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Beykent University Faculty of

Architecture

Architectural Technology 4
Prof.Dr. Ertan Özkan
Araş. Gör. Mustafa Orkun Özüer
Essay 1
Structural Response of Building
to Lateral and Vertical Seismic Forces
Hasan Ekşi
0431032

Earthquake forces can act in all directions. Unlike gravity loads that are
transferred in a downward direction, earthquake loads start at the
supporting soil and are transmitted to the building. The horizontal and
vertical earthquake forces travel in different load paths and may result in
tension, shear compression, bending or torsion forces. Buildings
experience horizontal distortion when subjected to earthquake motion.
When these distortions get large, the damage can be catastrophic.
Therefore, most buildings are designed with lateral-force-resisting systems
(or seismic systems), to resist the effects of earthquake forces. In many
cases seismic systems make a building stiffer against horizontal forces,
and thus minimize the amount of relative lateral movement and
consequently the damage. Seismic systems are usually designed to resist
only forces that result from horizontal ground motion, as distinct from
vertical ground motion.

The combined action of seismic systems along the width and length of a
building can typically resist earthquake motion from any direction. Seismic
systems differ from building to building because the type of system is
controlled to some extent by the basic layout and structural elements of
the building. Basically, seismic systems consist of axial, shear and bending
resistant elements.

In wood-frame, stud-wall buildings, plywood siding is typically used to


prevent excessive lateral deflection in the plane of the wall. Without the
extra strength provided by the plywood, walls would distort excessively or
“rack,” resulting in broken windows and stuck doors. In older wood frame
houses, this resistance to lateral loads is provided by either wood or steel
diagonal bracing.

The earthquake-resisting systems in modern steel buildings take many


forms. In moment-resisting steel frames, the connections between the
beams and the columns are designed to resist the rotation of the column
relative to the beam. Thus, the beam and the column work together and
resist lateral movement and lateral displacement by bending. Steel frames
sometimes include diagonal bracing configurations, such as single
diagonal braces, cross-bracing and “K-bracing.” In braced frames,
horizontal loads are resisted through tension and compression forces in
the braces with resulting changed forces in the beams and columns. Steel
buildings are sometimes constructed with moment-resistant frames in one
direction and braced frames in the other.

In concrete structures, shear walls are sometimes used to provide


lateral resistance in the plane of the wall, in addition to moment-resisting
frames. Ideally, these shear walls are continuous reinforced-concrete walls
extending from the foundation to the roof of the building. They can be
exterior walls or interior walls. They are interconnected with the rest of the
concrete frame, and thus resist the horizontal motion of one floor relative
to another. Shear walls can also be constructed of reinforced masonry,
using bricks or concrete blocks.
The structural elements of a building that comprise the 'skeleton'
supporting the rest of the building, includes the foundation, load-bearing
walls, beams, columns, floor system and roof system, as well as the
connections between these elements. To carry its own weight (dead load),
live loads, and wind and earthquake forces the building elements and
connections are subjected to tension, compression, shear, bending, and
torsion. Buildings are primarily designed to resist vertical forces from
gravity. The roof and floor systems carry these vertical forces to the
supporting beams. The beams carry the forces to the columns and bearing
walls, which then carry the forces down to the foundation and the
supporting soil. This process of carrying forces from the roof down to the
soil is known as a load path. The failure of any building element or
connection along the load path can lead to building damage or collapse.

Building Materials and Systems Performance Characteristics

• Ductility: Under normal conditions, a building experiences elastic


deformations, deforming as force is applied and returning to its
original shape when removed. However, extreme earthquake forces
may generate inelastic deformations in which the element does not
return to its original shape after the force is removed. Ductility is the
property of certain elements that have inelastic deformation before
failing. Building elements constructed with ductile materials have a
"reserve capacity" to resist earthquake overloads. Therefore,
buildings constructed of ductile elements, such as steel and
adequately reinforced concrete, tend to withstand earthquakes
much better than those constructed of brittle materials such as
unreinforced masonry.

• Strength and Stiffness: Strength is the property of an element to


resist force. Stiffness is the property of an element to resist
displacement. When two elements of different stiffnesses are forced
to deflect the same amount, the stiffer element will carry more of
the total force because it takes more force to deflect it. When stiff
concrete and masonry elements are combined with more flexible
steel or wood elements, the concrete and masonry take more of the
total force.

• Bracing/Seismic Resistant Components: Six basic components


provide seismic resistance against lateral forces;
Braced frames consist of beams, columns, and stiff diagonal braces
that perform like shear walls, but use less material.

Moment resistant frames (generally of steel or reinforced concrete)


consist of transferred between vertical and horizontal building
elements. In addition beams connected to one or more columns to
carry multi-dimensional earthquake forces.

Horizontal Diaphragms are floor and roof deck systems that carry
forces across the building to shear walls, braced frames, and/or
columns.

Shear walls are large structural walls placed in a building to carry


forces from the roof and floor systems to the supporting foundation,
and into the soils.

Cross walls are interior walls and partitions that are not necessarily
continuous to the foundations, but which are attached securely to
two floor diaphragms (the top side of a floor diaphragm to the
underside of the floor above) and that are stiff and strong enough to
resist the independent movement of the two connected diaphragms.

Connections: Strong building connections allow forces and


displacements to be, strong connections increase the overall
structural building strength and stiffness by allowing all of the
building elements to act together as a unit. Inadequate connections
represent a weak link in the load path of the building and are a
common cause of earthquake building damage and collapse.

• Damping: When a tuning fork strikes a surface, it vibrates back and


forth at a certain rate. This rate is known as its fundamental period.
All objects, including buildings, have their own unique fundamental
period of vibration. Ground shaking from an earthquake will cause
vibrations in a building. If the ground shaking matches the
fundamental period of the building, the building will resonate with
the earthquake, causing the building vibrations to greatly increase.
This can lead to extensive building damage. "Damping" diminishes
this resonance by pulling the energy out of the system as heat - in
the way that a shock absorber in a car dampens a car's vibrations
from bumps in the road. Damping is imparted to a building by the
cracking and inelastic movement of its structural elements, and it
can also be deliberately added by installing shock absorber, like
devices into the building's structure. In the first case, "controlled"
damage at the onset of shaking can reduce the likelihood of
catastrophic damage as the shaking intensifies, and in the second
case, the damping devices work like vehicle shock absorbers to
reduce the response of the structure to a level below that at which
post-elastic behavior will occur.

• Weight Distribution: Buildings that are wide at their base and


have most of their weight distributed to their lowest floors generally
fare better in earthquakes than tall, top- heavy buildings which act
like an inverted pendulum. Inverted pendulum buildings usually
experience greater displacements than those shorter and heavier
near the base.

• Building Configuration: Square or rectangular buildings with floor


plans with symmetrically place lateral force resisting elements tend
to perform better in earthquakes than buildings composed of
irregular shapes or 'those with large foyers or lobbies that create a
soft story condition. Buildings with irregular shapes cannot distribute
lateral forces evenly, resulting in torsional response that can
increase damage at key points in the building.

• Foundation / Soil Characteristics: The underlying geology of the


site can also have a significant effect on the amplitude of the ground
motion there. Soft, loose soils tend to amplify the ground motion and
in many cases a resonance effect can make it last longer. In such
circumstances, building damage can be accentuated. In the San
Francisco Earthquake of 1906, damage was greater in the areas
where buildings were constructed on loose, natural and manmade fill
and less at the tops of the rocky hills. Even more dramatic was the
1985 Mexico City earthquake. This earthquake occurred 250 miles
from the city, but very soft soils beneath the city amplified the
ground shaking enough to cause weak mid-rise buildings to collapse.
Resonance of the building frequency with the amplified ground
shaking frequency played a significant role.

Seismic hazard due to ground shaking can be estimated by analyzing


the location of the building with respect to causative faults, the regional
and site-specific geologic characteristics, and a selected Earthquake
Hazard Level. However, other seismic hazards could exist at the building
site that could damage the building regardless of its ability to resist
ground shaking. These hazards include fault rupture, liquefunction or other
shaking-induced soil failures, landslides, and inundation from offsite
effects such as dam failure or tsunami.

Sites with rock close to or at the surface will be less likely to amplify
motion, and with such sites, generally, the farther from the source of an
earthquake, the less severe the motion. The type of motion felt also
changes with distance from the earthquake. Close to the source the
motion tends to be violent rapid shaking, whereas farther away the motion
is normally more of a swaying nature. Buildings will respond differently to
the rapid shaking than to the swaying motion. Buildings can be severely
damaged when the soils that support the building foundations shift, sink,
slide, or liquefy. Optimally, structures should not be located in areas with
poor site conditions.

• Resonance: Resonance was a major problem in the 1985 Mexico


City earthquake, in which the total collapse of many mid-rise
buildings caused many fatalities. Tall buildings at large distances
from the earthquake source have a small, but finite, probability of
being subjected to ground motions containing frequencies that can
cause resonance. Where taller, more flexible, buildings are
susceptible to distant earthquakes (swaying motion) shorter and
stiffer buildings are more susceptible to nearby earthquakes (rapid
shaking).

• Redundancy: It is very beneficial for a rehabilitated lateral-force-


resisting system to have an appropriate level of redundancy, so that
any localized failure of a few elements of the system will not result
in local collapse or instability. This should be considered when
developing rehabilitation designs.

References

1) Newmark, N. M., and Hall, W. J. 1982. “Earthquake Spectra and


Design,” Engineering Monographs on Earthquake Criteria, Structural
Design, and Strong Motion Records, Volume 3
2) "Historic Developments in the Evolution of Earthquake Engineering",
illustrated essays by Robert Reitherman, CUREE, 1997, p10.

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