EARTHQUAKE

ENGINEERING
 ANALYTICA CONCEPTUA
L L

LESSONS
The purposeLEARNED
is not to further constrain
TWO GENERAL
The magnitude of the design Because the
Engineers arearchitect
learning conceives and controls
that a building’s shape,
lateralAPPROACH
force recommended FROM
the designer’s freedom, but to fill the void
the configuration
symmetry, of the building,
and its general attaining in
layout developed
that exists by making clear, in simple
by the code
Equivalent is much
Static less
Procedure theEARTHQUAKES
an earthquake
conceptual resistant
stage design
are more is a joint
important, or
non-mathematical terms, the way in which
than the ones generated makeeffort
for of the architect
greater and than
differences the engineer.
the accurate
Dynamic Analysis Procedure the architecture of a building affects its
due to earthquakes. determination of the code prescribed forces.
EARTHQUAKE ability to withstand earthquakes, and to
RESISTANT provide information that will lead the
designer toward good practice in
DESIGN seismic design.
SEISMIC
SOUND
DETAILING
General Requirements PRACTICE
Materials in construction

CONSTRUCT
SEISMIC ION
DETAILING TECHNIQUE
S
1. BUILDING SHOULD BE
LIGHT
❑ Dynamic forces in a structure can be controlled:

❑ amount and distribution of its reactive masses

❑ use of unnecessary masses should be avoided
❑ any mass used in the building should have
❑ proper selection of its structural system
❑ a seismic resistant function
 2. BUILDING AND ITS STRUCTURE SHOULD
BE
❑ SIMPLE
❑ SYMMETRIC
❑ REGULAR
❑ it is easier to understand the overall earthquake behavior of a simple
building

❑ it is easier to formulate in drawings, and construct simple structural

details

❑ field inspections demonstrate that the simpler the building the better
the behavior

❑ symmetry and regularity in plan and elevation are desirable for much
the same reason
3. BUILDING AND ITS STRUCTURE SHOULD HAVE
UNIFORM AND CONTINUOUS DISTRIBUTION OF
❑ MASS
❑ STIFFNESS
❑ STRENGTH
❑ DUCTILITY

▪ Inspection
▪▪▪these of earthquake damage as well as the result of
▪ effect
a
the weaknesses
typical example
of
earthquaketheseare
ofusually
the
weaknesses
forces will created
detrimental
are
search by sharp
effects
accentuated
for every changes
that
by this
the
structural in
poor
weakness
analytical studies have shown that structural systems with
stiffness, strength
discontinuities
distribution and/or
can ductility
induce is in the case of buildings with
soft storyofcan
reactive masses
lead to serious problems during severe
soft story
earthquake ground shaking
Hotel Macuto Sheraton
Caraballeda,
Venezuela
 4. NON-STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS
should be properly isolated or properly integrated with
the Basic Structural System

Some building components(architectural, mechanical, and electrical) can

become very responsive during earthquake shaking. The effect of the
interaction can be grouped into
two categories:

1. Effect of the response of the structural system on the

non-structural components
2. Effect of the non-structural components on the response
of the structural system.
 12 story reinforced concrete
frame building
in Caracas, Venezuela
suffered non-structural
damage (in its walls).

Analysis of building performance

during earthquakes has shown that
numerous building failures result
from the fact that Basic Structural
Systems are designed neglecting
structural modifications introduce
by the non-structural components.
 Reinforced concrete
frame building
in Caracas, Venezuela
suffered non-structural
damage (in its walls).

The more flexible the Basic

Structural System,
the worse the effects on the
non-structural components will be.
5. STRUCTURES SHOULD HAVE THE
LARGEST
POSSIBLE NUMBER OF
STRUCTURAL DEFENSE LINES
❑ A structure should have the largest possible number of
internal and external redundancies

❑ High degree of static indeterminacy is desirable but this is

not sufficient

❑ It should have sufficient Ductility, Toughness and Stable

Hysteric Behavior under repeated cycles of deformation
reversals
It is necessary to proportion and detail its members,
connections, and supports so that all the inelastic
deformations are constrained (controlled) to develop
in desired regions and according to a desirable
hierarchy, and are dispersed in a sufficiently large
number of regions over the plan and height of the
whole structure.
Plaza 1 Apartment Building
Caracas, Venezuela

This is a 12-story reinforced

concrete building with
penthouse and 4 levels of
underground parking.
Its system is based on the use
of reinforced concrete shear
walls in both directions. These
shear walls gave significant
strength and stiffness to the
building, allowing it to survive
the 1967 Venezuela earthquake
without any structural
or non-structural damage.

Banco de America - which is
somewhat taller (the tallest
building in Managua in 1972)
suffered very little damage and
was repaired. It is a 17-story
coupled shear wall core,
concentrically located, reinforced
concrete building with two
basements.
Overall view of the Banco Central and the Banco de America
in downtown Managua, Nicaragua
Banco Central was a 15-storey
reinforced concrete frame
building with an eccentrically
placed penthouse at the top
of the eccentrically placed
service core and two-level
basements.
It suffered severe structural and
non-structural damage during
the 1972 Managua earthquake
( which led to the demolition of
the upper 12 stories).
 The system is a combination
of ductile walls with a framed
tube, is an excellent system for
seismic-resistant design,
providing several lines of
defense whereby the behavior
of the whole system can
accommodate the demands
of a severe earthquake.

The shear walls had only minor

cracking. The only structural
damage was the shattering of
several of the deep coupling girders of the
shear wall core.
Plan view of Banco de America
 The overall configuration of the reinforced concrete system of the tower was
Note that
not in the transverse
symmetric. This wasdirection
due to thethepresence
framingofbeams had a clear
two structural span at the
systems
of about 13m,ends
two short and and
weredue
onlyto0.20 x 0.70m in
the presence ofcross-section. Dueplaced
the eccentrically to the reinforced
large flexibility of
these floor beams
concrete the content ofthe
walls sorrounding theservice
building
corewere
withnot protectedeccentricities
significant during the earthquake.
between the center of rigidity and the center of mass.
Overall view of the
Banco de America(left)
and the Banco Central
Buildings in Managua,
Nicaragua.

Note the damage to the infill

hollow tile wall that was used
at the end of the Banco Central
Building. Because this end was
very close to the center of
rigidit, it did not suffer large
lateral torsional deformations.
6. STRUCTURES SHOULD BE PROVIDED WITH
BALANCED STIFFNESS, STRENGTH &
DUCTILITY
BETWEEN ITS MEMBERS, CONNECTIONS &
SUPPORTS
❑ Keep the distress out of the connections

❑ A chain breaks at its weakest link. It is not worthwhile

using strong, stiff and ductile structural members if they
are not properly connected.
First story column
and column-beam
connection at the
second floor level

Mosque
El Asnam, Algeria
4-story Galerie Algerienne Building
El Asnam, Algeria 1980 Earthquake

Lack of adequate reinforcement at the column-beam connections

was one of the reasons for the collapse of this building.
Naiguata, Venezuela 1967of similar
The stiffening(shortening)
columns by the mezzanine girders
This was large
imposed a single-story
shear andbuilding,
rotation
approximately
demands at the7m high,hinges in these
plastic
with a mezzanine
shorter at 3m
columns. This above the
illustrates
ground.
need forThis slide sudden
avoiding shows thechanges
damage at the
in stiffness andconnection
the need for balanced
between the column
strength between and theand their
members
beam supporting the mezzanine.
connections.
Anchorage, Alaska
1964 earthquake

This 14-story reinforced concrete

structure has a basic lateral-resisting
structural system a series of slender
walls coupled by spandrel girders
which work as coupling girders.
Unfortunately it appears that these
spandrel girders were not designed
and detailed to work as coupling
girders and therefore suffered
significant damage in the earthquake.

The early failure of these coupling

girders did not allow very much
dissipation of energy in the girders
and resulted in the walls working
as single cantilever walls with
significant decrease in stiffness.
Anchorage, Alaska
1964 earthquake

Close-up of the failure of one of the shear walls in the building showed incipient types
of failure at the construction joints due to poor workmanship at the joints.

The failure of this particular wall did not occur at the construction joint, and it was
attributed to lack of adequate axial-flexural capacity. Note the lack of any extra
reinforcement at the edge of the shear walls.
 BASIC LESSONS FROM
EARTHQUAKES

✔ KEEP IT LIGHT
✔ KEEP IT SYMMETRIC
✔ KEEP IT PLIABLE
✔ KEEP THE DISTRESS OUT OF THE CONNECTIONS
✔ AVOID STRUCTURAL DISCONTINUITIES DESIGN
FOR STRESS REVERSALS
✔ PROVIDE A SECOND LINE OF DEFENSE
✔ REMEMBER ESSENTIAL SERVICES

EARTHQUAKE RESISTANT DESIGN