Se eismic Design D P Philoso ophy

Stru uctures designed for gr ravity loads, , in general, may not be b able to sa afely sustain n the effe ects of horiz zontal earth hquake shak king making g it necessar ry to provid de for adequ uacy of structures ag gainst horizo ontal earthq quake forces s.

Eart thquake cau uses shakin ng of the gro ound. So a building re esting on it will experience mot tion at its base. From Newtons N F First Law of f Motion, ev ven though the base of f the buil lding move es with the e ground, th he roof ha as a tenden ncy to stay in its orig ginal posi ition. But since the walls w and co olumns are connected to t it, they y drag the ro oof along with w them. This T tendenc cy to cont tinue to rem main in the previous p po osition is known as inertia. In the build ding, since the walls s or colu umns are flexible, f th he motion of the roo of is diff ferent from that t of the ground. g

Eff fect of Def formation ns in Stru uctures

The e inertia forc ce experien nced by the roof r is trans sferred to th he ground v via the colum mns, caus sing forces in columns s. During ea arthquake shaking, s the e columns u undergo rela ative mov vement bet tween their ends. The e larger is the relative horizonta al displacem ment betw ween the to op and botto om of the column, c the larger this internal for rce in colum mns. Also o, the stiffe er the colum mns are (i.e., bigger is the t column size/section n), larger is s this forc ce. For this reason, the ese internal forces in th he columns are called s stiffness for rces. In fact, f the sti iffness forc ce in a col lumn is the e column stiffness tim mes the rela ative disp placement between b its s ends. Th he seismic forces attracted by t the column n are prop portional to o its stiffness s.

Horizontal and a Verti ical Shaki ing

Eart thquake cau uses shakin ng of the ground g in all a three di irections along the two hori izontal dire ections (X and Y), an nd the verti ical directio on (Z). All l structures s are prim marily desig gned to carr ry the gravit ty loads. Th he vertical acceleration a n during gro ound

shak king either adds to or subtracts s from the acce eleration du ue to gravity y. Since fac ctors of safety s are used in the design d of st tructures to resist the gravity g load ds, usually most m stru uctures tend d to be adeq quate agains st vertical shaking. s Ho owever, hor rizontal sha aking alon ng X and Y direction ns (both + and dire ections of each) rema ains a conc cern. Stru uctures designed for gr ravity loads, , in general, may not be b able to sa afely sustain n the effe ects of horiz zontal earthquake shak king. Hence, , it is necessary to ensu ure adequac cy of the structures against a horiz zontal earth hquake effec cts.

Flo ow of iner rtia Force es to found dation

Und der horizon ntal shaking g of the gro ound, horiz zontal inerti ia forces ar re generate ed at leve el of the ma ass of the structure s (u usually situa ated at the floor f levels s). These la ateral iner rtia forces are transfe erred by th he floor sla ab to the walls w or columns, to the foun ndations, an nd finally to t the soil system und derneath. So o, each of these struct tural elem ments (floor r slabs, wal lls, columns s, and found dations) and d the conne ections betw ween them m must be designed d to o safely tran nsfer these inertia forc ces through them. Wall ls or colu umns are th he most cr ritical elem ments in tra ansferring the t inertia forces. But t, in trad ditional cons struction, fl loor slabs an nd beams re eceive more e care and a attention du uring desi ign and con nstruction, th han walls an nd columns. Walls are a relative ely thin and d often ma ade of britt tle material l like maso onry. Sim milarly, poo orly designe ed and con nstructed reinforced r c concrete co olumns can n be disa astrous.

Imp portance of Archit tectural Features F

The e behavior of o a building g during ea arthquakes depends d crit tically on it ts overall sh hape, size e and geome etry, in add dition to how w the earthq quake force es are carrie ed to the gro ound (as per p the prov visions in IS S: 4326 - 19 993). Hen nce, at the planning stage s itself, architects and structu ural engine eers must work w toge ether to en nsure that th he unfavorable feature es are avoi ided and a good building configuration is chosen.

Oth her undes sirable sce enario

Ano other very important i aspect from seismic vu ulnerability point of vie ew, which goes g unn noticed, is the t check (and subsequent desig gn provisio ons) for the e short column effe ect. In a seismic motion, short column c and d long colum mns underg go same la ateral

mov vement. Sh hort column ns have high her stiffnes ss and henc ce attract la arger force (for sam me deformat tion), so un nless they are a appropr riately desig gned we will end up with sect tioned failed d in shear, as a depicted in the figure below. rt Shor column n effect also

occu urs when w walls of pa artial heig ght is built to o accommo odate wind dows or ke ept as open ning. The adjacent c columns beh have umns due to as short colu presence of the ese short walls. w Colu umns th hat sup pport

mezzanine flo oors are also subjected to this effect.

In the t case me entioned ab bove, the effect is imp plicit and most m of the e time it is s not considered whi ile designin ng/ detailing g the relevan nt columns. Needs to b be kept in ch heck at ar rchitect des sign level an nd structura al engineers should keep p this in mind. Gra avity Vs Ea arthquake Loading L in n a Reinforc ced Concre ete Building g Rev versal of stre esses takes place durin ng earthquak ke. Gravity loads (Self f weight) ca auses RC frames to bend, b resulting in stre etching and shortening at various locations. This reve ersal of stre esses will prove p the co omplete gr ravity load based des sign insuffic cient and structure may m fail, end dangering th he life of oc ccupants.

Cap pacity De esign Con ncept

Con ncrete is be eing popula arly used in n building construction since las st five deca ades. Cem ment concre ete is made e of crushed d stone chip ps, sand, ce ement and water mixe ed in appr ropriate pro oportions. Concrete has h high co ompressive strength b but poor ten nsile strength. Steel is used in concrete c bui ildings as re einforcemen nt bars (pop pularly goin ng by the name - reb bar) and it can carry both compr ressive and d tensile for rces. Moreo over, el is a ductil le material, which enab bles it to undergo large e elongation n before rupt ture. stee This s particular property of f rebar, lend ds the comp posite (RCC C) a unique edge over plain p cem ment concret te ductilit ty. The amo ount and loc cation of ste eel in a member shoul ld be such h that the fa ailure of the e member is s by steel re eaching its ultimate u stre ength in ten nsion

befo ore concret te reaches its i ultimate e strength in i compress sion. This type of du uctile failu ure is prefe erred over a case wher re concrete fails first in i compress sion. Hence e the case e, why over r-reinforced d structures could c be ha armful! Mor reover, steel is a du uctile mate erial, whi ich enable es it to undergo u large elon ngation befo ore rupture. This partic cular prop perty of re ebar, lends the compo osite (RC CC) a uniqu ue edge ove er plain cem ment concrete du uctility. Th he amount and loca ation of steel in a mem mber should d be such h that the fa ailure of the e member is by stee el reaching its ultima ate strength h in tens sion befor re concrete e reaches its ultim mate streng gth in com mpression. This T type e of ductile failure is preferred p ov ver a case e where concrete fails first in com mpression. Hence H the case, c why overo rein nforced struc ctures could d be harmfu ul! Out t of various building materials m bei ing used in construction of a RCC C structure, only stee el has signif ficant ductil le properties s which can n be used fa avorably to impart duct tility to th he final stru ucture, as discussed bel low.

How to mak ke buildin ngs Ductile e for Goo od Seismic c Perform mance?
A common RC CC framed structure s con nsists of be eams and co olumns. The e seismic in nertia ces generate ed at its flo oor levels are a transferr red through h its frame-m members to o the forc grou und. The failure of a co olumn can affect a the stability of whole w buildin ng while fai ilure of beam(s) b cau uses localize ed damage. Hence, it is s clear that designing d b beams as du uctile wea ak links (in a give RCC C frame) will help in di issipating th he energy generated du uring seis smic shaking g of the stru ucture. This s design phi ilosophy is referred r as strong-colu umn wea ak-beam sy ystem. By using u the ro outine desig gn codes (th hose not con nsidering ear rthquake ef ffects) desig gners may y not be abl le to achiev ve a ductile structure. Special S desi ign provisio ons are requ uired to sustain the specific s forc ces generate ed in seism mic activity. The Indian n seismic de esign

code IS: 13 3920, (and other equi ivalent one es) ensure that adequ uate ductilit ty is prov vided in the e members where w dama age is expec cted. This s capacity design con ncept in ea arthquake-re esistant des sign of buildings wil ll be insu ufficient in absence of f minimum required st trengths of the brittle links. And, , the strength of bri ittle constru uction materials, like concrete, is highly s sensitive to o the quality of co onstruction materials, workmans ship and environmen e ntal conditi ions. Sim milarly, spec cial attentio on should be given to ensure that t the elemen nts meant to be duct tile are ind deed provid ded with fe eatures that give adequ uate ductili ity. Selectin ng a quality rebar with w uniform m properties s (across in ndividual reb bar and dif fferent batch hes), goes a long wa ay in ensuri ing that you ur ductile de etailing is up u to the ma ark when te ested in ultimate u con nditions.