Lecture 26 Seismic Principles

Basic Seismicity: An earthquake is the sudden oscillatory movement of the ground. Through the study of seismology, it has been found that earthquakes are caused by plate tectonics. Basically, the earths crust is made of plates, similar to an egg shell. These plates are being heated by the liquid-hot magma and are under a tremendous amount of thermal stress and thermal elongation. The boundary between the plates is called a fault. Perhaps the most famous fault in the US is the San Andreas Fault located in California. Eventually, these plates slide relative to each other and release energy. This energy is the destructive damage known as an earthquake. The map below shows the location of the major plates world wide:

Notice that most of the faults (plate boundaries) are located in oceans. An earthquake occurring in the ocean creates destructive waves known as tsunamis. The epicenter of an earthquake is the point on the earths surface located directly above the hypocenter (or, focus). The exact location of an earthquake is generally described by the geographic location of the epicenter and the focal depth.

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The graphic below shows a cut-away view of plate tectonics:

During an earthquake, seismographs are used to record ground motion in terms of displacement, velocity and acceleration. Below is a graphic showing the basic operation of a seismograph:

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Below is a photo of a modern, portable seismometer (an instrument that makes seismographs):

Below is a seismograph showing the ground-induced acceleration of the El Centro, California earthquake of 1940:

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Below is the USGS Earthquake Hazard Map. The numbers represent the relative potential hazard for earthquakes compared to areas with no known seismicity such as Florida and much of Texas.

Earthquake Magnitude, Intensity & Damage: Earthquakes are measured in several ways, and there is no exact correlation between the methods. a) Earthquake Magnitude: The magnitude of an earthquake is measured by the familiar Richter Scale. The Richter magnitude, M, is calculated from the maximum amplitude of the seismograph trace. A0 is the seismometer reading produced from a standard calibrated earthquake of amplitude = 3.94 x 10-5 inches. M = log10 (

A ) A0

The Richter magnitude is on a logarithmic scale. That means that an earthquake with a magnitude 4.0 is 10 times as powerful as an earthquake with magnitude 3.0. The Richter scale is between 0 10 with the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded being in the 8.7 8.9 range. In theory, a magnitude 10 earthquake would be powerful enough to completely destroy the earth. However, the nature of the rock strata is such that the rocks will liquefy long before the doomsday earthquake could occur.

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The table below shows the approximate correlation between Richter magnitudes, peak ground acceleration (PGA) and duration: Magnitude: 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0 7.5 8.0 8.5 Peak Ground Acceleration (%g): 0.09 0.15 0.22 0.29 0.37 0.45 0.50 0.55 Duration (sec): 2 6 12 18 24 30 34 37

Below is a graphic of the energy released by earthquakes compared to other nasty things:

b) Earthquake Intensity: The Modified Mercalli Intensity (MMI) scale is based upon observed damage, and has no real scientific basis. It ranges from I to XII, where the PGA ranges from 0.0 g up to 0.90 g for an MMI of XII.

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Below are some pictures from actual earthquake damage:

Japan - 1964

Japan - 1964

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Anchorage, Alaska 1964

San Francisco 1906

Kobe, Japan 1995

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Earthquake Effects on Structures When the ground shakes, objects fastened to the ground (i.e., buildings and structures) shake along with it. If the structure were to stay in continuous motion under constant velocity along a straight line, it would experience little additional damage much like sitting in a moving vehicle during continuous velocity in a straight line. The problem is that the ground-induced motion of an earthquake is NOT continuous and has multitude of quick starts and stops. Consider that the simplest structure acts like a Single Degree of Freedom (SDOF) mass model, which is essentially an upside-down pendulum: Lumped mass simulates the structures weight Spring simulates the structures stiffness Real single-story structure Assumed single degree of freedom (SDOF) mass model

Mass

A more complex structure, one in which has multiple floors for example, behaves as a series of masses and is called a Multiple Degree of Freedom (MDOF) mass model: Floor mass

Real multiple-story structure

Assumed multiple degree of freedom (MDOF) mass model

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The ground-induced motion acting on a structure creates a Base Shear which is in response to the momentum of the mass in motion of the structure being suddenly stopped. Therefore, the heavier the structure the larger the base shear.

Story Drift

Structure initially at rest

Structure responding to initial ground motion

Structure responding to reverse ground motion

Base shear (as a % of building weight)

Direction of ground motion

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Seismic Retrofit:
In an era of increasing new construction costs, many owners opt to retrofit their existing buildings to accommodate the threat of a potentially devastating seismic event instead of building a brand new structure. Below are several graphics depicting various retrofit solutions.

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Addition of dampers and/or bracing (shown RED)

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