Earthquake Resistant Architecture

Architectural
Considerations

Presented by-
Neha Gupta (19122036)
Neha P (19122037)
Why?
Why is designing with respect to
earthquake resistance important?
Experience in past earthquakes has demonstrated that many
common buildings and typical methods of construction lack basic
resistance to earthquake forces. In most cases this resistance can
be achieved by following simple, inexpensive principles of good
building construction practice. Adherence to these simple rules
will not prevent all damage in moderate or large earthquakes, but
life threatening collapses should be prevented, and damage
limited to repairable proportions.
General Principles of Design
• Planning and layout of the building involving consideration of the location of rooms and walls, openings
such as doors and windows, the number of storeys, etc. At this stage, site and foundation aspects should also
be considered.

• Lay out and general design of the structural framing system with special attention to furnishing lateral
resistance.

• Consideration of highly loaded and critical sections with provision of reinforcement as required.

• All elements, such as walls and the roof, should be tied together so as to act as an integrated unit during
earthquake shaking, transferring forces across connections and preventing separation.

• The building must be well connected to a good foundation and the earth. Wet, soft soils should be avoided,
and the foundation must be well tied together, as well as walls.

• Unreinforced earth and masonry have no reliable strength in tension, and are brittle in compression.
Generally, they must be suitably reinforced by steel or wood.
Planning and design aspects
PLAN
• Symmetry: The building as a
whole or its various blocks
should be kept symmetrical about
both the axes. Asymmetry leads
to torsion during earthquakes and
is dangerous. Symmetry is also
desirable in the placing and sizing
of door and window openings, as
far as possible
• Regularity: Simple Irregular configurations
rectangular shapes, behave
better in an earthquake than
shapes with many
projections. Torsional effects
of ground motion are
pronounced in long narrow
rectangular blocks.
Therefore, it is desirable to
restrict the length of a block
to three times its width. If Regular configurations
longer lengths are required
two separate blocks with
sufficient separation in
between should be provided.
• Separation of Blocks: Separation of a large building into several blocks may be required so as to obtain
symmetry and regularity of each block. For preventing hammering or pounding damage between blocks a
physical separation of 3 to 4 cm throughout the height above the plinth level will be adequate as well as
practical for upto 3 storeyed buildings. The separation section can be treated just like expansion joint or it
may be filled or covered with a weak material which would easily crush and crumble during earthquake
shaking. Such separation may be considered in larger buildings since it may not be convenient in small
buildings.
• Simplicity: Ornamentation involving
large cornices, vertical or horizontal
cantilever projections, facia stones and
the like are dangerous and undesirable
from a seismic viewpoint. Simplicity is
the best approach. Where
ornamentation is insisted upon, it must
be reinforced with steel, which should
be properly embedded or tied into the
main structure of the building.
• Enclosed Area: A small building enclosure with
properly interconnected walls acts like a rigid box since
the earthquake strength which long walls derive from
transverse walls increases as their length decreases.
Therefore structurally it will be advisable to have
separately enclosed rooms rather than one long room.

• Separate Buildings for Different Functions: In view of

the difference in importance of hospitals, schools,
assembly halls, residences, communication and security
buildings, etc., it may be economical to plan separate
blocks for different functions so as to affect economy in
strengthening costs.
CHOICE OF SITE

• Site selection: A site with sufficient

bearing capacity and free from the
defects such as unstable slope and
loose or sensitive clay should be
chosen and its drainage condition
improved so that no water
accumulates and saturates the
ground close to the footing level.

Soil liquefaction
CHOICE OF SITE
• Stability of Slope: Hillside slopes liable to slide
during an earthquake should be avoided and only
stable slopes should be chosen to locate the
building. Also it will be preferable to have several
blocks on terraces than have one large block with
footings at very different elevations. A site subject to
the danger of rock falls has to be avoided.

• Very Loose Sands or Sensitive Clays: These two

types of soils are liable to be destroyed by the
earthquake so much as to lose their original
structure and thereby undergo compaction. This
would result in large unequal settlements and
damage the building. If the loose cohesionless soils
are saturated with water they are apt to lose their
shear resistance altogether during shaking and Loose soil
become liquefied.
FIRE RESISTANCE
• Fire safety: It is not unusual during
earthquakes that due to snapping of
electrical fittings short circuiting
takes place, or gas pipes may
develop leaks and catch fire. Fire
could also be started due to kerosene
lamps and kitchen fires. The fire
hazard sometimes could even be
more serious than the earthquake
damage. The buildings should
therefore preferably be constructed
of fire resistant materials and should
have fire system systems installed.

Post earthquake fire in Kobe, Japan on 17 January 1995

MISCELLANEOUS

• Lightness:Since the earthquake force is a

function of mass, the building shall be as light
as possible consistent with structural safety
and functional requirements. Roofs and upper
storeys of buildings, in particular, should be
designed as light as possible.

• Strength in Various Directions: The structure

shall be designed to have adequate strength
against earthquake effects along both the
horizontal axes. The design shall also be safe
considering the reversible nature of
earthquake forces.
• Projecting and Suspended Parts:
Projecting parts shall be avoided as far
as possible. If the projecting parts
cannot be avoided, they shall be
properly reinforced and firmly tied to
the main structure, and their design
shall be in accordance with IS 1893 :
1984. Ceiling plaster shall preferably
be avoided. When it is unavoidable, the
plaster shall be as thin as possible.
Suspended ceiling shall be avoided as
far as possible. Where provided they
shall be light, adequately framed and
secured.
Nepal earthquake 2015
• Ductility: The main structural
elements and their connection
shall be designed not to have a
ductile failure. This will enable
the structure to absorb energy
during earthquakes to avoid
sudden collapse of the structure.
Providing reinforcing steel in
masonry at critical sections, as
provided in this standard will not
only increase strength and
stability but also ductility.
• Damage to Non-structural Parts: Suitable details shall be worked out to connect the non-
structural parts with the structural framing so that the deformation of the structural frame
leads to minimum damage of the non-structural elements.

• Continuity of Construction: As far as possible, the parts of the building should be tied
together in such a manner that the building acts as one unit. For parts of buildings between
separation or crumple sections or expansion joints, floor slabs shall be continuous
throughout as far as possible. Concrete slabs shall be rigidly connected or integrally cast
with the support beams. Additions and alterations to the structures shall be accompanied by
the provision of separation or crumple sections between the new and the existing structures
as far as possible, unless positive measures are taken to establish continuity between the
existing and the new construction.
Irregularities in Building Configuration

An important feature in building configuration is its regularity and

symmetry in horizontal and vertical plane . The Irregularities in
building configuration system are classified into two types.
• Vertical Irregularities- sudden change in strength, stiffness,
geometry and mass results in irregular distribution of forces over
the height.
• Horizontal Irregularities – Refers to asymmetric plan shape or
discontinuous in the horizontal resisting elements such as openings
and re-entrant corner and other changes resulting in torsion.
BUILDING CONFIGURATION PROBLEMS
PLAN STRUCTURAL IRREGULARITIES L SHAPED BUILDING
Seismic behaviour of irregular shaped plans differs from regular
shapes because the first can be subjected to their asymmetry
and/or can present local deformations due to the presence of re-
entrant corners or excessive openings. Both effects give origin to
undesired stress concentrations in some resisting members of the
building.
On the contrary, the ideal rectangular or square plane, structurally
symmetric, with enough in-plane stiffness in its diaphragm,
presents an ideal behaviour. Building shaped like a box, such as TORSION OF UNSYMMETRICAL PLANS
rectangular, both in plan and elevation, is inherently stronger than
one that is L-shaped or U-shaped, that is a building with wings
VERTICAL IRREGULARITIES

• Stiffness Irregularity -Soft Story

• Stiffness Irregularity - Extreme Soft Story
• Weight (Mass) Irregularity
• Vertical Geometry Irregularity
• In-plane Discontinuity in Vertical Lateral Force
Resisting Elements
• Discontinuity in Capacity -Weak Story

SOFT STORY

Architectural considerations
• Taller first story
• Unreinforced infill in upper stories
• Completely open ground story
Soft Story
• Stiffness related
• Lateral stiffness of adjacent stories
Soft story examples-
Stilts (open ground storey)
• Used as parking lots, garages
• Apartments & commercial buildings
• Prevalent in many countries like India,
Iran Turkey, etc.
Intermediate open storey
• Machinery, recreations, etc

Seismic performance
Under lateral loads
• Excessive story deformation
• Shear failure of columns
GENERAL PRINCIPLES AND
DESIGN CRITERIA
AS PER IS 1893-1 (2002): Criteria for Earthquake Resistant Design of Structures, Part 1
BUILDINGS
Regular and Irregular Configuration
• To perform well in an earthquake, a building should possess four
main attributes
• Simple and regular configuration
• Adequate lateral strength
• Stiffness and ductility
• Buildings having simple regular geometry and uniformly distributed
mass and stiffness in plan as well as in elevation, suffer much less
damage than buildings with irregular configurations.
• A building shall be considered as irregular for the purposes of this
standard, if at least one of the conditions mentioned in the previous
slides
TORSIONAL IRREGULARITY
BUILDINGS WITH SOFT
STOREY
• Dynamic analysis of building is carried out including the strength and stiffness effects of infills and inelastic deformations
in the members, particularly, those in the soft storey, and the members designed accordingly.

• Alternatively, the following design criteria are to be adopted after carrying out the earthquake analysis, neglecting the
effect of infill walls in other storeys-

• The columns and beams of the soft storey are to be designed for 2.5 times the storey shears and moments
calculated under seismic loads.
• Besides the columns designed and detailed for the calculated storey shears and moments, shear walls placed
symmetrically in both directions of the building as far away from the centre of the building as feasible; to be
designed exclusively for 1.5 times the lateral storey shear force.
REFERENCES
• IS 1893-1 (2002): Criteria for Earthquake Resistant Design of Structures, Part 1.
• IS 4326:1993 Earthquake Resistant Design and Construction of Buildings Code of Practice.
• https://sjce.ac.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/EQ3-Architectural-and-Planning-Aspects.pdf
• https://www.nicee.org/iaee/E_Chapter3.pdf
THANKYOU