EARTHQUAKE RESISTANT

ARCHITECTURE

EARTHQUAKES
Source: Kobe I EERI - Slide #43

Earthquakes are a natural phenomena, like drought, flood

and Cyclones.

Earthquakes in simple terms is a sudden trembling or shaking

movement of the earth surface.

Larger earthquakes usually preceded by tremors and some violent

shocks and followed by smaller earthquakes of diminishing size
called aftershocks.

What are Earthquakes?

A sudden release of
energy accumulated in
deformed rocks
causing the ground to
tremble or shake.
- Causes rupturing
or brittle failure of
crustal rocks.
- Energy is released.
- Movement of fault
blocks takes place
along a fault plane.
Source: www.earth.leeds.ac.uk/dynamicearth

INSIDE EARTH

Layers of the Earth

By analyzing the seismograms from many
earthquakes, scientists have discovered
that three main levels or shells exist
within the Earth:
CRUST

Source: www.thetech.org

MANTLE
The region just below
the crust and
extending all the way
down to the Earth's
core is called the
mantle. The mantle, a
dense, hot layer of
semi-solid rock
approximately 2,900
km thick.

The Earth's outermost surface is

called the crust. The crust is
relatively light and brittle. Most
earthquakes occur within the crust.
Scientists believe that below the
lithosphere is a relatively narrow,
mobile zone in the mantle called the
asthenosphere (from asthenes,
Greek for weak).
CORE Beneath the mantle is the Earth's core.
The Earth's core consists of a fluid outer core and
a solid inner core.

BASIC TERMINOLOGY
Earthquake

Hypocentre or focus
Epicentre
Focal depth
Epicentral distance
Origin time
Foreshocks and Aftershocks
Fault

Earthquake Magnitude
It is measured on Richter Scale and is
related to the logarithm (base 10) of the
amount of energy released by an
earthquake.
The magnitude M of an earthquake is
related to the energy released at the focus
of the earthquake, and is given by the
approximate formula
Log E ( ergs) = 11. 8 + 1.5 M

 The smallest earthquake perceptible by

human being corresponds to the
magnitude of 2
largest and most destructive earthquake
so far known to have occurred has been
assigned a magnitude 8.7.
The damage from an earthquake starts
from magnitude 5 and above.
Earthquakes are often classified into
different groups based on their size

SEISMIC WAVES
Seismic waves are of two types
- Body waves
- Surface waves
Body waves consist of Primary waves (P-waves) and
Secondary
waves (S-waves)
Surface waves consist of Love waves and Rayleigh
waves

Arrival of seismic wave at a site

Types of Waves

Fastest waves

Do not travel through

liquid

Seismic Hazards

Ground shaking
Structural hazards
Liquefaction
Landslides
Retaining structures failure
Lifeline hazards
Tsuanami

Classification of earthquakes
Based on location

Interplate
Intraplate

Based on epicentral distance

Local earthquakes
< 1
Regional earthquakes
1 - 10
Teleseismic earthquakes > 10

Based on Focal depth

Shallow depth
Intermediate depth
Deep earthquake

0-71 km
71-300 km
> 300km

Based on Magnitude

Micro earthquake
Intermediate earthquake
Moderate earthquake
Strong earthquake
Major earthquake
Great earthquake

<3

3-4.9
5-5.9
6-6.9
7-7.9
>8

Indian Subcontinent: among the worlds most disaster prone

areas
65% of land vulnerable to Earthquakes
8% of land vulnerable to Cyclones
5% of land vulnerable to Floods
> 1 million houses damaged annually + human, social, other losses

PAST EARTHQUAKES IN INDIA

Seismic Zone
Map of
India:
Year-1962

Seismic Zone
Map of
India:
-1966

Seismic Zone
Map of
India:
-1970

Seismic Zone
Map of
India:
-2002
About 65 percent of the
land area of India is
liable to seismic hazard
damage (about 26%
under MSK Intensity
VII, 18% under VIII and
12% under IX and
higher).

Earthquake Risk
Hazard

= Probability of ground motion

Site effects

= Soil properties, topography

presence of Reservoirs (RIS),
Mines (MIS)

Vulnerability

= Building types, Age

Risk

= Hazard x Site effects x Vulnerability

VULNERABILITY
1819 Gujarat [Kutch] 8.0 (2000 deaths)
2001 Gujarat [Bhuj] 6.9 (13805 deaths)
Increased vulnerability in two centuries

EFFECT OF SEISMIC FORCES

ON STRUCTURES
Inertia Forces in Structures
From Newtons First Law of Motion, even
though the base of the building moves
with the ground, the roof has a tendency to
stay in its original position

 If the roof has a mass M and experiences an acceleration a, then

from
inertia force = Ma (direction is opposite to acc.) Clearly, more
mass means higher inertia force. Therefore, lighter buildings
sustain the earthquake shaking better.

Twisting

Design aspects of Earthquake

resistant buidings

Design aspects of RCC

buildings