Andaman and Nicobar Islands, etc) falls under
the seismic zone V – the highest risk category.
EFFECT OF EARTHQUAKE ON BUILDINGS
Earthquakes
directly effects ground shaking and in turn can generate Landslides, Tsunamis,
Liquefaction of ground and may also cause damage to structure by way of shaking
etc. Structural response affecting the buildings is described here.
Fig. 3 – Seismic Zoning Map of India – The four Earthquake Zones (IS:
1893-2002)
Why does a Building Collapse?
The response
of a Structure to an Earthquake is a function of the nature of the foundation
soil; material, form, size & mode of construction; and the duration and
characteristics of ground motion. A typical response of any building during an
Earthquake is shown in Figure – 4(a). This response depends on the natural
period of vibration & absorbing Character (damping) of the structure.
During an earthquake, amplitude of vibration generally build-up in a few
cycles. A typical diagram showing the amplitude build up of any object during
few cycles of earthquake excitations
Fig. 4(a) –
Typical Response of a Structure to Earthquake Vibrations (with varying damping)
Fig. 4(b) –
Typical Amplitude Build up during continued Vibrations
Effect of earthquake on some of the buildings during Latur (1993) and Gujrat
(2001) earthquakes is shown in figures-5 & 6, as few typical examples of
structural behaviour. It is to be noted that RC framed buildings during Latur
Earthquake suffered less damage as compared to the Gujrat Earthquake. This may
be because of poor quality of design / construction and absence of proper beam
column connections in the Gujrat area.
Earthquakes cause motion to the ground in random direction. The horizontal
vibration is predominant & more damaging. The amplitude of motion of any
structure normally builds up over a period of time in a few cycles i.e.
duration of Earthquake as shown in Figure -4(b). Thus, if the Earthquake lasts
longer, the amplitude of vibration is more, i.e. the structure will deflect
more and get damaged.
The violent ground motion pushes the building rapidly from one direction to
another making it difficult for the super-structure to constantly balance its
load due to inertial effects. Result: while columns can bend, the swaying motion,
when intensified, snaps the building like matchsticks and collapses.
A superstructure can be damaged, not only on account of the shaking which
results from quakes but also due to chain effects like fire, land slide etc
caused by earthquake.
Fig. 5(a) – An undamaged Reinforced Concrete building after the Latur
Earthquake
Fig. 5(b) – A RC Hospital Building suffered only diagonal cracking in the walls
during the Latur Earthquake (1993).
Fig. 5(c) -A beam-column junction in a multi – storied building failed during
the Latur Earthquake (1993) – Bad placement of reinforcement at the junction.
Fig. 6(a) – A RC apartment building in Ahmedabad failed during the Gujrat
Earthquake (2001) – Bad design
HOW TO MAKE BUILDING QUAKE RESISTANT?
There are two
essential features to make a building earthquake resistant i.e. safe design and
quality construction. To achieve this, the desirable factors required in design
of any structure for better Earthquake resistance are:
* Stiffness / Ductility and
* Damping.
The stiffness is an ultimate effect of structural design & material
characteristics while ductility and damping comes directly from material used
for construction. Thus, it is desirable that the material used for construction
is ductile, especially at locations where damage is expected like at
Beam-Column junction. Normally Reinforced Concrete is a good ductile material.
CHOICE OF CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS
A) Reinforced
Concrete
Construction
material is crucial for the earthquake resistance and durability of structure.
The safest building will be the one made of all steel (though very heavy –
attracting more earthquake force), as it is an extremely strong material.
Reinforced Concrete is the next most suitable material for earthquake resistant
construction of buildings. It is a good, durable and economic material of
construction, but the condition is that the quality of construction should be
good. It was seen during the Latur earthquake, that most buildings made with
concrete, remained standing without suffering much damage. But during the
Gujrat earthquake many buildings made in RCC also got damaged or collapsed
because of poor quality of construction.
B) Other
Materials
A brick, stone
or mud house cracks even with moderate tremors. However, these materials can be
effective when strengthened with RCC elements at critical points. Masonry
buildings become brittle when large deflections take place, so RCC bands can
strengthen them at regular intervals. A wooden frame building is good as it
absorbs shock evenly and vibrates along the quake and unlikely to collapse. The
danger with wooden frame structures is that it is highly inflammable and has
limited use i.e. only up to one or two stories.
DESIGN OF BUILDINGS FOR EARTHQUAKE EFFECT
The behavior
of a building during ground vibration is a function of the nature of foundation
soil and natural period of vibration of the structure, which depends on the
material used in construction, its form, size, and mode of construction etc.
The structure also gets affected with the duration & intensity of the
earthquake. IS: 1893 -2002 specifies seismic coefficients for calculating the
design forces for simple structures standing on soil which will not settle or
slide much, due to loss of strength (like Liquefaction effect). In the design
of buildings, horizontal force due to earthquake is considered simultaneously
along with the vertical forces.
Normally, the natural period of vibration of any structure should not coincide
with the predominant period of earthquake excitations, otherwise resonance may
occur and even the strongest structure may collapse. Thus, while designing the
building, following aspects should be looked into:
a) Magnitude & Type of Earthquake Excitations.
b) Natural Period of Vibration of Structure along with its material & mode
of construction. Response of Structure to earthquake Design forces, to
which the building elements will be subjected, can be calculated by any one of
the following methods.
1. Seismic Coefficient Method
2. Response Spectrum Method (Modal Analysis)
3. Time History Analysis.
Depending upon the complexity and importance of Structure, any one of the above
three methods can be adopted. Here only seismic coefficient method is
described, as this is the most common method. Earthquake forces can be
calculated in any direction of Structure, but the most damaging direction is
horizontal (Least lateral direction).
The horizontal earthquake force can be calculated as:
VB (or F) = Ah W -¦..(1)
Where,
VB (or F) = Total Design force generated due to earthquake or Design Seismic
Base Shear
W = Seismic weight of the Building i.e. Sum of the Seismic weight of all floors
(DL + appropriate amount of live load as per IS: 1893)
Ah = Design horizontal seismic coefficient.
Vertical acceleration coefficient, Av can be taken as 2/3 Ah
I. SEISMIC
COEFFICIENT METHOD (AS PER IS: 1893 – 2002)
The Design
Horizontal Seismic Coefficient Ah for a structure is determined by the
following expression as per IS: 1893 – 2002:
Ah = (Z/2) x (Sa/g) / (R/I) -¦(2)
Subject to the
condition that for any Structure having T 0.1 sec, Ah will not be less than Z/2
for any value of I/R. Here description of various parameters is given below.
a) Seismic
Zone Factor, Z:
The Values of
Seismic Zone Factor Z reflect more realistic values of effective peak ground
acceleration under maximum considered earthquake (MCE) in each Seismic Zone.
These values are given in table 1 as per revised 1893 code. The factor 2 in the
denominator of Z is used so as to reduce the maximum considered earthquake
(MCE) zone factor to the factor for design basic earthquake factor (DBE).
Table: 1 Seismic Zone Factor, Z
Seismic
Zone
|
II
|
III
|
IV
|
V
|
Seismic
Intensity
|
Low
|
Moderate
|
Severe
|
Very severe
|
Zone
Factor
|
0.1
|
0.16
|
0.24
|
0.36
|
Zone factors
for some important cities have also been modified. These are given in Annexure
E of the code. For example for Lucknow , Kanpur etc, it is 0.16.
b) Importance
Factor, I:
The design of
a building should be carried out, based on its functional use before and after
an earthquake. For example important services and community structures like
hospitals, schools, important bridges, power houses, monumental structures,
telephone exchange, fire stations, assembly halls, sub-ways etc. are given an
Importance factor of 1.5 as per IS-Code and they should be designed
accordingly. For houses and general buildings its value can be taken as 1.0.
c) Concept of
Response Reduction Factor, R:
Code adopts
the procedure of first calculating the actual force that may be experienced by
the structure during the probable maximum earthquake, if it were to remain
elastic. Then the concept of response reduction due to ductile deformation or
frictional energy dissipation in the cracks is brought into action in the code
explicitly by introducing the response reduction factor “R” in place of the
earlier performance factor. Some typical values of the response reduction
factors are given in Table 2.
Response reduction factor, R, depending on the perceived seismic damage
performance of the structure is characterized by ductile or brittle
deformations, with the condition that the ratio (I/R) shall not be greater than
1.0 d) Average Acceleration Response Coefficient, Sa/g: The acceleration
response of a structure to ground vibrations is a function of the nature of
foundation soil, material, size and mode of construction of structure and
characteristics of ground motion. The Response Spectra is now specified for three
types of foundation strata viz. one for Rock or hard soil, second for Medium
Soil and third for soft Soil, as given in three different curves of Figure -7.
Fill type of soil is not considered suitable for construction activity in
earthquake zones.
d) Average
Acceleration Response Coefficient, Sa/g:
The
acceleration response of a structure to ground vibrations is a function of the
nature of foundation soil, material, size and mode of construction of structure
and characteristics of ground motion. The Response Spectra is now specified for
three types of foundation strata viz. one for Rock or hard soil, second for
Medium Soil and third for soft Soil, as given in three different curves of
Figure -7. Fill type of soil is not considered suitable for construction
activity in earthquake zones.
Table: 2- Some Values of Response Reduction Factor “R” for Building Systems
S. No.
|
|
Lateral
Load Resisting System
|
R
|
A.
|
|
Building
Frame System Alone
|
|
|
1.
|
Ordinary
RC Moment-Resisting Frame
|
3
|
|
2.
|
Special
RC Moment-Resisting Frame
|
5
|
|
3.
|
Steel
Frame with Concentric Braces
|
4
|
|
4.
|
Steel
Frame with Eccentric Braces
|
5
|
|
5.
|
Steel
Moment Resisting Frame
|
5
|
B.
|
|
Load
Bearing Masonry Wall Buildings
|
|
|
1.
|
Un-reinforced
|
1.5
|
|
2.
|
Reinforced
with horizontal RC Bands
|
2.5
|
|
3.
|
Reinforced
with horizontal RC Bands and vertical bars at Corners & Jambs
|
3
|
C.
|
|
Ordinary
Reinforced Concrete Shear Walls
|
3
|
D.
|
|
Ductile
Shear Walls
|
4
|
The average
acceleration response coefficient Sa/g, for 3 types of soil sites as given in Figure-
7, is based on the appropriate natural period and 5% damping value of the
structure. Natural period of vibration can be calculated by usual methods or as
given below for multi-story building. A normal structure in concrete will have
a damping value of about 5% for which the curves are given. For other damping
values, a multiplying factor is given in IS: 1893, and reproduced here in Table
– 3. Some empirical relations can also give values of Sa/g .
Fig. 7 – Shape of Response Spectra curves at 5% Damping Level
Table 3- Multiplying Factor for Other than 5% Damping level
%
Damping
|
0
|
2
|
5
|
7
|
10
|
15
|
20
|
25
|
30
|
Factor
|
3.20
|
1.40
|
1.00
|
0.90
|
0.80
|
0.70
|
0.60
|
0.55
|
0.55
|
E) Building
Category:
After finding
the values of all parameters given in equation 2, the value of Ah can be found.
Then depending upon the value of seismic Coefficient, Ah, the category of
Building can be defined as given in Table 4.
Table 4 – Classification of Building Categories
Range
Of Ah
|
Building
Category
|
Less
than 0.05
|
A
|
0.05 to
0.06
|
B
|
0.06 to
0.08
|
C
|
0.08 to
0.12
|
D
|
>
0.12
|
E
|
APPROXIMATE
RELATIONS FOR FUNDAMENTAL PERIOD OF VIBRATION
The empirical
expression for estimating the fundamental natural period “T” of multistory
buildings having regular moment resisting frame can be found by following
relations (as given in IS: 1893):
a) The approximate fundamental natural period of vibration “T” of moment
resisting frame buildings without brick infill panels is: Ta = 0.075 h 0.75 –
for RCC frame Building -¦3(a) = 0.085 h 0.75 – for Steel frame Building -¦3(b)
b) The approximate fundamental natural period of vibration “T” of all other
buildings including moment resisting frame buildings with brick infill panels
may be estimated by: Ta = 0.09 / d -¦4 Where, Ta = Fundamental period of
vibration in seconds h = Height of Building in meters. D = Base dimension of
building at plinth level in “meters”, along the considered direction of the
lateral force.