Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Earthquake
Performance of RC
Structures
BY MURAT SAATCIOGLU, N. J. GARDNER, AND AHMED GHOBARAH
Fig. 2: Fault rupture and resulting horizontal offset: (a) railway near Arifiye; and (b) shift
in a tree line by 4.5 m
(1 in.) every year along the North There were seven seismic events of
Anatolian Fault. The Anatolian magnitude 7.0 and higher since the
microplate is also under compres- 1939 Erzincan earthquake, which
sion by the northward movement of claimed 30,000 lives and created a
the African plate, which produces a similar catastrophe as the August
subduction zone along the faults 1999 event in eastern Turkey. It is
tracing the southern boundary clear that the North Anatolian Fault
(Hellenic and Cyprus arc). The North has been active in the past and
Anatolian Fault resembles in many continues to be active, with great
ways the well-known San Andreas potential for similarly destructive
Fault along the Californian coast. It earthquakes in the future.
produces a right lateral slip, with
(b) significant horizontal offset every
Ground motion
time it ruptures. The fault is approxi- There is a good network of strong
mately 750 km (450 mi) long, starting
landmass motion instruments across
near the northwest shores of the
Turkey, providing sufficient informa-
Marmara Sea in the west and extend-
tion on the nature of the ground
ing to Erzincan in the east where it
excitation. The maximum horizontal
joins the Northeast Anatolian Fault.
Seismology and history After the August 17, 1999 earth-
peak acceleration was recorded to
of seismic activity quake, the horizontal offset along be 0.41g in the east-west direction, at
The Republic of Turkey is situated the fault was measured to vary a station in Adapazari. The vertical
in a seismically active part of the between 2.5 and 4.5 m (8.2 and 15 ft). peak acceleration at the same
world. The Anatolian microplate is Although a vertical offset of 2.0 m station was 0.26g, though the
surrounded by the North Anatolian (6.5 ft) was reported by others, no maximum vertical acceleration
and Northeast Anatolian Faults in appreciable vertical offset was recorded was in Duzce (east of
the north, Hellenic and Cyprus arcs observed by the authors in the Adapazari), with a magnitude of
in the south, and the East Anatolian segments inspected. Figure 2(a) 0.49g. The Yarimca record, which
Fault in the southeast. Earthquakes and (b) show horizontal offset at was recorded 20 km (12 mi) north-
in the region are caused by the different locations along the fault. west of the epicenter, indicated a
northward push of the Arabian plate, The North Anatolian Fault has a double rupture, with the most
forcing the Anatolian plate to move long history of seismic activity, intense pulses generated by the
westward. This tectonic movement is accounting for 34 damaging earth- first rupture starting at approxi-
measured to be approximately 24 mm quakes during the last millennium. mately 10 s after the beginning of
Performance of
reinforced concrete (a)
structures
The predominant structural
system used in Turkey consists of
reinforced concrete frames with
masonry infills. Concrete, which is
locally available, is generally pre-
ferred over other construction
materials for economic reasons. The
majority of concrete is used for cast-
in-place construction, with an
increasingly larger percentage being
ready-mixed concrete. Precast
construction is employed often for
industrial buildings. Concrete shear
walls appear to have gained popular-
ity only in recent years.
Soil conditions
The damage along the fault was
most intense in regions with soft (b)
soil. Therefore, it is important to Fig 3: Effects of liquefaction in Adapazari: (a) overturning of a 5-story building; and (b)
recognize the amplifying role of soft vertical settlement of approximately 1.0 m
soil on structural performance. The
entire region between Yalova and
Duzce, including Adapazari, has
alluvial soil, including old river beds. stretch of the Istanbul-Ankara Tollway that suffered soil settlement leaving
Soil borings in the area consistently highway bridges at higher elevation. The amplification of earthquake ground
showed sand, silty sand, and clay at motion by soft soil clearly had a significant impact on structural damage.
depths up to and in excess of 20 m
(60 ft). Locals consistently indicated Reinforced concrete frame buildings
that the buildings could not have The majority of collapses during the earthquake were attributed to poor
proper foundations because of the performance of reinforced concrete frames and masonry infill walls. Buildings
high water table only 0.5 to 2.0 m with four to six stories suffered the heaviest damage, inflicting most of the
(1.5 to 6.5 ft) below the surface. This casualties. Buildings that survived the earthquake also had the same framing
provided suitable conditions for soil system, including those that make up the large inventory of buildings in the
to liquefy. In fact, Adapazari and city of Istanbul, creating a great deal of controversy. It is important to note
Sapanca included some spectacular that, judging by the earthquake records, the structures in the entire earth-
liquefaction sites as illustrated in quake-stricken area were subjected to very high seismic demands.
Fig. 3, resulting in tilting or settling Inspection of collapsed and damaged buildings revealed that very little or
of buildings. There was a long no aseismic design had been implemented during design and construction of
Fig. 4: Different levels of contribution of masonry infills to reinforced concrete frame response: (a) extensive damage to masonry, no
apparent distress in frames; and (b) total damage to masonry and structural collapse
nonstructural elements with the structure. As masonry with minor damage to the structural framing system,
walls participated in lateral load resistance of the although they suffered extensive masonry damage.
framing system, short column effects were created Figure 12(b) shows a shear wall in this complex that
around window and other openings. Columns, not developed diagonal shear cracks wide enough to suggest
designed for the increased shear associated with reduced some yielding in reinforcement, but it survived the earth-
unsupported height, suffered brittle shear failures. In some quake while also saving the entire structure. There were
buildings, the landing slabs of staircases were connected to other shear wall buildings with older and significantly
columns and either applied unexpected lateral forces or lower quality concrete. Although the concrete in these
caused short column effects, as shown in Fig. 11. walls was damaged extensively, the shear walls did save
Additional problems were observed associated with the structures from collapsing. This is illustrated in Fig. 13.
irregularities in structural elements, reducing Properly designed shear wall structures were found in
deformability of elements. Although most floor plans the residential complex of the Tupras Oil Refinery in
had symmetric layouts, there were cases where tor- Izmit. Figure 14(a) shows the overall view of an apart-
sional effects created by asymmetry had adverse ment building within the complex, without any sign of
effects. Columns with plan offsets suffered damage. distress, though many frame buildings in the general
Two cases of cranked columns were found to survive area suffered extensive damage and complete collapses.
the earthquake without significant damage, mainly Figure 14(b) illustrates the concrete placement problem
because they were overdesigned but with some signs of (cold joint) found in one of these shear walls, which
distress, requiring retrofitting. otherwise performed well.
(a) (b)
Fig. 12: A frame-shear wall building with lightweight concrete masonry blocks: (a) Fig. 13: Excessive damage caused by shear
apartment building with narrow shear walls; and (b) diagonal tension cracks in a in an older shear wall
shear wall