CE425 TE3 – EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING

Instructor: ENGR. REX HOMER C. CABLINDA

Lecture – 3 units, Lab – 1 unit

Topics:

1. Elements of Seismology
2. Seismic Conceptual Design of Buildings
3. Earthquake Load Analysis
4. Lateral Force Procedures for Building
Structures
5. Analysis of Frames
6. Lateral Force Procedures for Non-Building
Structures
[Aristotle theory]
Reference:
National Structural Code of the Philippines 2015
Today, after the numerous scientific developments of
the twentieth century and the many years of geological
ELEMENTS OF SEISMOLOGY and seismological studies, there seems to be a clear
EARTHQUAKE understanding of what causes earthquakes, and where
and how often they may occur.
• Shaking and vibration at the surface of the earth
• Modern theories explaining the mechanisms that
resulting from underground movement along a fault
plane or from volcanic activity. give birth to earthquake.
• An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of • Phenomena that are deemed responsible for these
energy in the Earth’s crust that creates seismic mechanisms.
waves. • Correlation between earthquake-generating
• An earthquake is a sudden and sometimes mechanisms and features of the earth’s surface.
catastrophic movement of a part of the Earth’s
surface. TYPES OF EARTHQUAKES (According to the Mode of
• Are broaden-banded vibratory ground motions, Generation)
resulting from a number off causes which includes:
- Tectonic ground motions 1. Tectonic Earthquakes
- Volcanism
- Landslide • The most common earthquake
- Man-made explosions • Produced when rocks break suddenly in
response to the various geological forces
Of these, naturally occurring tectonic-related
earthquakes are the largest and most important. 2. Volcanic Earthquakes

These are caused by the fracture and sliding of rock

• Earthquakes occurring in conjunction with
along faults within the Earth’s crust and which might
Volcanic Activity
be hundred of kilometers long and depth of one to over
• Induced by the movement (injection or
a hundred kilometers.
withdrawal) of magma
Earthquakes initiate a number of phenomena or agents,
called seismic hazards, which can cause significant 3. Collapse Earthquakes
damage to the built environment.
• Small EQs occurring in regions of
These hazards includes fault rupture, vibratory ground underground caverns and mines
motion, tsunami liquefaction, fire, etc. • Sometimes produced by massive land sliding

4. Man-made Earthquakes

• Produced by the explosion of chemical or

Ever since human beings first felt the earth shake,
nuclear devices
they have had the desire to know why that happens and
developed, as a result, numerous explanations for it.
EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING
An early attempt for a scientific explanation was made
by Aristotle, who found an explanation for the cause
of earthquakes in the interior of the earth. Earthquake engineering is the branch of civil
engineering that provides the principles and
procedures for the planning, analysis, and design of
structures and facilities that are capable of
resisting, to a preselected extend, the effects of
earthquakes.

Earthquake Engineering provides the principles and

procedures for:

a.) The selection of the proper location of

structures to minimize their exposure to
earthquake hazards
[Fish theory]
b m f o r m a n e s | 1
 b.) The estimation of the earthquake forces that A fault is a fracture or zone of fractures between
may affect structures and their surrounding two blocks of rock. Faults allow the blocks to move
environment in a given time interval. relative to each other. This movement may occur
c.) The analysis of structures and the rapidly, in the form of an.
surrounding environment under the effect of
such forces to determine the maximum stresses Faults may range in length from a few millimeters to
and deformations that may be imposed upon thousands of kilometers. Most faults produce repeated
them. displacements over geologic time.
d.) The configuration, proportioning, and
detailing of structures to make them resist During an earthquake, the rock on one side of the
such stresses and deformations without fault suddenly slips with respect to the other.
collapse or failure of any of their
The fault surface can be horizontal or vertical or
components.
some arbitrary angle in between.
e.) The improvement of soils and the
stabilization of natural slopes to guarantee
the stability of structures supported on weak
soils or slopes.

During the 19th century systematic field studies after

earthquakes were started and the first attempts to
relate them to tectonic processes were also made by
Koto (Neodani, Japana, 1891) among others.

With the increase in number of field observations and

in precision of localisation of epicenters, the
correlation between earthquakes and faults became
clearer.

PROFESSOR BUNJIRO KOTO

Professor of Geology, Paleontology

and Mineralogy, Seismologist

In 1891, a Japanese
Seismologist, Prof. B. Koto,
after careful study of the
Mino-Owari Earthquake notes,

“it can be confidently

asserted that the sudden
faulting was the actual cause
[Mino-Owari Earthquake]
(and not the effect) of the
earthquake.”
HARRY FIELDING REID – 1906 San Francisco EQ
The controversy at that time was to know if faults
were the origin or a consequence of earthquake. The final proof came from
geodetic observations after the
1906 San Francisco earthquake
FAULT
by Harry Fielding Reid (1859-
1944).

He showed that the rupture was

not only superficial but also
happened in depth.

This led to the generally

accepted faulting origin of
earthquakes.

HARRY FIELDING REID – Elastic Rebound Theory

Reid gave the five statements of his elastic rebound

theory in 1911:

1. The fracture of the rock, which causes a tectonic

earthquake, is the result of elastic strains,
greater than the strength of the rock can
withstand, produced by the relative displacements
of neighboring portions of the earth’s crust.
2. These relative displacements are not produced
suddenly at the time of the fracture, but attain
their maximum amounts gradually during a more or
less long period of time.
3. The only mass movements that occur at the time of
the earthquake are the sudden elastic rebounds off
the sides of the fracture towards position of no

2 | b m f o r m a n e s
 elastic strain; and these movements extend to EARTH’S INNER LAYER
distance of only a few miles from the fracture.
4. The earthquake vibrations originate in the surface
of fracture; the surface from which they start has
at first a very small area, which may quickly
become very large, but at a rate not greater than
the velocity of compressional elastic waves in the
rock.
5. The energy liberated at the time of an earthquake
was, immediately before the rupture, in the form
of energy of elastic strain of the rock.

TECTONIC PLATES

Tectonic plates are gigantic pieces of the Earth’s

In a global sense, tectonic earthquakes result from crust and uppermost mantle.
motion between a number of large plates comprising
the earth’s crust or lithosphere. They are made up of oceanic crust and continental
crust.

Earthquakes occur around mid-ocean ridges and the

large faults which mark the edges of the plates.

DAMAGING EFFECTS OF EARTHQUAKE

By Ground Motion

Surface Faulting

Is a geological feature (ground

fissure) associated with the
generation of earthquakes.

During an earthquake, the two

sides of a fault may slip relative
to one another.

If a structure lies across a

surface fault, then the structure
may be damages when the fault
slips during an earthquake.

Ground Cracking

Is possible when the soil at the surface loses its

support and sinks, or when it is transported to a
different location.

It occurs because when displaced, a soil layer breaks,

https://www.phivolcs.dost.gov.ph/index.php/earthquake/seismicity-maps/2-uncategorised/10901- causing fissures, horsts, and grabens on the ground
2nd-quarter-2017?cookie_f1c2eb3d29444b35e29064d3b05e858e=accepted
surface.

b m f o r m a n e s | 3
 Other Effects

Tsunamis

Large sea waves generated by a sudden depression of

the ocean floor.

The dislocation of the ocean floor produced by the

slippage of undersea earthquake faults is a common
source of tsunamis.

Ground Subsidence When a tsunami reaches a coastal area, its height may
increase to catastrophic levels and strike the area
Is a phenomenon in which the ground surface of a site with a tremendous force.
settles or depresses as a result of the compaction
induced by the vibratory effect of earthquakes.

Sites with loose or compressible soils are the most

likely to experience ground subsidence.

Seiche

Are long-period oscillating waves generated by

distant earthquakes in enclosed bodies of water such
Landslides
as bays, lakes, reservoirs, and even swimming pools.
Are often triggered by strong earthquakes, these
Seiches occur when the natural frequency of a water
landslides represent the failure of slopes that are
marginally stable before the earthquake and become body matches the frequency of the incoming earthquake
unstable as a result of the violent shaking generated waves, that is, when the water body resonates with
by the earthquake. the earthquake waves.

Soil Liquefaction

Is a phenomenon by which fine saturated granular soils

temporarily change from a solid to a liquid state and
as a result; lose their ability to carry loads or
remain stable.

It occurs when a deposit of loose soil is vigorously

shaken or vibrated and thus it is commonly observed
during earthquakes.

It is caused by a water pressure build-up that is

generated when a saturated soil is compacted by the
effect of the earthquake vibrations.

4 | b m f o r m a n e s
 ACTIVITY 001 3. Define seismic waves

1. Different types of earthquakes Seismic waves are mechanical waves of energy that
travel through the earth. They can result from
There are four main types of earthquakes. The most earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides and other
common among them are tectonic earthquakes, which phenomena.
result from the sudden breaking of rocks due to
various geological forces. Volcanic earthquakes, on 4. Enumerate and define the four types of seismic
the other hand, are closely tied to volcanic activity, waves
occurring in conjunction with the movement of magma.
This movement, whether it involves the injection or P-waves or Primary waves – fastest seismic waves that
withdrawal of magma, induces seismic activity. travel through earth. They are longitudinal waves that
Collapse earthquakes typically of smaller magnitude, alternately compress and expand the medium they pass
take place in regions with underground caverns and through.
mines. They can be triggered by the sudden collapse
S-waves or Secondary waves – slower than P-waves but
of these subterranean structures or by massive
faster than surface waves. They can only travel
landslides. Lastly, man-made earthquakes are produced
through solids, not liquids or gases.
by human activities, such as the explosion of chemical
or nuclear devices.
Love waves – surface waves that travel along the
earth’s surface. Theya re horizontal shear waves that
2. Draw the earth structure with lable on each layer
causes the ground to move side to side.
and its thickness. Briefly define also the composition
of each layer
Rayleigh waves – are also surface waves They are
elliptical waves that cause the ground to move up and
down and side to side in a rolling motion.

5. Briefly discuss the plate tectonics theory

Plate tectonics theory describes the evolution of the

continents and oceans over time, and how they were
once part of a single landmass called Pangea. It is
also a scientific theory that explains the structure,
movement, and interaction of the earth’s tectonic
plates. And how they cause various geological
phenomena.

6. What are subduction zones?

Subduction zones are regions of the earth’s crust

where two tectonic plates meet, and one slides
underneath the other.
Crust (5 to 70 km thick) -The Earth’s crust is the
outermost layer and is the most familiar, since people
7. Define earthquake faults and briefly discuss each
live on the outer skin of the crust. It is rigid,
type
brittle, and thin compared to the mantle, inner core,
and outer core. Because of its varying
An earthquake fault is a fracture or zone of fractures
characteristics, this outer layer is divided into the
between two block or rock that allows them to move
continental and oceanic crusts.
relative to each other. There are different types of
earthquake faults. These are the following:
Mantle (2,900 km thick) -In general, the Earth’s
mantle lies beneath the crust and above the outer
1. Normal Fault – It is a dip-slip fault in
core, averaging about 1,802 miles (2,900 kilometers)
which the upper block, above the fault plane,
thick and repre· senting 68.3 percent of the Earth’s
moves down and away from the lower block.
mass. A transition zone divides this layer into the
2. Reverse (Thrust) Fault – It is also a dip-
upper and lower mantles.
slip fault, but in this case, the upper block
moves up and over the lower block.
Outer core (2,200 km) -The liquid outer core is a
3. Strike-slip Fault – Is a fault on which the
layer between 1,793 and 3,762 miles (2,885 and 5,155
two blocks slide past each other
kilometers) deep in the Earth’s interior. It is
horizontally.
thought to move by convection (the transfer of heat
4. Oblique-slip Fault – A fault that combines
through the circulating motion of particles-in this
both dip-slip and strike slip movements.
case, the material that makes up the outer core), with
the movement possibly contributing to the Earth’s
8. What is the pacific ring of fire?
magnetic field. The outer core represents about 29.3
percent of the Earth’s total mass.
The pacific ring of fire is a horseshoe-shaped region
Inner core (1,230 to 1,530 km) -The inner core is around the Pacific Ocean where many volcanic eruptions
thought to be roughly the size of the Earth’s Moon. and earthquakes occur. It is caused by the movement
of tectonic plates.
It lies ata depth of 3,762 to 3,958 miles (5,150 to
6,370 kilometers) beneath the Earth’s surface and
generates heat close to temperatures on the sun’s
surface. It represents about 1.7 percent of the
Earth’s mass and is thought to be composed of a solid
iron-nickel alloy suspended within the molten outer
core

b m f o r m a n e s | 5
 EARTHQUAKE FORCES of instrumental and observational records from
previous earthquakes.
For structural engineers and from a conceptual point e) Dynamics analysis of the soil deposits at the
of view, earthquakes represent just another force for structure’s site to quantify the ground motion
which structures need to be designed. amplification that may be induced as a result of
their flexibility.
Earthquake forces, however, possess several f) Selection or modification of structural
characteristics that make them unique in comparison configuration, structural system, and structural
with any other forces, such as gravity, wind, or
materials to minimize undesirable structural
thermal forces.
responses and best resist the expected earthquake
Earthquake forces, the result of a back and forth, forces.
and up and down, motion of the ground that supports g) Dynamic analysis of the structure and its
a structure, can be exceptionally large in magnitude, components to estimate the maximum values of the
can change rapidly and erratically during the duration internal forces and deformations that may be
of the earthquake, and may be radically different from generated by a ground motion with the established
earthquake to earthquake, from one site to another, characteristics.
from one type of foundation soil to another, and from h) Analysis of foundation soil to assess its
one structure to another. susceptibility to earthquake effects.
i) Verification of analytical results using
Furthermore, earthquake forces depend on the
laboratory tests of scaled models using shaking
properties of the structure. This means that id one
modifies such properties, one also modifies the tables, or field tests of full-scale models using
earthquake forces that will affect the structure. artificial means to generate ground vibrations.
j) Configuration, proportioning, and detailing of the
It also means that they can and usually do change if members and connections of the structure by the
the earthquake damages the structure. Most estimated maximum internal forces and
importantly, earthquake forces are unpredictable. deformations.
k) Improvement of foundation soil properties to
As a result, the magnitude and characteristics of
reduce soil’s susceptibility to earthquake
earthquake forces can only be, at best, roughly
effects.
estimated.

Earthquake forces are also distinct from one other HISTORY OF STUDY
forces in the sense that they affect the strength and
behavior of structural materials. Since ancient times, human beings have sought to
understand the formation and composition of the Earth.
That is, the properties of structural materials under
earthquake loads are different from the properties The earliest known cases were unscientific in nature
that are considered when designing, for example, for – taking the form of creation myths or religious
gravity loads. fables involving the gods.

This is owed to the fact that earthquake forces are However, between classical antiquity and the medieval
applied suddenly, are relatively short, and change in period, several theories emerged about the origin of
direction many times during the earthquake. the Earth and its proper makeup.

Thus, the magnitude of the earthquake forces is only Most of the ancient theories about Earth tended
part of the information a structural engineer needs towards the “Fat-Earth” view of our planet’s physical
to know to properly design a structure against these form. This was the view in Mesopotamian culture, where
forces. the world was portrayed as a flat disk afloat in an
ocean.
DESIGN OF EARTHQUAKE FORCES
To the Mayans, the world was flat, and at it corners,
Because of the unpredictability of the earthquake four jaguars (known as bacabs) held up in the sky.
forces, the uncertainty of their occurrence, and the
The ancient Persians speculated that the Earth was a
devastating effects they may produce, the design of
seven-layered ziggurat (or cosmic mountain), while
an earthquake-resistant structure is an elaborate
the Chinese viewed it as a four-side cube.
process that requires the participation of several
professionals. a) By 6th century BCE, Greek philosophers began to
speculate that the Earth was in fact round.
In general, it involves many of the following steps:
b) 3rd century BCE – the idea of a spherical Earth
a) Identification of the sources where future began to become articulated as a scientific
matter.
earthquakes are likely to occur with the aid of
historical information, seismological data, and
During the same period, the development of a
geological studies.
geological view of Earth also began to emerge,
b) Determination of the probable size of future with philosophers understanding that it
earthquakes based on the attributes of the consisted of minerals, metals, and that it was
identified seismic sources subject to a very slow process of a change.
c) Definition of the distance and orientation or each c) However, it was not until 16th and 17th centuries
seismic source concerning the structure’s location that a scientific understanding of planet Earth
d) Establishment of semi-empirical equations that and its structure truly began to advance.
correlate ground motion characteristics with d) In 1692, Edmond Halley proposed what is now known
earthquake size, seismic source orientation and as the “Hollow-Earth” Theory.
distance, and site soil conditions with the help
6 | b m f o r m a n e s
e) Halley’s construct was a method of accounting (i.e. that the deeper the layer they were found
for the values of the relative density of Earth in was from the surface, the older they were).
and the Moon that had been given by Sir Isaac n) 19th century Imperial Period – European
Newton, in his Philisophic Naturalis Principia scientists also had the opportunity to conduct
Mathematica (1687) – which were later shown to research in distant lands. One such individual
be inaccurate. was Charles Darwin, who had been recruited by
Captain Fitz Roy of the HMS Beagle to study the
However, his work was instrumental tot he coastal land of South America and give
development of geography and theories about the geological advice.
interior of the Earth during the 17th and 18th o) Darwin’s discovery of giant fossils during the
centuries. voyage helped to establish his reputation as a
f) 17th – 18th century debate about the authenticity geologist, and his theorizing about the cause of
of the Bible and the Deluge myth. This propelled their extinction led to his theory of evolution
the scientists and theologians to debate the by natural selection, published in On the Origin
true age of the Earth, and compelled the search of Species in 1859.
for evidence that the Great Flood had in fact p) During the 19th century, the governments of
happened. several countries including Canada, Australia,
Great Britain and the United States funded
Combined with fossil evidence, which was found geological surveying that would produce
within the Earth’s layer, a systematic basis for geological maps of vast areas of the countries.
identifying and dating the Earth’s strata began By this time, the scientific consensus
to emerge. established the age of the Earth in terms of
g) Modern mining techniques were developed. millions of years, and the increase in funding
Attention to the importance of minerals and and the development of improved methods and
their distribution grown and helped the technology helped geology to move farther away
development of modern geology. from dogmatic notions of the Earth’s age and
h) 1741 – National Museum of National History in structure.
France made the first teaching position q) By the early 20th century, the development of
designated specifically for geology. radiometric dating (which is used to determine
the age of minerals and rocks), provided the
This was an important step in further promoting necessary the data to begin getting a sense of
knowledge of geology as a science and in the Earth’s true age. By the turn of the century,
recognizing the value of widely disseminating geologists now believed the Earth to be 2 billion
such knowledge. years old, which opened doors for theories of
i) 1751 – Encyclopedia by Denis Diderot was continental movement during this vast amount of
published and the term “geology” was accepted. time.
j) 1770 – Chemistry was starting to play a pivotal
role in the theoretical foundation of geology, Research into the ocean floor also led directly
and theories began to emerge about how the to the theory of Plate Tectonics, which provided
Earth’s layers were formed. the mechanism for Continental Drift.
r) Geophysical evidence suggested lateral motion of
One popular idea had it that liquid inundation continents and that oceanic crust is younger than
was responsible for creating all the geological continental crust. This geophysical evidence
strata, like the Biblical Deluge. also spurred the hypothesis of paleomagnetism,
the record of the orientation of the Earth’s
Those who accepted this theory were called magnetic field recorded in magnetic minerals.
Diluvianists or Neptunists. s) Early 20th century – there was the development of
k) 1774 – German geologist Abraham Gottlob Werner seismology, the study of earthquakes and the
presented a detailed system of identifying propagation of elastic waves through the Earth.
specific minerals based on external t) 1910 – Harry Fielding Ried put forward the
characteristics. “elastic rebound theory”, based on his studies
l) 1780s forward – another thesis slowly gained of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Thid
currency which states that instead of water, theory, which stated that earthquakes occur when
strata had been formed through heat (or fire). accumulated energy is released along a fault,
was the first scientific explanation for why
Those who followed this theory during the early earthquakes happen and remains the foundation
19th century referred to this view as Plutonism, for modern tectonic studies.
which held that the Earth formed gradually u) 1926 – English scientist Harold Jeffreys claimed
through the solidification of molten masses at that below the crust, the core of the Earth is
a slow rate. liquid, based on his study on earthquake waves.
v) 1937 – Danish seismologist Inge Lehmann went a
These theories together led to the conclusion step further and determined that within the
that the Earth is immeasurably older than Earth’s liquid outer core, there is a solid inner
suggested by the Bible. core.
m) Early 19th century – the mining industry and
Industrial Revolution stimulated the rapid
development of the concept of the stratigraphic
column – that rock formations were arranged In 1929 a large earthquake occurred near New Zealand.
according to their order of formation in time. Danish seismologist Inge Lehmann studied the shock
Concurrently, geologists and natural scientists waves and was puzzled by what she saw.
began to understand that the age of fossils could
A few P-waves, which should have been deflected by
be determined began to understand that the age
the core, were in fact recorded at seismic stations.
of fossils could be determined geologically

b m f o r m a n e s | 7
Lehmann theorized that these waves had traveled some CHEMICAL LAYERS
distance into the core and then bounced off some kind
of boundary. CRUST

Her interpretation of this data was the foundation of The outermost layer
a 1936 paper in which she theorized that Earth’s
center consisted of two parts: Consists nearly entirely of rocky silicate material,
with some aluminum and trace amounts of all the
A solid inner core surrounded by a liquid outer core, naturally occurring elements.
separated by what has come to be called the Lehmann
Discontinuity. It can be up to 50 km thick, but in places is as thin
as 5kmm, considering the Earth has a radius of some
Lehmann’s hypothesis was confirmed in 1970 when more 6400km, the crust is like a very thin eggshell.
sensitive seismographs detected waves deflecting off
this solid core. There are two types of crust, continental crust and
oceanic crust.

The denser oceanic crust surrounds the whole Earth,

with “islands” of less dense continental crust
floating in it.

The continents are made of continental crust, while

the ocean floors and below the continental crust are
oceanic crust.

w) Later half of 20th century – scientists developed

a comprehensive theory of the Earth’s structure
and dynamics had formed.

As the century played out, perspectives shifted MANTLE

to a more integrative approach, where geology
and Earth sciences began to include the study of The mantle extends from the crust 2900km down and is
the Earth’s internal structure, atmosphere, composed of silicate with large amounts of iron and
biosphere and hydrosphere into one. magnesium.

This was assisted by the development of space CORE

flight, which allowed for Earth’s atmosphere to
be studied in detail, as well as photographs The core extends a further 3400km to the center of
taken of Earth from the space. the Earth.

In 1972, the Landsat Program, a series of The core is primarily made of iron and nickel metals
satellite missions jointly managed by NASA and and is very hot – from 3200℃ to 4000℃.
the U.S. Geological Survey, began supplying
satellite images that provided geologically It is the magnetic iron and nickel in the core that
detailed maps, and have been used to predict is thought to be responsible for the Earth’s magnetic
natural disasters and plate shifts. field.

LAYERS CAN BE DIVIDED IN 2 WAYS

Mechanically-Rheological (Physical Properties)

• Lithosphere
• Asthenosphere
• Mesosphere
• Core

Chemically (Chemical Composition)

• Crust
• Mantle
• Core

8 | b m f o r m a n e s
 PHYSICAL-RHEOLOGICAL LAYERS 3) Similar developments in Italy after the
devastating Messina earthquake in 1908 (58,000
As already mentioned, the temperature within the Earth deaths) led to the appointment of a committee
increases the deeper you go, reaching 4000℃ at the composed of practicing and academic engineers to
center. study the earthquake and the formulation of
practical recommendations for the seismic design
Pressure also increases dramatically with depth. of buildings.

The combination of these two factors creates five

In its report, this committee recommended that
distinct layers or regions within the Earth
the first story of a building is designed for a
alternating between solid, liquid and semi-liquid or
horizontal force equal to 1/12 of the building
“plastic” phases.
weight above and that its second and third
stories be designed for a horizontal force equal
LITHOSPHERE
to 1/8 of the building weight above.
Thin, cool and solid, the lithosphere contains the
crust and some of the mantle. Composed mainly of These Japanese and Italian disasters thus gave
silicates, it “floats” on the underlying birth to practical considerations for the
asthenosphere. earthquake design of structures and earthquake
engineering as a new branch of engineering.
ASTHENOSPHERE 4) In the United States, interest in earthquakes
and earthquake engineering began after the 1906
Is hotter and in a semi-liquid state. San Francisco, California earthquake (1000
deaths), which caused great damage and lost of
Starting at around 80 to 100 km deep, the rock in the lives.
asthenosphere slowly flows in a plastic state moving
in a circular motion creating convection currents of At that time, however, California was still
hot rock. sparsely populated and, therefore, the interest
generated by this earthquake was not enough to
This moves heat from deep within the mantle towards
motivate public officials to develop earthquake
the surfaces.
design regulations.

It is this movement which helps move the continents

It was only after the 1933 earthquake in Long Beach,
and creates volcanoes and lava flows.
California, that American engineers became fully
aware of the dangers of earthquakes, and a great
MESOSPHERE
impetus was given to the study of seismology and
Comprising the inner part of the mantle, the earthquake-resistant designs.
mesosphere is a region of very hot solid rock.
As they became fully interested, the first inquiry
Here, although hotter than the asthenosphere, the was to find out the nature of the motion of the ground
pressure is too high for liquid to form. during an earthquake.

CORE Special instruments were designed and deployed at

various areas of high seismicity to record such a
The core is divided into two parts, the liquid outer motion permanently.
core, where temperature wins over pressure and the
Congress charged the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey
solid inner core where again the pressure is too high
with the responsibility to study and report strong
for a liquid to form.
earthquake motions.
HISTORICAL BACK
At about the same time, new building codes were drawn
up and enforced. The California Legislature passed
1) Robert Mallet, an Irish civil engineer, is often
the Field Act, which made it mandatory for all school
cited as the first earthquake engineer and
buildings to be designed and built to resist
sometimes called the father of seismology, and
earthquakes.
his report entitled “The First Principles of
Observational Seismology” on the 1857 Naples
earthquake is considered to be the first
scientific investigation that included 5) Shortly after, the state of California adopted
observations of the seismological, geological, the Riley Act, which made it mandatory to design
and engineering aspects of an earthquake. most buildings in the state for a lateral load
2) Modern research on earthquake-resistant equal to 2% of the sum of their dead and live
structures, however, began in Japan in 1891, the loads. The Pacific Coast Building Officials (to
year of the Nobi earthquake (7000 deaths; also become later the International Conference of
known as the Mino-Owari earthquake), with the Building Officials) published the nation’s first
formation of an earthquake investigation seismic design provisions in 1927 in its Uniform
committee set up by the Japanese government. It Building Code.
was this committee that first proposed the use
of a lateral force equal to a fraction of the Ever since earthquake engineering has unfolded at a
total weight of a building to account for the steady pace and its principles spread all over the
forces exerted on buildings by earthquakes. world. It has rapidly evolved into a science-based

b m f o r m a n e s | 9
discipline, with a large body of knowledge and earthquakes that occur there are usually of low
institutionalized research and educational programs. magnitude.

As a result, cities around the world and the people Earthquakes are triggered when the tensional forces
living in them are little by little becoming less that produce the plate divergence fracture the newly
vulnerable to the devastating effect of earthquakes. formed crust.

THEORY OF PLATE TECTONICS Spreading ridges may protrude above the ocean.

DIVERGENT BOUNDARY
The theory of plate tectonics postulates that the
earth’s crust is fractured and thus divided into a
small number of large and rigid pieces, referred to
as plates. The size of these plates varies from a few
hundred to many thousands of kilometers.

The theory of plate tectonics also postulates that

these plates float on the semi-molten asthenosphere
and that they move relative to one another.

At some locations, these plates are moving apart

(diverge) and at others, the plates are moving toward
each other (converge) or sliding past each other.

New crust is created by intruding magmas and lava

erupting on the ocean floor as the plates move apart.

COVERGENT BOUNDARY

PLATE INTERACTION

When two plates diverge, a rift is developed, creating

a condition where molten basaltic magma from the
asthenosphere rises to lift the plate edges and create
new crust.

Most of the known plate divergence occurs in what is

now the ocean area.

This process of plate divergence, known as sea-floor

spreading, has been responsible for the formation of
the mid-oceanic ridges and rises (submarine mountain
chains) as well as the deep valleys in between.

Earthquake and volcano activity is involved along the

boundaries of these diverging plates, although the
10 | b m f o r m a n e s
When two plates converge, the plates either collide There are two ways by which we can measure the
head-on or one dives beneath the other. strength of an earthquake: magnitude and intensity.

Where an oceanic plate and a continental plate Magnitude is proportional to the energy released by
converge, the oceanic plate, being thinner and an earthquake at the focus.
heavier, tends to be pushed below the continental
plate (dips) to form what is known as a subduction It is calculated from earthquakes recorded by an
zone. instrument called a seismograph. It is represented by
Arabic Numbers (e.g. 4.8, 9.0).
In this process, the edge of the oceanic plate below
the continental one melts and becomes part of the Intensity on the other hand is the strength of an
asthenosphere. earthquake as perceived and felt by people in a
certain locality.
The creation of new crust where plates diverge is thus
balanced by an equivalent loss at a subduction zone, It is a numerical rating based on the relative effects
which together complete a continuous cycle that on people, objects, environment, and structures in
replaces the ocean floor every 200 million years or the surrounding.
so.
The intensity is generally higher near the epicenter.
TRANSFORM BOUNDARY It is represented by Roman Numerals (e.g. II, IV, IX).
In the Philippines, the intensity of an earthquake is
determined using the PHIVOLCS Earthquake Intensity
Scale (PEIS).

MEASUREMENT OF EARTHQUAKES

As is well known to those who have experienced them,

not all earthquakes have the same intensity.

Some are barely felt, some are felt strongly but cause
only moderate damage, and yet some others are so
strong that are capable of producing widespread and
catastrophic damage.

From the engineering point of view, it is thus

important to have a scale with which one can measure
or quantify the intensity of earthquakes.
Where plate edges slide past each other, the crust is
There were different scales that throughout the years
neither created nor destroyed, nor do changes occur
have been devised to measure the size of earthquakes
on the surface of the earth.
and are still of relevance today, instruments that
The boundaries where this type of interaction occurs are employed nowadays to record the ground motions
are often called transform faults. generated by earthquakes and collect the information
that is needed to determine the earthquake size and
A transform fault develops where the axis of a the location where earthquakes originate.
spreading ridge or a subduction zone has been offset.
INTENSITY SCALE
As it may be observed from the jagged lines and
erratic curves that identify the spreading ridges and Intensity scales are among the first measurement
subduction zones, transform faults are a rather common systems devised to characterize the strength of
occurrence, a condition brought about by the irregular earthquakes.
fracturing of the lithosphere.
These scales are based on a qualitative description
The sliding of one plate against another generates of the damage caused by an earthquake to the natural
earthquake activity but no volcanism. Earthquakes in and built environment at a particular location and
these boundaries typically occur at shallow depths, the associated human reaction.
that is, between 5 and 40 km below the surface.
The use of an intensity scale to measure the strength
EARTHQUAKE MAGNITUDE AND INTENSITY of an earthquake dates back to 1564 with the
introduction of the Gastaldi scale.
An earthquake is a weak to violent shaking of the
ground produced by the sudden movement of rock Of a more recent vintage are the intensity scales
materials below the earth’s surface. developed in the 1880s by M. S. de Rossi in Italy and
Francois Forel in Switzerland for European
The earthquakes originate in the tectonic plate conditions, and a refined version of these scales
boundary. devised by the Italian seismologist Giuseppe Mercalli
in 1902.
The focus is the point inside the earth where the
earthquake started, sometimes called the hypocenter In recent times, the most widely used intensity scale
(or focus), and the point on the surface of the earth in North America and other parts of the world is a
directly above the focus is called the epicenter. modified version of the Mercalli scale introduced by

b m f o r m a n e s | 11
Harry O. Wood and Frank Newman in 1931 for U.S. This instrumentally quantified measure of earthquake
conditions. strength is widely used nowadays by seismologists,
engineers, and even the general public.
This scale, known as the Modified Mercalli Intensity
scale or MMI scale, is also based on an assessment of Although in some cases it fails to give an accurate
the local destructiveness induced by an earthquake representation of the true strength of an earthquake,
and the way people react to it. it is still routinely used to characterize the
intensity of earthquakes and remains a key parameter
It is composed of 12 grades, ranging from Grade I for in earthquake hazard analysis.
an earthquake that is not felt by the people to Grade
XII for an earthquake that causes destruction. The concept of earthquake magnitude was introduced by
Charles Richter in 1935 to overcome the limitations
Other modern intensity scales are the 8-grade scale of the intensity scales, the only method used back
of the Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA), then to describe and compare earthquakes.
developed in 1949 for Japanese conditions, and the
12-grade Medvedev–Sponheuer–Karnik (MSK) scale, Following a fundamental idea first used by K. Wadati
introduced in 1964 and intended for international use. in Japan, Richter based his magnitude scale on a
measurement of the wave motion recorded by a
In dealing with intensity scales, it is important to seismograph.
keep in mind that they do not involve a precise
scientific measurement of the severity of earthquakes He borrowed the term magnitude from astronomy as the
and are therefore of limited value. relative brightness of stars (stellar magnitude) is
referred to as magnitude. However, the analogy stops
The problem with these scales is that they depend on there because in astronomy a smaller magnitude means
subjective factors such as: an increased brightness.

a) previous experience of people with Richter defined his scale in terms of the peak
earthquakes, amplitude of the trace recorded by the then-standard
b) local design and construction practices, Wood–Anderson seismograph, which, as observed
c) whether or not the earthquake occurs in an earlier, has a magnification factor of 2800, a natural
inhabited region, and period of 0.8 s, and a damping ratio of 80%.
d) the population density.
However, because such an amplitude can vary
For example, the description many frightened in the significantly from earthquake to earthquake, he used
MMI scale will depend on the location of the the logarithm of it, as opposed to the amplitude
earthquake. A tremor that would alarm the residents itself, to compress the range of the scale.
of Cleveland, Ohio, would most likely be ignored by
people in Tokyo or Los Angeles. Similarly, as the amplitude of seismic waves decreases
with distance from the earthquake epicenter, he set
Likewise, the collapse of buildings, a key factor in the measurement of this amplitude at a standard
determining an intensity rating, may not only reflect distance of 100 km.
the power of an earthquake but also whether or not
the collapsed buildings were designed to resist Furthermore, he described such a peak trace amplitude
seismic loads. Intensity scales cannot therefore by about the peak trace amplitude that would be generated
their nature be accurate. by a zero-magnitude earthquake; that is, a barely
perceptible earthquake.
Despite their limitations, intensity scales may be
useful to estimate the size and location of For this purpose, he defined a zero-magnitude
earthquakes that occurred before the development of earthquake as that which theoretically would produce
modern seismic instruments. a seismogram with a peak trace of 1 µm (10−6 m) at a
distance of 100 km.
Because qualitative descriptions of the effects of
earthquakes are often available through historical As introduced by Richter, earthquake magnitude is thus
records, intensity scales may be used to characterize defined as the logarithm to base ten of the peak wave
the rate of earthquake recurrence at the locations amplitude measured in micrometers recorded by a Wood–
wherever these historical records are available. Anderson seismograph at a distance of 100 km from the
earthquake epicenter. That is,
Intensity scales may also be useful to describe the
distribution of damage in a region, to identify areas
of poor soils, and to approximately locate the
earthquake epicenter.

MAGNITUDE SCALE

RICHTER OR LOCAL MAGNITUDE

Besides providing information for the location of

earthquakes, seismograms also provide the information
that is needed to estimate the size or strength of an
earthquake in terms of what is called earthquake
magnitude.

12 | b m f o r m a n e s
PHIVOLCS Earthquake Intensity Scale (PEIS)

MERCALLI VS. RICHTER

MODIFIED MERCALLI INTENSITY SCALE

b m f o r m a n e s | 13
MODIFIED MERCALLI INTENSITY SCALE

JAPANESE SEISMIC INTENSITY SCALE

14 | b m f o r m a n e s