49134 Structural Dynamics & Earthquake Engineering

Introduction to

Earthquake Engineering
Lecturers: A/Professor Jianchun LI
Contact Information:
Room: CB11.11.116 Email:Jianchun.Li@uts.edu.au
Ph:(02) 9514 2651 Fax: (02) 9514 2633

Faculty of Engineering & IT

49134 Structural Dynamics & Earthquake Engineering

Earthquake Engineering

Seismicity
Earthquake Faults and Waves
Structure of the earth
Earthquake size

Earthquakes

49134 Structural Dynamics & Earthquake Engineering

The Pyne Gould Corp. building, NZ, 2011

What ?

How ?

The earth rumbling, Ground

shaking
One of the most violent natural
phenomena
When plates or Rocks within
the earth suddenly break or
shift under stress

Some facts

500,000 quakes per year

Only small fraction can be felt
by human
10,000 people killed on average
every year in the last century
Deadliest earthquake happened
in China in 1557, an estimated
830,00 people killed

10/8/2014

Central
America

Spain

China

Japan

Chile

India

Iran

Earthquakes

Most earthquakes
occur along fractures in
the earths crust call
faults.
Most Faults occur along
the edges of major
plates that make up the
earths shell.
Intraplate earthquake
Interplate earthquake

49134 Structural Dynamics & Earthquake Engineering

49134 Structural Dynamics & Earthquake Engineering

Where do earthquakes occur

49134 Structural Dynamics & Earthquake Engineering

What Occurs Earthquakes

Plate tectonics

A process that earth

plates are constantly
moving and interacting

Earthquake

Release of energy and a

great burst of seismic
waves which follows
California St Andreas Fault
[Source from

49134 Structural Dynamics & Earthquake Engineering

The San Andreas Fault is the sliding

boundary between the Pacific Plate and
the North American Plate
It slices California in two from Cape
Mendocino to the Mexican border.

49134 Structural Dynamics & Earthquake Engineering

Types of Earthquake Faults

Definition of Fault Orientation, and of the basic types of fault displacement

[Adapted from Earthquake by Bruce A bolt, W.H. Freeman and Company 1988]

49134 Structural Dynamics & Earthquake Engineering

Form of the Earth Motion

Forms of ground motion near the ground surface in the four types of earthquake waves.
[From Bruce A. Bolt, Nuclear Explosions and Earthquakes: The Parted Veil (San Francisco: W.H.FreeMan and Company.
Copyright1976.]

49134 Structural Dynamics & Earthquake Engineering

Measure and record earthquakes

49134 Structural Dynamics & Earthquake Engineering

Ground and Structural Damage

Fault Zone with high

magnitude
Buildings on active fault zone are
likely to be in great danger during
earthquakes. May be major
rupturing along the fault as well
as significant displacement.
Buildings on the fault zone may
experience cracking, shearing and
displacement and some may
collapse during severe quakes.

Bedrock with high

magnitude
Generally the safest place to build
to avoid earthquake damage.
However, high magnitude
earthquakes may cause damage

such as cracks in buildings,

shattered windows and
crumbling of structure joints.

Landfill with high

magnitude
One of most dangerous places to
be during the high magnitude
earthquakes. Landfill makes
ground act like liquid. The Once
solid ground is shaken at its
resonance ( cause amplification)
and appears move like thick soup.

49134 Structural Dynamics & Earthquake Engineering

Measure earthquake size

Richter Magnitude
Empirical
Measure amount of strain energy released
Logarithm (base 10)

49134 Structural Dynamics & Earthquake Engineering

Question on Richter Magnitude

How many time is a ML=6

earthquake stronger than a
ML=5 earthquake?
M
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

logE
13.3
14.8
16.3
17.8
19.3
20.8
22.3
23.8

E
1.99526E+13
6.30957E+14
1.99526E+16
6.30957E+17
1.99526E+19
6.30957E+20
1.99526E+22
6.30957E+23

E1/E2
31.62278
31.62278
31.62278
31.62278
31.62278
31.62278
31.62278

49134 Structural Dynamics & Earthquake Engineering

Notes on Richter scale

Charles F. Richter introduced the Richter scale in 1935.

The Richter magnitude is denoted as ML. It is also called the "local
magnitude." It is based on the maximum excursion of the needle on the
"Wood-Anderson seismograph." The Richter scale was intended for
southern California earthquakes only.
The Richter scale is a logarithmic scale. The earthquake wave displacement
amplitude increases by a factor of 10 for every 1 unit increase of the Richter
magnitude.

The same 1 unit increase in magnitude, however, corresponds to an

increase of approximately 32 times the earthquakes energy.
The magnitude calculation depends on two parameters:
1. The maximum displacement indicated on the Wood-Anderson
seismograph
2. The distance from the focus to the seismograph
For example, a 23 millimeter displacement measured at a station 210
kilometers from the focus would have a value of ML = 5.0.
A maximum displacement of 2.3 millimeters at this same station and
distance would correspond to ML = 4.0.

49134 Structural Dynamics & Earthquake Engineering