PERFORMANCE OF SIMPLE

CHAPTER 4 STRUCTURE
INTRODUCTION
More than eighty percent of Indias population still lives in small towns and villages.
They use traditional methods and materials of construction. The materials use in these
constructions is generally locally available like bricks, stones, earth, wood etc. These are
generally masonry construction or sometime composite with concrete or steel. Masonry is
commonly used for housing not only in India but also in many other countries of the
world. Studies have shown that masonry building have suffered maximum damage during
the earthuake. The collapse of these buildings results in heavy loss of life. These losses
of lives and damage can be minimi!ed by studying the various types of damages
observed in traditional constructions and then causes. Thus this chapter focuses on the
seismic performance of traditionally built constructions.
Behavior of masonry ons!r"!ion #"rin$ ear!h%"a&e'
1) Roof: masonry buildings generally have heavy roofs which results in
higher earthquake forces.
2) Walls: these are mostly load bearings. The wall transfers the vertical
load and inertia forces from the roof to the foundation.
) !oundation: it is the "art bellow the ground which transfers all the
forces to the soil safely.
"uring the earthuake the ground shake in all the directions but the hori!ontal vibrations
are the most damaging to masonry building these hori!ontal vibrations result in large
hori!ontal forces. These hori!ontal forces transferred to the walls or columns from the
roof and then the foundation and finally to the soil. The inertia forces act opposite to the
direction of earthuake motion and are reversible in nature. Thus at any instant, some
walls of the building are parallel and some walls are transverse to the direction of ground
motion caused due to earthuake.
#ailure mechanism of a masonry building
$ masonry building can fail in various ways under the action of earthuake forces. Some
of the common modes of failure are explain below.
1. #ut of "lane failure
2. $n "lane failure
. %onnection failure
&. 'ia"hragm failure
(. !ailure due to o"enings in walls
). *ounding
+. ,on-structural com"onent failure
( OUT OF PLANE FAILURE
The wall is transverse to the direction of earthuake motion. Thus it is sub%ected
to inertia forces perpendicular to its plane. These forces tend to overturn or bend the wall.
The wall is very less resistance in this direction due to small depth. Thus, the wall will
collapse easily due to overturning. The bending of wall produce in development of tensile
stresses. Masonry is weak in tension and hence it cracks. This cracking lead to full or
partial collapse of the wall. This type of failure is called as &ut of plane failure. This type
of failure features'
1. .ertical crack in the corner of wall and at T-/unction.
2. %racks at lintel and to" of "iers
. %rack at level of roof
&. *eeling of masonry
(. %olla"se of the e0terior wall
). 1ori2ontal cracks along the fa3ade.
The tendency of the walls to overturn when pushed in perpendicular direction is
increased with the length of the wall. (ong unsupported length means easier collapse.
Similarly tall and slender walls are easily over turned during earthuake motion. Thus the
tendency of wall to overturn can be reduced by limiting its length to thickness and height
to thickness ratio.
) in *+ane fai+"re
The wall is sub%ected to ground motion in its plane. Thus it is sub%ected to inertia forces
which cause shear and bending in the plane of wall. The wall offer good resistance
because of large depth in the plane of bending. The damages are more when length of
wall is more and slender. $ wall with small length to width ratio, generally develop
hori!ontal cracks due to tension caused
)y bending while a wall with moderate length to width ratio shows shear failure by
diagonal tension cracks. $ wall with large length to width ratio may develop diagonal
tension cracks at both side because of shear and hori!ontal cracks at the middle due to
bending. The other features of in plane failure are following.
1. 'iagonal tensional cracks in short "iers between the o"ening.
2. .ertical cracks at walls intersections.
. 4"elling of material.
&. %rushing of corners se"aration and e0"ulsion of corner of the walls
, onne!ion fai+"re
The wall $ act as shear walls and wall ) act as flexural walls. *all ) are sub%ected to
overturning by the hori!ontal inertia force of walls $ are sub%ected to shear and bending
in the of wall. If the walls are tied together properly then good resistance of wall during
earthuake shaking. The walls ) can take advantage of good resistance against inertia
force in their plane but also support wall ) from overturning. Thus, the box action
provides greater resistance to the hori!ontal loads. )ut the walls are not tied together
properly then the wall ) will overturn and may cause collapse of building as a whole.
This type of failure is called as connection failure.
4 #ia*hra$m fai+"re
+onsider a building with a roof and the walls sub%ected to earthuake. The roof is
sub%ected to earthuake forces it will transfer the earthuake force to the walls, causing
shearing and bending in them. To transfer the force the roof must have enough strength in
bending in the hori!ontal plane. This action is called as diaphragm action. reinforced
concrete or reinforced brick slabs have good strength and act as rigid diaphragm. )ut,
other type of roof or floors made of timber or %oists with brick tile covering are very
flexible and are called as flexible diaphragms. If the roof is rigid and acts as hori!ontal
diaphragm, the inertia forces will be distributed to the walls in proportion to their
stiffness. In this failure is called as diaphragm failure in this failure cracks develop near
the corner of the wall and may lead to separation of the walls and in turn collapse of the
building.
- fai+"res #"e !o o*enin$ in .a++s
&pening is necessary in a building. )ut the location and si!e of the openings in
walls affect the performance of masonry building. "uring earthuake shaking inertia
forces act on the walls. Some walls will have in plane bending and some walls will have
out of plane bending. The walls ), and )- will take support from the wall $, and $- for
the direction of shaking. If the direction of shaking changes and becomes perpendicular
to the action walls.
Thus the walls transfer loads to each other at their %unction. .ence, the walls
meeting at corners must have good interlocking. #or this reasons, openings near corner of
the wall can be very dangerous because
1. They will obstruct the 5ow of forces from one wall to another.
2. The large o"ening in shear walls reduced the strength of wall against
the inertia forces.
. This ty"e of failure results in diagonal cracks in the areas of masonry
between o"enings and cracks at the level of o"enings also. Thus it is
best to kee" all o"ening small and away from the corners.
/0 Po"n#in$
*hen the roofs of two ad%acent buildings are at different level then, during earthuakes,
the brickwork faces hit against each other this is called as pounding. /ounding results in
to cracking of walls.
0on'structural component failure
0on'structural failure is that due to which strength and stability of the building is
not affected. Such damage occurs generally under moderate earthuakes. Some non'
structural, component failures are listed below1
1) !alling of "laster from walls and ceiling.
2) %racking and overturning of masonry "ara"ets6 roof chimneys and
balconies.
) %racking and overturning of "artition walls.
&) %racking of glass "anels.
() !alling of loosely "laced ob/ects6 overturning of cu"boards etc.
Types of damages observed in traditionally built constructions during traditionally built
constructions during past earthuakes
The traditionally built masonry constructions have provided to be the most
vulnerable to earthuake forces and have suffered maximum damage in past earthuake
forces and have suffered maximum damage in past earthuakes. The studies of past
earthuakes have shown that ma%or loss of lives was due to collapse of masonry
buildings. /ost the earthuake damage studies help us in selecting and retrofitting
measures and devising methods for improving earthuake resistant design and
construction techniues. Some of the typical damages of different types of masonry
constructions seen during the earthuakes are