2.

Earthquakes

Outline
A. Introduction
B. Source of seismic energy
C. Propagation of seismic energy
D. Recording earthquakes
E. Magnitude scales
F. Buildings in earthquake
G. Building Codes for Earthquake load
determination
 San Francisco, 1906
• Building design
could not
withstand
accelerations
• $Millions of
damage
• Thousands of
people killed
 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003
Geology in the NewsSan Andreas Fault

California, 2003
• Two die in 6.5
magnitude
Earthquake near San
Lois Obispo California
• Earthquake triggers
mudslides
 Earthquake Photos
from AP
Bam, Iran
• A Magnitude 6.5
Earthquake hits a
stone- and mud-house
city of 100,000 in Iran
December 26, 2003
– 30,000 Dead
– 30,000 Refugees
• US sends aid and
releases sanctions
• Relations improved
 Geological Hazards Related to Earthquakes
Volcanoes

Landslides

Tsunamis Mudslides
 Earth Quake in Ethiopia
Major past EQ of Ethiopia
• •Karakore EQ (1961)
• •Serdo EQ (1969
Recently
• Ankober 2001E.C
• Hossana,2002 E.C, some building failure
• Jimma 2002 EC,small around
Kara kore Earthqauke in 1961(51yrs)
Serdo Earthqauke in 1969(43yrs)

Buildings in Earthquakes
 B: Sources of Seismic Energy

• Elastic Rebound
– Buildup of elastic energy
during elastic strain
– Sudden release due to
slippage along a fault or
brittle rupture
 Anatomy of an
Earthquake

• Focus: Source
of energy
• Epicenter: Location directly above focus at the surface
(ground motion is greatest)
• Fault Trace: Shows intersection of fault and the surface of the
land
• Fault Scarp: Indicates vertical motion of fault
 Propagation of Seismic Energy

• Body Waves travel through

the earths interior (crust,
mantle, core)
– P wave: Compression and
expansion of rock
– S Wave: Shearing motion of
particles
Propagation of a P-Wave
 Propagation of Seismic Energy

• Body Waves travel

through the earth’s
interior (crust, mantle,
core)
– P wave: Compression
and expansion of rock
– S Wave: Shearing
motion of particles
• Surface Waves
Propagation of an S-Wave
 Propagation of Surface Waves

• Surface Waves travel along

the earth’s surface
– Love Wave: Lateral
movement of the surface
– Rayleigh Wave: Rolling
movement of the surface
(similar to an ocean wave)
Propagation of a Surface Wave
Propagation of a Surface Wave
 Recording Earth Motion
• Seismograph:
– An instrument that measures
the horizontal or vertical
motion of Earth’s surface
• Seismograms:
– The plot of the motion
Measuring Velocity
of Seismic waves
• Because the P wave travels
faster the the S wave
• The S-P interval increases
with distance

Time of Earthquake Time of Earthquake

 Reading a Seismogram
See Fig. 8.44
• Ground motion vs. Time
– Each tick mark is 1 minute
– P-S Time interval indicates distance to epicenter

P-S Interval

First P wave First S wave

Arrival Arrival First Surface wave
 Time-Distance Relationships
See Fig. 8.45

• Use P-S interval

to determine
distance to
focus

Distance from focus (Kilometers)

 Seismic Waves and Velocities
Body Waves and Surface Waves
• P-waves
a = (k +
¾m)r
k: Bulk modulus
m: Mod. of
rigidity
r: Density

• S-waves
 Earthquake Intensity Scales

• Modified Mercalli Scale

– Subjective observations of
• Damage and
• Ground motion
– Is not a quantitative measure
• Richter Scale
– Indicates Ground Motion Amplitude
– Logarithmic (e.g., 6 is ten times stronger than 5)
– Does not directly indicate energy or destruction
Earthquakes around the World
 Buildings in Earthquakes

Why do buildings do the things they

do?
 Underlying Physics
• Newton’s Second Law
F = ma
where m = mass of building
a = acceleration of ground
Question:
What do the physics tell us about the
magnitude of the forces that different Animation from
www.exploratorium.edu/faultline/
types of buildings feel during an engineering/engineering5.html
earthquake?

ground acceleration
 What is really happening?
• F is known as an inertial force,
– created by building's tendency to remain at rest, in
its original position, although the ground beneath
it is moving

Engineering representation of
earthquake force
 Period and Frequency
• Frequency (f) = number of complete cycles of vibration
per second
• Period (T) = time needed to complete one full cycle of
vibration
T=1/f
Idealized Model of Building
m
m
T = 2π k

lle rk k
sma
m

k increase building period

m
bigger
m

k
 Natural Period of Buildings
• Each building has its own natural period (frequency)

Building Typical Natural Natural

Height Period Frequency
2 story 0.2 seconds 5 cycles/sec
5 story 0.5 seconds 2 cycles/sec slower
10 story 1.0 seconds 1cycles/sec shaking
20 story 2.0 seconds 0.5cycles/sec
30 story 3.0 seconds 0.33cycles/sec
 Resonance
• Resonance = frequency content of the ground motion is close
to building's natural frequency
– tends to increase or amplify building response
– building suffers the greatest damage from ground motion at
a frequency close or equal to its own natural frequency
• Example: Mexico City earthquake of
September 19, 1985
– majority of buildings that collapsed were
around 20 stories tall
– natural period of around 2.0 seconds
– other buildings, of different heights and
different natural frequencies, were
undamaged even though located right
next to damaged 20 story buildings
What affects building performance & damage?
• Shape (configuration) of building:
– Square or rectangular usually perform better than L, T, U, H, +, O, or a
combination of these.
• Construction material: steel, concrete, wood, brick.
– Concrete is the most widely used construction material in the world.
– Ductile materials perform better than brittle ones. Ductile materials
include steel and aluminum. Brittle materials include brick, stone and
unstrengthened concrete.
• Load resisting system
• Height of the building: (i.e. natural frequency)
• Previous earthquake damage
• Intended function of the building (e.g. hospital, fire station, office
building)
• Proximity to other buildings
• Soil beneath the building
• Magnitude and duration of the earthquake
• Direction and frequency of shaking
 History of Seismic Design (According M. J. N. Priestley)

• Pre 1920
– No Specific seismic design
• 1920 - 1940
– Fi = miai where commonly acceleration is assumed as ai = 0.1g
• 1940’s
– First accelerograms are recorded (e.g. 1940 Elcentro EQ)
• 1960’s
Dynamic behavior of the structure is considered and the seismic
input is described by elastic response spectra
 History of Seismic Design (According M. J. N. Priestley)

• 1970’s
– Ductile design. Design for forces reduced from the elastic
acceleration
response by “force reduction factor”
• 1980’s
– Capacity design philosophy
• 1990’s
– Shifts towards performance based design philosophy
 Introduction to Seismic Design Codes

The purpose of seismic building codes is to establish minimum

requirements to ensure that, in an event of an earthquake:
• human lives are protected,
• damage is limited,
• structures important for civil protection remain operational.
Note that the random nature of seismic events and the limited
resource available to counter their effects makes the
attainment of these goals partially possible and only
measurable in probabilistic terms.
 EBCS8,1995 Earthquake Load determination
Eventhougn the earthquake load is dynamic in nature. Using
Newton second law, Fi= miai. But the building codes such as
EBCS8,1995 recommend equivalent static method for
buildings height less than 80m and regular buildings. For
very high rise and irregular structures, dynamic analysis may
be important, not discussed in this level.
Equivalent Static Analysis