EARTHQUAKE RESISTANT

STRUCTURES
Module I
INTERIOR OF THE EARTH
TECTONIC PLATES
FAULT
HYPOCENTRE
SEISMOGRAPH
SEISMOGRAM
P AND S WAVES
LOVE WAVES
RAYLEIGH WAVES
 HOW TO READ SEISMOGRAM
• When you look at a seismogram, there will be wiggly lines all across it. These are
all the seismic waves that the seismograph has recorded. Most of these waves were
so small that nobody felt them. These tiny microseisms can be caused by heavy
traffic near the seismograph, waves hitting a beach, the wind, and any number of
other ordinary things that cause some shaking of the seismograph. There may also
be some little dots or marks evenly spaced along the paper. These are marks for
every minute that the drum of the seismograph has been turning. How far apart
these minute marks are will depend on what kind of seismograph you have.
• So which wiggles are the earthquake? The P wave will be the first wiggle that is
bigger than the rest of the little ones (the microseisms). Because P waves are the
fastest seismic waves, they will usually be the first ones that your seismograph
records. The next set of seismic waves on your seismogram will be the S waves.
These are usually bigger than the P waves.
• The surface waves (Love and Rayleigh waves) are the other, often larger, waves
marked on the seismogram. They have a lower frequency, which means that waves
(the lines; the ups-and-downs) are more spread out. Surface waves travel a little
slower than S waves (which, in turn, are slower than P waves) so they tend to arrive
at the seismograph just after the S waves. For shallow earthquakes (earthquakes
with a focus near the surface of the earth), the surface waves may be the largest
waves recorded by the seismograph. Often they are the only waves recorded a long
distance from medium-sized earthquakes.
SHADOW ZONES OF EARTH
MAGNITUDE AND INTENSITY
• Magnitude measures the energy released at
the source of the earthquake. Magnitude is
determined from measurements on
seismographs.
• Intensity measures the strength of shaking
produced by the earthquake at a certain
location. Intensity is determined from effects
on people, human structures, and the natural
environment.
 MODIFIED MERCALLI INTENSITY SCALE
Abbreviated Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale
I. Not felt except by a very few under especially favorable conditions.
II. Felt only by a few persons at rest, especially on upper floors of buildings.
III. Felt quite noticeably by persons indoors, especially on upper floors of buildings. Many people
do not recognize it as an earthquake. Standing motor cars may rock slightly. Vibrations similar to
the passing of a truck. Duration estimated.
IV. Felt indoors by many, outdoors by few during the day. At night, some awakened. Dishes,
windows, doors disturbed; walls make cracking sound. Sensation like heavy truck striking
building. Standing motor cars rocked noticeably.
V. Felt by nearly everyone; many awakened. Some dishes, windows broken. Unstable objects
overturned. Pendulum clocks may stop.
VI. Felt by all, many frightened. Some heavy furniture moved; a few instances of fallen plaster.
Damage slight.
VII. Damage negligible in buildings of good design and construction; slight to moderate in well-
built ordinary structures; considerable damage in poorly built or badly designed structures; some
chimneys broken.
VIII. Damage slight in specially designed structures; considerable damage in ordinary substantial
buildings with partial collapse. Damage great in poorly built structures. Fall of chimneys, factory
stacks, columns, monuments, walls. Heavy furniture overturned.
IX. Damage considerable in specially designed structures; well-designed frame structures thrown
out of plumb. Damage great in substantial buildings, with partial collapse. Buildings shifted off
foundations.
X. Some well-built wooden structures destroyed; most masonry and frame structures destroyed
with foundations. Rails bent.
XI. Few, if any (masonry) structures remain standing. Bridges destroyed. Rails bent greatly.
XII. Damage total. Lines of sight and level are distorted. Objects thrown into the air.
ISOSEISMAL MAP
 CORRELATION BETWEEN MAGNITUDE
AND INTENSITY
Typical Maximum
Magnitude
Modified Mercalli Intensity

1.0 - 3.0 I

3.0 - 3.9 II - III

4.0 - 4.9 IV - V

5.0 - 5.9 VI - VII

6.0 - 6.9 VII - IX

7.0 and higher VIII or higher

 RICHTER MAGNITUDE
In 1935, Charles Richter used a Wood-Anderson
seismometer to define a magnitude scale for shallow,
local (epicentral distances less than about 600 km (375
miles) earthquakes in southern California (Richter, 1935).
Richter defied what is now known as the local magnitude
as the logarithm (base 10) of the maximum trace
amplitude (in micrometers) recorded on a Wood-
Anderson seismometer located 100 km (62 miles) from
the epicenter of the earthquake. The Richter local
magnitude (ML) is the best known magnitude scale, but is
is not always the most appropriate scale for description of
earthquake size.
 SURFACE WAVE MAGNITUDE
The Richter local magnitude does not distinguish between different types of
waves. Other magnitude scales that base the magnitude on the amplitude of a
particular wave have been developed. At large epicentral distances, body
waves have usually been attenuated and scattered sufficiently that the resulting
motion is dominated by surface waves. The surface wave magnitude
(Gutenberg and Richter, 1936) is a worldwide magnitude scale based on the
amplitude of Rayleigh waves a period of about 20 sec. the surface wave
magnitude is obtained from where A is the maximum ground displacement in
micrometers and is the epicentral distance of the seismometer measured in
degrees (360 corresponding to the circumference of the earth).
Note that the surface wave magnitude is based on the maximum ground
displacement amplitude (rather than the maximum trace amplitude of a
particular seismograph); therefore, it can be determined from any type of
seismograph. The surface wave magnitude is most commonly used to describe
the size of shallow (less than about 70 km (44 miles) focal depth), distant
(farther than about 1000 km 622 miles) moderate to large earthquakes.
 BODY WAVE MAGNITUDE
For deep-focus earthquakes, surface waves are often too
small to permit reliable evaluation of the surface wave
magnitude. The body wave magnitude (Gutenberg, 1945)
is a worldwide magnitude scale based on the amplitude of
the first few cycles of p-waves which are not strongly
influenced by the focal depth (Bolt, 1989). The body wave
magnitude can be expressed as where A is the p-wave
amplitude in micrometers and T is the period of the p-
wave (usually about one sec). Body
wave magnitude cal also be estimated from the amplitude
of one-sec-oneperiod higher-mode Rayleigh waves
(Nuttli, 1973); the resulting magnitude, , is commonly
used to describe intraplate earthquakes.
 MOMENT MAGNITUDE
It is important to realize that the previously described magnitude scales are
empirical quantities based on various instrumental measurements of ground
shaking characteristics. As the total amount of energy released during an
earthquake increases, however, the ground-shaking characteristics do not
necessarily increase at the same rate. For strong earthquakes, the measured
ground-shaking characteristics become less sensitive to the size of the
earthquake than for smaller earthquakes. This phenomenon is referred to as
saturation; the body wave and Richter local magnitudes saturate at magnitude
of 6 to 7 and the surface wave magnitude saturates at about . To describe the
size of very large earthquakes, a magnitude scale that does not depend on
ground-shaking levels, and consequently does not saturate, would be desirable.
The only magnitude scale that is not subject to saturations is the moment
magnitude (Kanamori,1977); Hanks and Kanamori, 1979) since it is based on
the seismic moment, which is direct measure of the factors that produce
rupture along the fault. The moment magnitude is given by where is the
seismic moment in dyne-cm.
 FINDING EPICENTRE
• Measure the distance between the first P wave and the first S wave.
In this case, the first P and S waves are 24 seconds apart.
• Find the point for 24 seconds on the left side of the chart below and
mark that point. According to the chart, this earthquake's epicenter
was 215 kilometers away.
• Measure the amplitude of the strongest wave. The amplitude is the
height (on paper) of the strongest wave. On this seismogram, the
amplitude is 23 millimeters. Find 23 millimeters on the right side of
the chart and mark that point.
• Place a ruler (or straight edge) on the chart between the points you
marked for the distance to the epicenter and the amplitude. The
point where your ruler crosses the middle line on the chart marks
the magnitude (strength) of the earthquake. This earthquake had a
magnitude of 5.0.
RICHTER MAGNITUDE
 FINDING EPICENTRE
• Check the scale on your map. It should look something like a piece of a
ruler. All maps are different. On your map, one centimeter could be equal
to 100 kilometers or something like that.
• Figure out how long the distance to the epicenter (in centimeters) is on
your map. For example, say your map has a scale where one centimeter is
equal to 100 kilometers. If the epicenter of the earthquake is 215
kilometers away, that equals 2.15 centimeters on the map.
• Using your compass, draw a circle with a radius equal to the number you
came up with in Step #2 (the radius is the distance from the center of a
circle to its edge). The center of the circle will be the location of your
seismograph. The epicenter of the earthquake is somewhere on the edge
of that circle.
• Do the same thing for the distance to the epicenter that the other
seismograms recorded (with the location of those seismographs at the
center of their circles). All of the circles should overlap. The point where
all of the circles overlap is the approximate epicenter of the earthquake.
FINDING EPICENTRE
RESPONSE HISTORY
RESPONSE SPECTRA N-S
RESPONSE SPECTRA E-W
DESIGN SPECTRA
BEHAVIOUR OF A BUILDING DURING
EARTHQUAKE
 SHEAR WALLS
• Shear wall is a structural member
used to resist lateral forces
parallel to the plane of the wall.
• For slender walls where the
bending deformation is more,
Shear wall resists the loads due to
Cantilever Action.
• Lateral forces caused by wind,
earthquake, and uneven
settlement loads, in addition to
the weight of structure and
occupants, create powerful
twisting (torsional) forces. This
leads to the failure of the
structures by shear.
PLACEMENT OF SHEAR WALLS