Earthquake Loads & Earthquake Resistant Design of Buildings

Today, some building codes may require a more rigorous structural design methodology than is associated with conventional construction. This requirement may result from a need for better building performance when the structure is exposed to moderate-to-high wind, seismic, and snow loads. An example of published

When designing a building, the load that must be supported is a very important consideration. Various building materials will each have their own levels of strength and ability to support loads. In addition to this, the way in which the building material is utilized may also play a role in the ability of the building to support large loads. The implementation of concrete as a building material led to much stronger walls and supports in Roman buildings. Additionally, the development of the arch was revolutionary in its ability to support loads. The types and sizes of structures that the Romans could build became unlike anything seen before, and they also became very interested in working with interior spaces, as well (Ambler, n.d.).

Springs and other building materials are used to help save lives in earthquake prone areas. Scientist use a variety of different materials spanning from shock absorbers to springs. Scientists put springs under building that allow the buildings to sway but not topple over. Scientist tell builders to put steel bracing supports around or in the walls of buildings in between these are shock absorbers which stop the vibrating from going up the building. These are made of steel which are strong and don’t move a lot. Building materials need to be strong and flexible so that when an earthquake occures it won’t break. Steel ball bearings will move the platform and themselves but they will not move the house this helps the house

The main addition that I made to the house is the addition of base isolators. These act like springs under the house, absorbing most of the vibrations that

Since the 1960’s prefabricated trusses have become more popular. They allow for architects to design structures with large open floor plans. They have become especially common in large metal buildings that require large spans. Prefabricated trusses are made of a variety of materials including hot rolled and cold formed steel, timber, and other metals. Prefabricated trusses’ popularity has rapidly increased because they are lightweight, stable, easy to install, and cheap (Grogan, 2007). Because they are so easy to install, the construction costs decrease because the amount of money spent on labor decreases. In addition, they have a higher chance of complying with relevant building regulations and SANS material and design specifications than trusses made by hand, on-site (Shepherd, 2006).

In short, the simple geometry buildings have performed better during the earthquakes. Buildings with re-entrant corners, such as those U, V, H and + shaped in plan, have been able to sustain significant damage. Many times, the bad effects of earthquakes can be avoided by making the buildings in two parts. Like, an L-shaped plan can be divided into two rectangular plan shapes using a partition point at the junction. At times, the plan of buildings is simple, but the columns/walls are not equally distributed. Such buildings tend to twist during earthquake or shaking.

1. When building a structure to withstand an earthquake, there are many ideas and strategies necessary to consider in order to create a successful building. In order to conserve resources and manage the limited building time effectively, I had to consider the most important areas to reinforce my tower. For example, my group spent much of our time building reinforcements between joints and areas that would be under strain during testing (such as the bases of each of our tower’s floors). This focus on areas that would be more vital to the survival of our tower during testing proved to be extremely important to my group because we were able to make much-needed last-minute adjustments and improvements to our tower with the excess time that our efficient reinforcement design created. Another consideration that my group had to make when designing our tower was how to build the structure sturdily enough to hold the required weight that our tower must carry during the tests. To do this, my group planned two rigid floors that were reinforced with multiple sturdy supports comprised of straws and popsicle sticks. In addition, my group also secured our floors be securely attaching each one to our tower’s frame with rubber bands, tape, and string. Despite the challenges that these considerations presented during the building and design process of the Earthquake structure project, carefully contemplating and observing each one proved to be a decisive factor in the

Earthquake engineering is a subject where a person can be overwhelmed with information but still crave for knowledge due to its unpredictable nature. Earthquakes are a natural repetitive occurrence on planet earth, which due to its devastating impact, have caused a lot of damage to structures and caused loss of life. Therefore engineers, scientists and geologists were required to take action and one of the many first steps was to identify the regions of seismic activity. The argument in this essay is not how to prevent earthquakes as that is out of the control of humans but how to minimise the damage and deaths caused by them by designing better buildings. The challenge to first achieve this goal was by engineers in America, where in 1906, in the state of California, due to the frequent earthquakes in the state, building design codes and safety standards were established. These design or seismic codes have helped to reduce the damages caused by earthquakes. Therefore the solution for people in active seismic zones is to adhere to the seismic codes strictly, designed by engineers in order to help strengthen buildings and reduce the loss of life when an earthquake occurs.

The Brilliant Idea: A replaceable, building-wide system to help hospitals, apartment buildings and office towers survive severe seismic shaking.

The Earthquake resistant fit outs are currently in use. These fit outs are being used in earthquake prone areas in the world.

Poll Which of the following will have the most significant impact, in the future, on structural engineering profession?

The data from nine earthquakes happened in winter and summer time, with magnitudes ranging from M 3.0 to M5.7, was collected at a sampling rate 200 Hz and preprocessed for the further analysis [4]. Then, dynamic properties of the structure were obtained using modal property identification toolbox (MPIT 2.0) developed at the University of Auckland [13]. The modes were determined from the following system identification algorithms:

Even population density (the number of people living per square km) places a significant factor affecting the damage because if the density of people is high in a place then more deaths and destruction of buildings. Example Russia and Nepal, the effect of earthquake in Nepal would be more compared to Russia because the population density of Nepal is 196.85 and 8.4 in Russia. The time of the day also a factor for the damage, night time earthquakes will have less number of deaths, morning people would scatter all around the city which would lead to more deaths. When the strength of the earthquakes in very high then there are chances of secondary hazards like landslides, storms, avalanche to take place which would create more damages and destruction.

Earthquake is one of the greatest natural disasters. Almost every year around the world earthquakes occur and cause a lot of loses of lives and wealth. Earthquake can’t be prevented and predicted and these are the reasons why it is the most devastating one. Only one way of minimizing its effects is to be careful about its’ reasons and consequences. Throughout this whole composition reasons and consequences of earthquakes are described.

This chapter introduces the results of the nonlinear static and dynamic analyses for the existing and rehabilitated frames. The importance of accounting for the masonry infill in the analysis is also discussed. In this chapter, a comparative study was done on the performance of structures rehabilitated using different techniques, namely; (1) introducing a RC structural wall, (2) rehabilitating using X-steel bracings, (3) rehabilitating using FRP bracings, and (4) rehabilitating using FRP-confinements. The importance of accounting for the shear degradation in the model of columns and beams is also investigated. The analysis results are drawn in terms of maximum PGA or PGV resisted by the frames, maximum ID ratio capacity, maximum storey shear / Weight ratio, and maximum energy dissipated by the frames.