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CHAPTER 5

EARTHQUAKE RESISTANT FEATURES (EQRF)

5.1 GENERAL

Whenever there is an earthquake-related disaster in the news with

pictures of collapsed buildings and other structures scattered all over the
place, one may probably think that earthquake-resistant design (EQRD) of
structures is still in the dark ages. Of course, the objective of professionals
engaged in the area of EQRD is to create various cost-effective design
solutions to make structures less vulnerable to earthquakes, even large
earthquakes.

5.2 IMPROVING BEHAVIOUR OF MASONRY WALLS

Masonry walls are slender because of their small thickness

compared to their height and length. A simple way of making these walls
behave well during earthquake shaking is by making them act together as a
box along with the roof at the top and with the foundation at the bottom. A
number of construction aspects are required to ensure this box action. Firstly,
connections between the walls should be good. This can be achieved by
(a) ensuring good interlocking of the masonry courses at the junctions and
(b) employing horizontal bands at various levels, particularly at the lintel
level. Secondly, the sizes of door and window openings need to be kept small.
The smaller the openings, the larger are the resistance offered by the wall.
Thirdly, the tendency of a wall to topple when pushed in the weak direction
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can be reduced by limiting its length-to-thickness and height- to-thickness

ratios. A wall that is too tall or too long in comparison to its thickness is
particularly vulnerable to shaking in its weak direction

5.3 CHOICE AND QUALITY OF BUILDING MATERIALS

The earthquake performance of a masonry wall is very sensitive to

the properties of its constituents, namely masonry units and mortar. The
properties of these materials vary across India due to variation in raw
materials and construction methods. A variety of masonry units are used in
the country. Burnt clay bricks are most commonly used. These bricks are
inherently porous, and so they absorb water. Excessive porosity is detrimental
to good masonry behaviour because the bricks suck away water from the
adjoining mortar, which results in poor bond between brick and mortar. For
this reason, bricks with low porosity are to be used. Various mortars are used,
e.g., mud, cement-sand or cement-sand-lime. Of these, mud mortar is the
weakest; it crushes easily when dry, flows outward and has very low
earthquake resistance. Cement-sand mortar with lime is the most suitable.
This mortar mix provides excellent workability for laying bricks, stretches
without crumbling at low earthquake shaking and bonds well with bricks. A
10 mm thick mortar layer is generally satisfactory from practical and aesthetic
considerations. Indian Standards prescribe the preferred types and grades of
bricks and mortars to be used in buildings in each seismic zone.

5.4 EARTHQUAKE - RESISTANT FEATURES

Sadly, most of the existing buildings in our country seem to lack

adequate ductility, even then they are called engineered buildings, primarily
due to lack of attention paid to seismic design and detailing. With ductility, a
building can continue to resist seismic forces without collapsing. In masonry
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building, the ductility is achieved by providing RCC bands in various

locations (Krishna & Chandra 1965).

5.4.1 Horizontal Bands

Horizontal bands are the most important earthquake-resistant

features in masonry buildings. The bands are provided to hold a masonry
building as a single unit by tying all the walls together and are similar to a
closed belt provided around cardboard boxes. There are four types of bands in
a typical masonry building, namely gable band, roof band, lintel band and
plinth band, named after their location in the building. The gable band is
employed only in buildings with pitched or sloped roofs. During the 1993
Latur earthquake (Central India), the intensity of shaking in Killari village
was IX on MSK scale. Most masonry houses sustained partial or complete
collapse. On the other hand, there was one masonry building in the village
which had a lintel band and it sustained the shaking very well with hardly any
damage as shown in Figure 5.7.

5.4.1.1 Lintel Band

During earthquake shaking, the lintel band undergoes bending and

pulling actions. To resist these actions, the construction of lintel band requires
special attention. Bands can be made of wood (including bamboo splits) or of
reinforced concrete (RC) as in Figure 5.1 (Murty CVR 2001); the RC bands
are the best. The straight lengths of the band must be properly connected at
the wall corners. This will allow the band to support walls loaded in their
weak direction by walls loaded in their strong direction (Qamaruddin et al.
1978). Small lengths of wood spacers (in wooden bands) or steel links (in RC
bands) are used to make the straight lengths of wood runners or steel bars act
together. In wooden bands, proper nailing of straight lengths with spacers is
important. Likewise, in RC bands, adequate anchoring of steel links with steel
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bars is necessary. Lintel band is provided at the lintel level on all internal and
external longitudinal as well as cross walls except partition walls.

Figure 5.1 Details of Reinforced Band

5.4.1.2 Roof band

Roof band is a band provided immediately below the roof or floors.

In buildings with flat reinforced concrete or reinforced brick roofs, roof band
is not required because the roof slab also plays the role of a band. However, in
buildings with flat timber or CGI sheet roof, roof band needs to be provided.
In buildings with pitched or sloped roof, roof band is very important.

5.4.1.3 Sill Band

Sill band is provided at sill level for all internal and external
longitudinal walls as well as cross walls. For full integrity of walls at corners
and junctions of walls and effective horizontal bending resistance of bands,
continuity of reinforcement is essential.The band should be made of
reinforced concrete of grade not leaner than M15 or reinforced brick work in
cement mortar not leaner than 1:3.
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Figure 5.2 Horizontal Band 3D views at Junction and Corner

The bands should be of the full width of the wall not less than 75
mm in depth and should be reinforced with two HYSD bars 8 mm diameter
and held in position by 6mm diameter bar links installed 150 mm apart. For
full integrity of walls at corners and junctions of walls and effective
horizontal bending resistance of bands, continuity of reinforcement is
essential as shown in Figure 5.2 (Murty CVR 2001).

5.4.1.4 Plinth Band

Plinth band is a band provided at plinth level of walls on top of the

foundation wall. This is to be provided where strip footings of masonry (other
than reinforced concrete or reinforced masonry) are used and the soil is either
soft or uneven in its properties, as it frequently happens in hill tracts. This
band will serve as damp proof course as well.

5.4.2 Vertical Bands

Even if horizontal bands are provided, masonry buildings are

weakened by the openings in their walls as in Figure 5.3 (Murty CVR 2001).
During earthquake shaking, the masonry walls get grouped into three sub-
units, namely spandrel masonry, wall pier masonry and sill masonry. When
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the ground shakes, the inertia force causes the small-sized masonry wall piers
to disconnect from the masonry above and below. These masonry sub-units
rock back and forth, developing contact only at the opposite diagonals. The
rocking of a masonry pier can crush the masonry at the corners. Rocking is
possible when masonry piers are slender and when the weight of the structure
above is small.

Figure 5.3 Masonry pier Failure

In un-reinforced masonry buildings, the cross-section area of the

masonry wall reduces at the opening. During strong earthquake shaking, the
building may slide just under the roof, below the lintel band or at sill level.
Sometimes, the building may also slide at the plinth level. Embedding vertical
reinforcement bars in the edges of the wall piers and anchoring them in the
foundation at the bottom and in the roof band at the top as in Figure 5.4
(Murty CVR 2001), forces the slender masonry piers to undergo bending
instead of rocking. In wider wall piers, the vertical bars enhance their
capability to resist horizontal earthquake forces and delay the X-cracking.
Adequate cross-sectional area of these vertical bars prevents the bar from
yielding to tension. Further, the vertical bars also help protect the wall from
sliding as well as from collapsing in the weak direction.

Sliding failure mentioned above is rare, even in unconfined

masonry buildings. However, the most common damage, observed after an
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earthquake, is diagonal X-cracking of wall piers and also inclined cracks at

the corners of door and window openings. When a wall with an opening
deforms during earthquake shaking, the shape of the opening distorts and
becomes more like a rhombus - two opposite corners move away and the
other two come closer.

Figure 5.4 Protections of Openings in Walls

Under this type of deformation, the corners that come closer

develop cracks. The cracks are bigger when the opening sizes are larger. Steel
bars provided in the wall masonry all around the openings restrict these cracks
at the corners. In summary, lintel and sill bands above and below openings
and vertical reinforcement adjacent to vertical edges, provide protection
against this type of damages. The vertical reinforcement should be properly
embedded in the plinth masonry as shown in Figure 5.5 of foundations and
roof slab or roof band so as to develop its tensile strength in bond. It should
pass through the lintel bands and floor slabs or floor level bands in all storeys.
Bars in different storeys may be welded or suitably lapped.
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Figure 5.5 Vertical Ties 3D-view at Corner and Junction

5.5 IMPORTANCE OF DUCTILITY

The ability of a structure to deform with damage, without breaking

suddenly (without warning), is termed as ductility. This will enable the
structure to absorb energy during earthquakes to avoid sudden collapse of the
structure (Seible et al. 1994). With ductility, a building can continue to resist
seismic forces without collapsing. Buildings too can exhibit either ductile or
brittle (non-ductile) behaviour, depending on the structural material, design
and detailing. Materials like brick, stone and plain concrete are relatively
brittle. When bricks or stones are used in masonry wall construction without
adequate bond, they can fall apart suddenly, even if the walls are relatively
thick. Many such buildings have weak mud mortar or no mortar at all. On the
other hand, masonry buildings with reinforced concrete bands can exhibit
better behaviour. Unlike masonry buildings, steel and reinforced concrete
buildings, if properly designed and detailed can possess considerable
ductility. In a reinforced concrete building, the ductility is achieved by
allowing the reinforcing steel to yield (to deform substantially at a certain
level of stress) at certain locations while retaining the load-carrying capacity
in concrete. Similarly, in a steel building, the ductility is achieved by the
yielding of the steel at certain locations.
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5.6 IMPORTANCE OF INTEGRITY

To ensure that the seismic forces are safely transmitted from the
floor levels to the foundations, the connections of the various components
should be adequate. This requirement is part of ensuring the integrity of the
building. In a masonry building, the roof and any intermediate floor slab
(between the roof and ground floor) should be strongly connected to the
walls. Also, the walls should be properly inter-connected. If the connections
between the walls or between the slab and the walls are not effective, a
building has limited strength to resist seismic forces. The walls can collapse
even under a minor earthquake shaking. Figure 5.6 (Murty CVR 2001)
illustrates the collapse of walls due to poor integrity. In a masonry building, if
reinforced concrete bands are provided in walls at plinth, lintel and sill and at
the roof (for sloping roofs) levels and the wall-to-wall connections provide
good bond, the walls and roof will act together like a box. This will enable the
building to resist even a major earthquake effectively.

Deformation due
to out-of-plane
forces

Deformation due
to in-plane
forces

Figure 5.6 Behaviour of walls with and without Lintel band (Murty 2005)

Indian Standards suggest a number of earthquake resistant

measures to develop good box-type action in masonry buildings and improve
their seismic performance. It is suggested that a building having horizontal
projections when seen from the top, e.g., like a building with plan shapes L,
T, E and Y, be separated into (almost) simple rectangular blocks in plan, each
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of which has simple and good earthquake behaviour. During earthquakes,

separated blocks can oscillate independently and even hammer each other if
they are too close. Thus, adequate gap is necessary between these different
blocks of the building. Figure 5.7 illustrates such a situation where the lift
core alone is found to survive with relatively little damage after Bhuj
earthquake but the rest of the building separated out due to lack of integrity
and collapsed.

Providing resistance to buildings for seismic forces is primarily the

responsibility of engineers. But architects also have a major role to play.
Some architectural features, relating to the layout in plan, shape and vertical
configuration, are unfavourable to seismic forces and invite potential disaster.
It is desirable that the persons owning or using a building know something of
these features, if the building is located in a high seismic zone. In such
regions, safety should be given priority to fancy looks. Otherwise, structural
design has to be done carefully and competently. In general, if the basic
architectural features favouring good seismic resistance are adopted, the cost
of making the building resistant to seismic forces is less.

Figure 5.7 In presence and Absence of Integrity of masonry building

In this research, as stated the necessity of EQRF above, CSEB

buildings are protected with bands (EQRF) horizontally at plinth, sill and
lintel levels along with RC slab and vertically at junctions, ends of openings
as given above as shown in Figure 5.8.
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Figure 5.8 CSEB building models without and with EQRF

5.7 INFLUENCE OF OPENINGS

Openings are functional necessities in buildings. However, the

location and size of openings in walls assume significance in deciding the
performance of masonry buildings in earthquakes. Openings too close to wall
corners hamper the flow of forces from one wall to another. Further, large
openings weaken walls from carrying the inertia forces in their own plane
(Clough et al. 1979). Thus, it is best to keep all openings as small as possible
and as far away from the corners as possible.

5.8 SUMMARY

Indian Standards suggest a number of earthquake resistant

measures to develop good box-type action in masonry buildings and improve
their seismic performance. Based on the recommendations of the above codes,
building models with and without earthquake resistant features (EQRF) were
constructed and put ready for testing in shake table.