1.

INTRODUCTION
1.1 What is an earthquake? An earthquake is a sudden, rapid shaking of
the Earth caused by the breaking and shifting of rock beneath the Earths
surface. Earthquakes are major geological phenomena. Man has been terrified
of this phenomenon for ages, as little has been known about the causes of
earthquakes, but it leaves behind a trail of destruction.

movement takes place; the interface between the plates where the movement
has taken place suddenly slips an releases large elastic energy in the rocks at the
interface. The sudden slip at the fault causes earthquake.

1.2 What are the causes of earthquake?

1.2.1 The Circulations: Convection currents develop in the viscous Mantle,
because of high prevailing high temperature and high pressure gradients
between the core and crust. The energy is derived from the radioactive decay of
the elements throughout the earth interior. The convection current result in the
circulation of earth mass; hot lava comes out and the cold rock mass goes inside
the earth crust. It eventually melts and becomes part of earth mantle. This
process leads to the movement of earth surface in different direction.
1.2.2 Plate tectonics: The convective flows of Mantle materials cause the Crust
and some portion of Mantle, to slide on hot molten outer core. The sliding of
earth crust takes place in pieces called Tectonic plates. The plates move in
different directions and different speed. The sliding takes place in three ways:
1. Convergent: the plate in front moves slower than the plate behind it comes
and collides.
2. Divergent: two plates move away from each other.
3. Transform: two plates move side by side, either in the same direction or in
opposite direction.

1.4 Types of Earthquakes:

There are two types of Earthquake
1.
2.

Inter plate Earthquake: Earthquake occurs along the surface of the

earth. E.g. Assam earthquake 1897.
Intra plate Earthquake: Earthquake occurs within the plates but away
from the plates.E.g. Latur earthquake in 1993.

1.5 How does the ground shake?

The ground shakes due to seismic waves. There are two types of seismic waves.
They are as follows:
1. Body Waves
2. Surface Waves
Body Waves consists of P-Waves and S-Waves
Surface Waves consists of Love waves and Rayleigh waves
The relative movement of these plate boundaries across the Earth, on an
average it is of order couples to tens of centimeters per year.
1.3 How does an earthquake occur?
Elastic Rebound Theory: Tectonic plates are made of elastic but brittle in
nature. Elastic energy is stored in them due relative deformations that occur due
to gigantic tectonic action takes place in Earth. But when the rocky material
along the interface in the Earths crust reaches strength, it fractures and sudden

1.6 What does Magnitude and Intensity mean? Magnitude: Magnitude is the
quantitative measure of actual size of the earthquake. Intensity: It is the
qualitative measure of the shaking at a location during earthquake and is
denoted by roman numbers .There are two commonly used scales
1. MMI Scale
2. MKS Scale

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2. IMPORTANCE OF ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES:
If we have poor configuration to start with, all the engineer can do is to
provide a band aid improve basically a poor solution as best as he can.
Conversely if we start off with good configuration and reasonable framing
system, even a poor engineer cant harm its ultimate performance too much.
2.1 TWISTING OF BUILDINGS DURING EARTHQUAKE:
The following are the reasons why a building shakes during earthquake:
1. If the mass on the floor of the building is more on one side then that side of
the building shakes more when earthquake occurs. The building moves such
that floor displace horizontally and also twists.
2. Buildings with uneven structural members (frames) also the floor twists
about a vertical axis and displace horizontally.
3. Buildings which have walls on two sides and flexible frames on the two sides
is also liable to twist along the vertical axis and displaces along the
horizontally. Twist in the building called torsion, makes different portion of the
floor move horizontally at different levels.
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3. NATURE OF EARTHQUAKE RESISTANT DESIGN

PROBLEM: The basic design criterion, which any earthquake-resistant
structure must satisfy, is the following:
Seismic demand < Computed capacity
Seismic demand is the effect of the earthquake on the structure. Computed
capacity is the structures ability to resist that effect without failure. In short,
the structure should not fall down. One invisible requirement in the criterion
shown above is that a structure must meet all functional requirements at
minimum economic cost. Unfortunately, it must be recognized that no structure
can be completely safe. One, we cannot perfectly predict the seismic demand
due to earthquake loads; two, the computed versus actual capacity of a designed
structure may not match perfectly; three, there could be human errors in design
and construction. Earthquake loads are inertia forces resulting from ground
movements and they impose certain demands on the structures related to
strength, ductility and energy.
3.1

EARTHQUAKE DESIGN PHILOSOPHY

The earthquake design philosophy may be summarized as follows:

1.

Under minor but frequent shaking, the main members of the building that
vertical and horizontal forces should not be damaged; but the member
members which do not carry any load can sustain repairable damages.
Under moderate but occasional shaking, the main members may sustain
repairable damages; but the other parts may have to be replaced totally
after the earthquake.
Under strong but rare shaking, the main members may sustain severe
damage but the building must not collapse.

2.

3.

3.2 DEFORMABILITY:

Deformability is a less formal term referring to the ability of a structure to

displace or deform substantial amounts without collapsing. Besides inherently
relying on ductility of materials and components, deformability requires that
structures be well-proportioned, regular and well tied together so that excessive
stress concentrations are avoided and forces are capable of being transmitted
from one component to another even through large deformations. Ductility is a
term applied to material and structures, while deformability is applicable only
to structures. Even when ductile materials are present in sufficient amounts in
structural components such as beams and walls, overall structural deformability
requires that geometrical and material instability be avoided. That is,
components must have proper aspect ratios (that is not be too high), must be
adequately connected to resisting elements (for example sufficient wall ties for
a masonry wall, tying it to floors, roof and shear walls), and must be well tied
together (for example positive connection at beam seats, so that deformations
do not permit a beam to simply fall off a post) so as to permit large
deformations and dynamic motions to occur without sudden collapse
3.3

DUCTILITY:

Formally, ductility refers to the ratio of the displacement just prior to ultimate
displacement or collapse to the displacement at first damage or yield. Some
materials are inherently ductile, such as steel, wrought iron and wood. Other
materials are not ductile (this is termed brittle), such as cast iron, plain
masonry, adobe or concrete, that is, they break suddenly, without warning.
Brittle materials can be made ductile, usually by the addition of modest
amounts of ductile materials, Such as wood elements in adobe construction, or
steel reinforcing in masonry and concrete constructions. For these ductile
materials to achieve a ductile effect in the overall behavior of the component,
they must be proportioned and placed so that they come in tension and are
subjected to yielding. Thus, a necessary requirement for good earthquakeresistant design is to have sufficient ductile materials at points of tensile
stresses.

3.4

DAMAGEBILITY:

Damageability is also a desirable quality for construction, and refers to the

ability of a structure to undergo substantial damages, without partial or total
collapse a key to good damageability is redundancy, or provision of several
supports for key structural members, such as ridge beams, and avoidance of
central columns or walls supporting excessively large portions of a building. A
key to achieving good damageability is to always ask the question, .if this beam
or column, wall connection, foundation, etc. fails, what is the consequence? .. If
the consequence is total collapse of the structure, additional supports or
alternative structural layouts should be examined, or an additional factor of
safety be furnished for such critical members or connections.

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4. PLAN OF THE BUILDING:
(i) 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, Fig 2. Symmetry is also desirable in the placing
and sizing of door and window openings, as far as possible.

(ii) Regularity: Simple rectangular shapes, Fig 3(a) behave better in an

earthquake than shapes with many projections Fig 3(b). 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 longer
lengths are required two separate blocks with sufficient separation in between
should be provided, Fig 3 (c).
(iii) 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 up to 3 storeyed buildings, Fig 3 (c). 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.
(iv) Simplicity: Ornamentation invo1ving 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. Note: If
designed, a seismic coefficient about 5 times the coefficient used for designing
the main structure should be used for cantilever ornamentation.
(v) 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, Fig 4 For unframed walls of thickness t and wall spacing of a, a ratio of
a/t = 40 should be the upper limit between the cross walls for mortars of cement
sand 1:6 or richer, and less for poor mortars. For larger panels or thinner walls,
framing elements should be introduced as shown at Fig 4(c).
(vi) 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.

FIGURE 2:
.4.1 REQUIREMENTS FOR STRUCTURAL SAFETY:
(i) A free standing wall must be designed to be safe as a vertical
cantilever. This requirement will be difficult to achieve in un-reinforced
masonry in Zone A. Therefore all partitions inside the buildings must be
held on the sides as well as top. Parapets of category I and II buildings
must be reinforced and held to the main structural slabs or frames.
(ii) Horizontal reinforcement in walls is required for transferring their
own out-of-plane inertia load horizontally to the shear walls.
(iii) The walls must be effectively tied together to avoid separation at
vertical joints due to ground shaking.
(iv) Shear walls must be present along both axes of the building.
(v) A shear wall must be capable of resisting all horizontal forces due to
its own mass and those transmitted to it.
(vi) Roof or floor elements must be tied together and be capable of
exhibiting diaphragm action.
(vii) Trusses must be anchored to the supporting walls and have an
arrangement for transferring their inertia force to the end walls.

FIGURE 3:
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5. CONCEPT OF ISOLATION:
The foregoing discussion of earthquake resistant design has emphasized the
traditional approach of resisting the forces an earthquake imposes on a structure.
An alternative approach which is presently emerging is to avoid these forces, by
isolation of the structure from the ground motions which actually impose the
forces on the structure. This is termed base-isolation. For simple buildings, basefriction isolation may be achieved by reducing the coefficient of friction
between the structure and its foundation, or by placing a flexible connection
between the structure and its foundation. For reduction of the coefficient of
friction between the structure and its foundation, one suggested technique is to
place two layers of good quality plastic between the structure and its foundation,
so that the plastic layers may slide over each other. Flexible connections
between the structure and its foundation are also difficult to achieve on a

permanent basis. One technique that has been used for generations has been to
build a house on short posts resting on large stones, so that under earthquake
motions, the posts are effectively pin connected at the top and bottom and the
structure can rock to and fro somewhat. This has the advantage of substantially
reducing the lateral forces, effectively isolating the structure from the high
amplitude high frequency motions. Unfortunately, traditional applications of this
technique usually do not account for occasional large displacements of this pinconnected mechanism, due to rare very large earthquakes or unusually large
low-frequency content in the ground motion, so that when lateral displacements
reach a certain point, collapse results. A solution to this problem would be
provision of a plinth slightly below the level of the top of the posts, so that when
the posts rock too far, the structure is only dropped a centimeter or so.

6.2 SOFT SOIL: In soft soil, it will be desirable to use a plinth band in all walls
and where necessary to connect the individual column footings by means of
plinth beams as suggested above. It may be mentioned that continuous
reinforced concrete footings are considered to be most effective from earthquake
considerations as well as to avoid differential settlements under normal vertical
loads.
These should ordinarily be provided continuously under all the walls.
Continuous footing should be reinforced both in the top and bottom faces, width
of the footing should be wide enough to make the contact pressures uniform, and
the depth of footing should be below the lowest level of weathering

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7. OPEN GROUND STOREY BUILDING VULRERNABLE TO
EARTHQUAKE:
7.1 PROBLEM: Open ground storey buildings are inherently poor systems with
sudden drop in stiffness and strength in the ground storey.
7.2 IMPROVED DESIGN STRATEGIES: According to the code IS 1893
(part 1)-20002the forces in columns, beams .shear walls under the action of
seismic loads specified in the code may be obtained by considering bare frames
(without in fills ).However in open ground storey are required to be designed for
2.5 times the force obtained in the bare frame system.
For all new RC buildings the best option is to avoid such sudden and large
decrease in stiffness or strength in any storey it would be ideal to build walls in
the ground storey too. Designers can avoid dangerous effects to flexible and
weak ground storey by ensuring that too many walls are not discontinued in the
ground storey

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6. FOUNDATIION:
.
For the purpose of making a building truly earthquake resistant, it will be
necessary to choose an appropriate foundation type for it. Since loads from
typical low height buildings will be light, providing the required bearing area
will not usually be a problem. The depth of footing in the soil should go below
the zone of deep freezing in cold countries and below the level of shrinkage
cracks in clayey soils. For choosing the type of footing from the earthquake
angle, the soils may be grouped as Firm and Soft avoiding the weak soil unless
compacted and brought to Soft or Firm condition
6.1 FIRM SOIL: In firm soil conditions, any type of footing (individual or strip
type) can be used. It should of course have a firm base of lime or cement
concrete with requisite width over which the construction of the footing may
start. It will be desirable to connect the individual reinforced concrete column
footings by means of RC beams just below plinth level intersecting at right
angles.

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8. PREFERENCE OF SHEAR WALLS IN SEISMIC REGIONS:
RC buildings often have vertical plate like RC walls called shear walls. These
walls are generally start at foundation level and are continuous throughout the
building height. Shear walls are like vertically oriented wide beams that carry
earthquake loads downwards towards the foundation.
8.1 ADVANTAGES:
We cannot afford to build concrete buildings meant to resist severe earthquakes
without the shear walls

Shear walls are easy to construct because reinforcement detailing of walls is

relatively straight forward and therefore easily implanted in the site. Shear walls
are efficient, both in terms of construction cost and effectiveness in minimizing
earthquake damage in structural and non structural element.

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9. NEW MATERIALS AND DEVICES:
Many non-conventional civil engineering materials are making inroads into
earthquake- resistant construction techniques. Steel, concrete, and masonry are
no longer good enough. Recently developed techniques use materials such as
rubber, lead, copper, brass, aluminum, stainless steel, fiber-reinforced plastics
and even expensive shape-memory alloys. These materials are strategically used
to modify the force deformation response of structural components and/or
enhance their energy dissipation potential. For example, fiber-reinforced plastic
fabrics and sheets are an attractive alternative over steel or concrete jacketing to
restore the load-carrying capacity of earthquake-damaged reinforced concrete
beams or beamcolumn joints. They are lightweight, quick to install and can be
easily epoxy-bonded. More new materials can be expected as researchers look
for better seismic control techniques outside of the narrow confines of traditional
civil engineering materials.

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12. CONCLUSION:
In the coming years, the field of EQRD of structures is most likely to witness the
following significant developments:
(1) A complete probabilistic analysis and design approach that rationally
accounts for uncertainties present in the structural system will gradually replace
deterministic approaches, especially in the characterization of the loading
environment.
(2) Performance-based design processes will take centre stage, making
conventional descriptive codes obsolete.
(3) The acceptable risk criterion for design purposes will be prescribed in terms
of performance objectives and hazard levels.
(4) Multiple annual probability maps for response spectral accelerations and
peak ground accelerations along with more realistic predictions of the effects
of site soils, topography, near-source rupture mechanisms and spatial variation
should provide better characterization of design earthquakes and expected
ground motions.
(5) The development of new structural systems and devices will continue for
base-isolation, passive energy dissipation and active control systems, along with
the proliferation of non-traditional civil engineering materials and techniques.
(6) Analytical tools for reliable prediction of structural response (essential tools
in performance-based design processes) will continue to improve and be updated
frequently to include new devices and materials.
(7) The area of soilstructure interaction perhaps the least understood aspect in
the field of earthquake engineering is poised to witness the emergence of new
numerical techniques to model nonlinear soils and structures in a manner that

was not possible until now, due to the enormous computational efforts required.
It is fairly well accepted that earthquakes will continue to occur and cause
disasters if we are not prepared. Assessing earthquake risk and improving
engineering strategies to mitigate damages are the only options before us.
Geologists, seismologists and engineers are continuing their efforts to meet the
requirements of improved zoning maps, reliable databases of earthquake
processes and their effects; better understanding of site characteristics and
development of EQRDs. As for the engineer, the ultimate goal will remain the
same: to design the perfect, but cost effective structure, that behaves in a
predictable and acceptable manner. The ongoing research and development
activities in the area of EQRD of structures offer significant promise in realizing
that goal in the coming years.
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13. REFERENCES:
1. Hamburger, R. O. and Holmes, W. T., Vision statement: EERI/ FEMA
Performance-based seismic engineering project, Background document for
EERI/FEMA action plan, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, Oakland,
CA, 1998.
2. Der Kiureghian, A., Advances in Earthquake Engineering, University of
California, Berkeley, CA, 1994.
3. NEHRP guidelines for seismic rehabilitation of buildings, FEMA 273,
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Washington DC, 1997.
4. Repair of earthquake damaged concrete and masonry buildings, FEMA 306,
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Washington DC, 1999
5. IS: 1893-1962, Indian Standard Recommendations For earthquake Resistance
Of Structures, Indian Standards Institute, New Delhi, 1962.
6. Krishna.j.Seismic zoning of India, Earthquake Engineering Seminar L
SALLY, University of Roorkee, India.
7. Internet: General Concept of Earthquake Resistant Structures.
8. NICEE site, Kanpur
9. Google images