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ANTI-EARTHQUAKE TECHNIQUES AND EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING

Advanced Mechanics of Solids (ME F312) Term Paper
Table of contents:
INTRODUCTION
ANTI EARTHQUAKE TECHNOLOGIES
- Base Isolation techniques
- Damping devices
- Shape Memory alloys
LIMITATIONS AND ALTERNATIVES
 Abstract
This paper discusses about the effects of earthquakes on buildings and the ways of avoiding the
major damages. Many advancements came in after some huge earthquakes hit the crowded place.
The discussion starts with ancient models and then goes into the techniques that are being
currently used and finally ends with brief description on the limitations of these technologies and
cheaper alternatives for developing countries.
Introduction:
One generally visualizes a tall building collapsed into debris on hearing the word
‘EARTHQUAKE’. But there is no direct relation between an earthquake and the height of
building that collapses. There are a lot more factors that effects the collapsing situation.
Many places were hit by earthquakes frequently and were damages heavily by some major
earthquakes. The amount of damage done depends on many factors like local geology, building
techniques apart from the magnitude of earthquake. Following are the factors:
Ground Conditions:
The ground on which the building is built maybe a soft ground such as flood plains or harder
rock ground. The former amplifies the effect of vibrations, sometimes leading to sinking of soil.
And the later limits the amount of shaking by obstructing the propagation of shock waves. In
some cases, the land behaves like quicksand and causes the building to sink or topple over.
Examples: San Francisco earthquake in 1906, Kanto (Tokyo) earthquake in 1923, and
the Mexico City earthquake in 1985.
Building design and construction:
When the slabs are not properly tied together with the floors, the building get more
vulnerable to the earthquake damage than those buildings built with bricks held in place with
correct mortar. The first one corresponds to a poor construction technique. However, the fact that
matters more is the building design than the quality of construction. This implies that more effort
has to be put in while designing the structure.
Choice of Materials:
It is often observed that the houses in more frequently earthquake occurring zone are built
of wood. This strengthens the fact that the occupants are more likely to survive in case of
damage. Hence, the roof and walls are built with lightweight materials like wood. Brick
buildings with low quality mortar do not withstand earthquakes well and there is also a risk of
life. Provided that the wooden or steel-framed buildings are correctly braced, are generally much
preferable.
Resonant Frequency:
The buildings collapse only when the natural frequency of building matches the
frequency of seismic waves. This is known as resonance effect. This is main reason for buildings
of different heights collapsing in different earthquake magnitude. Tall buildings collapse when
there are a low frequency seismic waves and vice versa. However the situation of medium height
buildings are not exactly known to the scientist till date. Sometimes the buildings may also
collide with the adjacent building known as pounding effect.
Tall or small? Which is safer?
Earthquake is generally caused when the shockwaves carry the energy of the tectonic
plate movement to the upper layers of the earth and displace the lower foundation of the
building. And this causes the back and forth movement of the buildings. It is mainly observed
that the strength of oscillation depends on two factors, stiffness and mass. It is noted that the
stiffness and natural frequency are directly proportional. Whereas mass and natural frequency are
inversely proportional. This says that short buildings are stiffer than tall buildings and hence they
move less. This leads to a misconception that short or medium height buildings is the solution.
An example is the earthquake of magnitude 8.1 that occurred on September 19.1985 in
Mexico. During this, the tall and the short buildings were safe but the medium height buildings
were found to be shaking more violently than the earthquake itself. The reason behind this was
that the natural frequency of medium building matched with that of the seismic wave’s
frequency. Which gave a push at the right time to the oscillating building and thus leading to
increased shaking of building. Hence the shock wave frequency plays a major role in predicting
the structures that would be affected.
Tall vs Small buildings:
High frequency waves affect short buildings similar to several small waves in quick
succession can overturn a small boat in ocean. And Low frequency waves affects large
structures.
The following are the two Earthquake scenarios:
Anti-earthquake techniques:
 The conventional approach to earthquake resistant design of buildings depends upon
providing the building with strength, stiffness and inelastic deformation capacity which are great
enough to withstand a given level of earthquake-generated force.
This is generally accomplished through the selection of an appropriate structural
configuration and the careful detailing of structural members, such as beams and columns, and
the connections between them.
But more advanced techniques for earthquake resistance is not to strengthen the building,
but to reduce the earthquake-generated forces acting upon it.
Earthquake Resistant Design Techniques for Buildings and Structures:

Among the most important advanced techniques of earthquake resistant design and
construction are:

o Base Isolation

o Energy Dissipation Devices

Base Isolation Method of Earthquake Resistant Design:

A base isolated structure is supported by a series of bearing pads which are placed
between the building and the building’s foundation. (See Figure 1.) A variety of different types
of base isolation bearing pads have now been developed.

The bearing is very stiff and strong in the vertical direction, but flexible in the horizontal
direction.
 FIGURE – 1: Base-Isolated and Fixed-Base Buildings
Earthquake Generated Forces:

To get a basic idea of how base isolation works, examine Figure 2. This shows an
earthquake acting on both a base isolated building and a conventional, fixed-base, and building.
As a result of an earthquake, the ground beneath each building begins to move. In Figure 2, it is
shown moving to the left.

Each building responds with movement which tends toward the right. The building
undergoes displacement towards the right. The building’s displacement in the direction opposite
the ground motion is actually due to inertia. The inertial forces acting on a building are the most
important of all those generated during an earthquake.

It is important to know that the inertial forces which the building undergoes are
proportional to the building’s acceleration during ground motion.

It is also important to realize that buildings don’t actually shift in only one direction.
Because of the complex nature of earthquake ground motion, the building actually tends
to vibrate back and forth in varying directions.

Figure 2: Base-Isolated, Fixed-Base Buildings

Deformation and Damages to Structures
 In addition to displacing toward the right, the un-isolated building is also shown to be
changing its shape-from a rectangle to a parallelogram. It is deforming. The primary cause of
earthquake damage to buildings is the deformation which the building undergoes as a result
of the inertial forces acting upon it.
Response of Base Isolated Building:

By contrast, even though it too is displacing, the base-isolated building retains its
original, rectangular shape. It is the lead-rubber bearings supporting the building that are
deformed.

The base-isolated building itself escapes the deformation and damage, which implies that
the inertial forces acting on the base-isolated building have been reduced.

Experiments and observations of base-isolated buildings in earthquakes have been shown

to reduce building accelerations to as little as 1/4 of the acceleration of comparable fixed-base
buildings, which each building undergoes as a percentage of gravity.

As we noted above, inertial forces increase, and decrease, proportionally as acceleration

increases or decreases.

Acceleration is decreased because the base isolation system lengthens a building’s period
of vibration, the time it takes for the building to rock back and forth and then back again. And in
general, structures with longer periods of vibration tend to reduce acceleration, while those with
shorter periods tend to increase or amplify acceleration.
Finally, since they are highly elastic, the rubber isolation bearings don’t suffer any
damage. But the lead plug in the middle of our example bearing experiences the same
deformation as the rubber. However, it generates heat.

In other words, the lead plug reduces, or dissipates, the energy of motion, i.e., kinetic
energy–by converting that energy into heat. And by reducing the energy entering the building, it
helps to slow and eventually stop the building’s vibrations sooner than would otherwise be the
case, in other words, it damps the building’s vibrations.
 Damping devices
These are also called energy dissipation devices.

These devices convert the mechanical and vibrational energy of the quakes to heat
energy, thus transferring very less amount of vibration to the structure.
They are of two types
1) Active Damping Devices
2) Passive Damping Devices

1) Active Damping Devices: These devices have a closed loop control relying on the
sensors, actuators and power electronics.
WORKING: Through sensors they take input wave’s frequency and other variables,
then these values are sent to control actuators. They tune the Device in such a way
that the Structure and device are vibrating at opposite frequencies. This prevents the
damage to buildings, even at resonance frequency

From the above figure we can see that the heights of peaks are reduced, this implies
that damage caused at these frequencies are lowered.
Most of the ADD use closed-loop damping strategy with Direct Velocity
Feedback(DVF)
Thus, there is no need for deep previous knowledge of structural behaviour of the
structure/Machine, making the tuning process simpler.
2) Passive Damping Devices:
These devices are tuned manually to counter the resonance frequency of the structure.
One of the prominent application of this technology is Tuned Mass Dampers (TMD)

Tuned Mass Dampers (TMD): In these devices, a heavy mass is suspended atop the
structure (building). It is then tuned to vibrate at a frequency that superposition
destructively with the natural frequency of the structure. When the earthquakes strike
the building, their impact at natural frequency of the structure is reduced by these
devices.
World’s largest TMD is at Taipei 101
Differences between ADD and PDD
 Complexity Simple mechanical Complex mechanical
device device
Number of damped Damps only one Damps multiples
resonances resonance resonances
Sensitivity to Sensitive Insensitive
resonance frequency
changes
Power Doesn’t require power Requires power
Manufacturing Cost Low High
Implementation cost High Low
Mass Proportional to target Proportional to
mass vibrational energy
Implementation Complex tuning Simple Tuning

Other techniques involve use of shape memory alloys

SHAPE MEMORY ALLOYS: these alloys undergo deformations but return to their
original shape. Their elasticity is quite high.
Ex: Nitinol is an alloy of Nickel Titanium that outperformed steel in terms of
elasticity (28% more elastic than steel).

However, in developing countries, implementation of these technologies is not

feasible.
To tackle this problem, Shigeru Ban designed a building with cardboard tubes, which
is lighter than steel.
Due to its light weight, the debris caused by this structure causes lesser casualty than
the steel ones.
Methods to Reduce impact of Earthquakes
To design safer buildings and to provide vital information for strengthening older
ones, U.S. Geological Survey earthquake engineers have installed arrays of seismic
instruments in several buildings, such as San Francisco’s Transamerica tower (right),
in order to capture their motion during earthquakes. The resulting records reveal how
structural systems perform in quakes and how shaking is amplified on upper floors.

Designing Earthquake-Resistant Infrastructure

New infrastructure can be
specially
designed to withstand strong
tremors by
making use of the latest
technology

Strengthening Existing Infrastructure

New infrastructure can be specially designed to withstand strong tremors and reduce
damage from earthquakes by making use of technology.
Existing structures can be reinforced by wrapping steel frames around the pillars of
buildings and bridges, or by placing steel bars in existing structures.

New infrastructure can be specially designed to withstand strong

tremors and reduce damage from earthquakes by making use of
technology. Existing structures can be reinforced by wrapping steel
frames around the pillars of buildings and bridges, or by placing steel
bars in existing structures

Future Advancements
In the coming years, the field of EQRD of structures is most likely to witness the
following significant developments:
(1) A complete 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 soil–structure 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.
 References

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0141029603000683
http://www.science.howstuffworks.com
https://theconstructor.org/earthquake/earthquake-resistant-techniques/5607/
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.
Moehle, J. P., Earthq. Spectra, 1992, 3, 403–428