Institute of Technology of Cambodia

Department of Civil Engineering

Research Paper

The study of Earthquake behavior

in Por Senchey District

Professor : PROK Narith

Student Name : ID Number :

Mr. HUON Venseng e20130229
Mr. HUOR Phengim e20151129
Mr. HY Tithmeng e20130234
Mr. KAN Sokkim e20130243
Mr. KAOTHON Panyabot e20130249

Submission Date : 22 January 2018

Acknowledgment
To produce a well-constructed paper, knowledge and pertinent skills ranging from skillful crafts-
manship to effect researching skills, coupled with appraisals of multiple individuals are indeed
compulsory. Therefore, we would like to take this opportunity to warmly thank our key individuals
who have assisted and rendered in completing this research paper.

First of all, the research could not have been completed without the encouragement, support, and
guidance from our parents and Prof. PROK Narith, who always left some space for us to work
on this paper and who believed that we could go through the entire process with our never-quit
commitment. Also, we would like to express our gratitude and thankfulness to Prof. SIENG Peou
for giving us soil data in order to conduct our research. We would like to wish them healthy and all
the best in their life.

We sincerely thanks Mr. CHREA Rada, Professor and Head of Civil Engineering Department for
including seismology into the course allowing all of the student to benefit greatly from the subject.

Last but not least, the study would not have been finished within the time given without the cooper-
ation and effort of the five authors namely: Mr. Kaothon Panyabot, Mr. Hy Tithmeng, Mr. Kan
Sokkim, Mr. Huor Phengim, and Mr. Houn Venseng who devoted their time and gave of their
strong attributes toward the tasks despite many difficulties encountered along the process.
Abstract
Cambodia is not earthquake-prone thanks to its distance from the edges of volatile tectonic plates;
however, Natural disasters are completely unpredictable. Therefore, we have to plan detailedly and
estimate in advance to avoid any devastation and to protect our properties as well as our lives. To
study about Earthquake, we have to conduct our research to investigate the soil properties in Phnom
Penh City which has a lot of high-rise buildings.

In this research paper, we aim to analyze the earthquake behavior on soil properties in Porsenchey
district. This research we use OBASAN application which is an advanced application tool for
structural analysis respond to seismic load. The main point of this research is finding the accel-
eration along X-direction function with Time in each layer on each zone of our Sample size. The
soil properties have been written in MDOF.txt and run by Visual Studio. The study will be covered
forty-four boreholes in twenty-six different places.

As we have seen the result of Kobe_X that analyzing by OBASAN application, if earthquake occurs
then the soil properties in some zone of Porsenchey District will be easy to collapse. Furthermore,
we also can predict that some zones could be the lake zones which had filled by new soil properties.

Keywords: Earthquake, OBASAN application, soil properties, Porsenchey district, acceleration

along X-direction, Time, boreholes, Kobe_X, MDOF.txt, Visual Studio.
 Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i
ABSTRACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii

List of Figures iv

List of Tables v

1 Introduction 1
1.1 Literature review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.1 The Severity of an Earthquake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.2 The most powerful recorded earthquakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.3 Size and Frequency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1.4 The Impact of Earthquakes on Buildings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1.5 Time to rethink earthquake management for high buildings in Cambodia . . 3

2 Methodology 4
2.1 Target and Sample size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2 OBASAN Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.3 Input Data and Output Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.4 Sample of MDOF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.5 The important parameters for processing this program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.6 Visual Studio and Excel analysis Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

3 Result 11
3.1 Output of MDOF by Visual studio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.2 Linear graphical result . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

4 Discussion 13
4.1 Critical Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.2 Suggestion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Bibliography 15

5 Annexes 16

iii
 List of Figures

2.1 All districts in Phnom Penh City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

2.2 All soil experiment data analysis in Porsenchey District . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.3 Input and Output data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.4 Whole analysis Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.5 Visual Studio 2008 Command Prompt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.6 Data Plotting in Excel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

3.1 Output of MDOF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

3.2 Linear graphical result . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

4.1 Simplified Map as Critical Zone in Porsenchey District . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

iv
 List of Tables

2.1 OBASAN Input data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

2.2 OBASAN Output data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

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 Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Literature review

1.1.1 The Severity of an Earthquake
Tectonic plates around the world travel as what we do every single day. When they slide past each
other or have a collision with each other, an Earthquake occurs. It is a natural phenomenon, but
sometimes activity such as drilling, coal mining and construction of big dams also add up to seismic
activity. Earthquakes with magnitude of about 2.0 or less are usually called microearthquakes; they
are not commonly felt by people whereas magnitudes of about 6 or greater are generally cause
damage and destruction (USGS, 2016).

1.1.2 The most powerful recorded earthquakes

The world’s most powerful earthquake with the magnitude of 9.5 occurred in Chile on 22 May
1960, leaving 4,485 people dead and injured and 2 million homeless after it struck southern Chile
in 1960. The port of Puerto Saavedra was destroyed in the ensuing tsunami, which caused $550m
worth of damage in Chile and killed a further 170 people as five-metre waves hit the coasts of Japan
and the Philippines. A day later Volcán Puyehue in Chile’s lake district spewed ash 6,000m into
the air in an eruption that lasted for several weeks (Paul Fairclough, 2011). However, the most
destructive earthquake happened in Japan shook a magnitude of 9 on March 11, 2011, unleashing a
savage tsunami (Becky Oskin, 2017). More than 120,000 buildings were destroyed, 278,000 were
half-destroyed and 726,000 were partially destroyed, the agency said. The direct financial damage
from the disaster is estimated to be about $199 billion dollars (about 16.9 trillion yen), according to
the Japanese government. The total economic cost could reach up to $235 billion, the World Bank
estimated, making it the costliest natural disaster in world history. The number of confirmed deaths
is 15,894 as of June 10, 2016, according to the reconstruction agency. More than 2,500 people are
still reported missing.

The damage caused due to an earthquake depends on the location of the epicentre of the earthquake.
Major destruction occurs near the epicentre of the earthquake because maximum intensity locates
at the centre. Sometimes because of earthquakes there may be volcanic eruptions and landslides. A
number of natural change occur due to an earthquake such as Ground rupture, Landslides, Fire, Soil
liquefaction, Sand boiling, Tsunami. After effects, a major earthquake causes lot of destruction and
damage to buildings and structures. Because of lack of basic amenities, diseases may spread. It
will take lot of time for rehabilitation of people.

1
1.1.3 Size and Frequency
Almost 500,000 earthquakes occur each year that can be detected with the latest instruments.
Among these, around 100,000 can be felt. Minor earthquake prone areas on earth are Italy, Greece,
New Zealand, Turkey, Portugal, Pakistan, Iran, Indonesia, Peru, Chile, Guatemala, Mexico, Cali-
fornia and Alaska. Majority of earthquakes occur in the course of 40,000 km long circum-Pacific
seismic belt which is in the shape of a horseshoe. Himalayan mountain plate is another zone where
massive earthquakes may occur. With rapid rise in population in countries like Japan, Mexico and
Tehran, because of their presence in seismic zones, major earthquakes may occur. The top 10
earthquake prone countries are:
1 Japan

2 Indonesia

3 United States of America

4 New Zealand

5 Fiji

6 Tonga

7 Chile

8 Papua New Guinea

9 Mexico

10 Solomon Islands (ReadDigest,)

1.1.4 The Impact of Earthquakes on Buildings

Geologists classify seismic waves into two broad categories: body and surface waves. Body waves,
which include P and S waves, travel through the Earth’s interior. P waves resemble sound waves,
which means they compress and expand material as they pass. S waves resemble water waves,
which means they move material up and down. P waves travel through both solids and liquids,
while S waves only travel through solids. After an earthquake strikes, P waves ripple through the
planet first, followed by S waves. Then come the slower surface waves - what geologists refer to
as Love and Rayleigh waves. Both kinds move the ground horizontally, but only Rayleigh waves
move the ground vertically, too. Surface waves form long wave trains that travel great distances
and cause most of the shaking - and much of the damage - associated with an earthquake.

If earthquakes only moved the ground vertically, buildings might suffer little damage because all
structures are designed to withstand vertical. But the rolling waves of an earthquake, especially
Love waves, exert extreme horizontal forces on standing structures. These forces cause lateral
accelerations, which scientists measure as G-forces. A magnitude-6.7-quake, for example, can
produce an acceleration of 1 G and a peak velocity of 40 inches (102 centimeters) per second.
Such a sudden movement to the side creates enormous stresses for a building’s structural elements,

2
including beams, columns, walls and floors, as well as the connectors that hold these elements
together. If those stresses are large enough, the building can collapse or suffer crippling damage
(WILLIAM HARRIS, 2011).

Another critical factor is the substrate of a house or skyscraper. Buildings constructed on bedrock
often perform well because the ground is firm. Structures that sit atop soft or filled-in soil often
fail completely. The greatest risk in this situation is a phenomenon known as liquefaction, which
occurs when loosely packed, waterlogged soils temporarily behave like liquids, causing the ground
to sink or slide and the buildings along with it.

1.1.5 Time to rethink earthquake management for high buildings in Cam-

bodia
While Cambodia is not earthquake-prone thanks to its distance from the edges of volatile tectonic
plates, August 2016’s 6.8-magnitude earthquake in central Myanmar was so powerful that tremors
could be felt from as far away as Bangkok (Siv Meng, 2016). It raised questions about whether
existing and upcoming skyscraper developments in Cambodia could mitigate such a natural disaster
if an earthquake were to occur. Tremendous seismic wave affect especially to high-rise building,
although it is far away from epic center. Natural disasters are completely unpredictable. According
to the U.N.’s World Risk Report 2014, Cambodia is the ninth most disaster-vulnerable country
in the world(CAROLINE MCCAUSLAND& PIOTR SASIN, 2015). Therefore, we have to plan
detailedly and estimate in advance to avoid any devastation and to protect our properties as well as
our lives.

3
 Chapter 2: Methodology

2.1 Target and Sample size

The study will be undertaken by analyzing soil behavior in Porsenchey District, Phnom Penh,
Cambodia. The study will be covered 44 boreholes in 26 different places.

Figure 2.1: All districts in Phnom Penh City

4
 Figure 2.2: All soil experiment data analysis in Porsenchey District

2.2 OBASAN Application

OBASAN is an advanced application tool for structural analysis. OBASAN is coded in C/C++
language and divided into four main parts for structural analysis procedure: input data, computation
and analysis, control system, and output data. OBASAN can perform well for nonlinear analysis
of RC and steel structure. However, OBASAN is unable to perform FFGM analysis yet, which
facilitates performing the response of structure under SSI effect and represent an actual response
behavior of structure under an earthquake.[1]

5
2.3 Input Data and Output Data

Table 2.1: OBASAN Input data

Node Data Node ID, DOF, node coordinate, mass, mass moment, inertia.
Element data Element ID, element type, node number, material name.
Element type Spring, beam, column, macro-shell.
Material Depth, width, young modulus, shear modulus, strength, etc.
Damping type Rayleigh, caughey, local viscous, stiffness proportional, etc.
DOF Translation: dx, dy, dz and Rotation: tyz, tyz, txy.
Load type Nodal load, surface load, etc.
Hysteretic type Bilinear, Tri-linear, Inada, Takeda, Kabeyazawa, etc.
Analysis type Newmark, Static, Different, Frequency, etc.

Table 2.2: OBASAN Output data

Node Data Displacement, velocity, acceleration, reaction force.

Element output Stress, strain, deformation, internal force.
Modal output Eigenvalue, eigenvector, period, frequency.
Hysteretic output Ductility, stiffness, degrading factor.

Figure 2.3: Input and Output data

6
2.4 Sample of MDOF
#output
Output, Object, "Output_X1.txt"
ElementOption, acceleration;
ElementID, 1;
manual;

#output
output, object, "Out Last Layer_X1.txt"
ElementOption, acceleration;
ElementID, 4;
manual;

#System
#System, Type, ICCG, eps, 1.0e-20;
#System, Type, Band;
System, Type, Gauss;
#System, Type, Skyline;

#Component classification
ElementType, Soil, Shake;
ElementType, rock, Shake;
ElementType, Bedrock, Shake;

#Object direct input type

FromHere, Object

#Component
Layer, ID, 1, Type, Soil, Depth, 2.2[m], Material, Layer1, Include1, "GGO-Clay.txt",
include2. "D-Clay.txt";
Layer, ID, 2, Type, Soil, Depth, 2.1[m], Material, Layer2, Include1, "GGO-Clay.txt",
include2. "D-Clay.txt";
Layer, ID, 3, Type, Soil, Depth, 0.8[m], Material, Layer3, Include1, "GGO-Clay.txt",
include2. "D-Clay.txt";
Layer, ID, 4, Type, Soil, Depth, 1.2[m], Material, Layer4, Include1, "GGO-Sand.txt",
include2. "D-Sand.txt";

#Material
Material, Layer1, Rho. 19.00 [kN/m3 ]
Material, Layer1, Vs . 262.07 [m/s]
Material, Layer1, OutputMotionType, 0;
Material, Layer1, InputMotionType, 0;
Material, Layer1, Ds . 0.05;
Material, Layer1, InputMotionLayer, 4;

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Material, Layer1, Iteration, 10;
Material, Layer1, InitialStrain, 0;

Material, Layer2, Rho. 21.00 [kN/m3 ]

Material, Layer2, Vs . 347.60 [m/s]
Material, Layer2, OutputMotionType, 1;
Material, Layer2, InputMotionType, 0;
Material, Layer2, Ds . 0.05;
Material, Layer2, InputMotionLayer, 4;
Material, Layer2, Iteration, 10;
Material, Layer2, InitialStrain, 0;

Material, Layer3, Rho. 20.00 [kN/m3 ]

Material, Layer3 Vs . 317.48 [m/s]
Material, Layer3, OutputMotionType, 1;
Material, Layer3, InputMotionType, 0;
Material, Layer3, Ds . 0.05;
Material, Layer3, InputMotionLayer, 4;
Material, Layer3, Iteration, 10;
Material, Layer3, InitialStrain, 0;

Material, Layer4, Rho. 21.00 [kN/m3 ]

Material, Layer4, Vs . 366.30 [m/s]
Material, Layer4, OutputMotionType, 1;
Material, Layer4, InputMotionType, 0;
Material, Layer4, Ds . 0.05;
Material, Layer4, InputMotionLayer, 4;
Material, Layer4, Iteration, 10;
Material, Layer4, InitialStrain, 0;

#wave
Acceleration, ID, 0, Dof, dx, Type, peak, include, ”Kobe_X.txt”;

#Analysis Frequency Setting

Analysis, Type, Wavepropagation, Number, 1250, step, 0.02;

#end od object type input

enddata

#end of all data input

enddata

8
2.5 The important parameters for processing this program
The SPT (Standard Penetration Test Correlations) has historically been the most widely used in situ
geotechnical test throughout the world. Researchers have studied the relationship between VS and
SPT N values since the 1960s.
The SPT practices vary significantly from region to region due to differences in equipment and
procedures. It is common geotechnical practice to correct field SPT N-values for variations from
standard practice (i.e., hammer energy, sampler type, borehole diameter, and rod length).

1
Clayed Soil : Vs = 100 × N 3
1
Sandy Soil : Vs = 80 × N 3

2.6 Visual Studio and Excel analysis Procedure

To start the whole analysis, Visual Studio 2008 is required. This program is very important to
run file MDOF.txt in order to get result as acceleration along X direction in each layer. We ana-
lyze Out1_X and Outlast_X of soil, then we plot both of them in Excel to make graph and find
maximum value in each layer. The whole procedure has shown in figure 2.4.

Figure 2.4: Whole analysis Procedure

9
Figure 2.5: Visual Studio 2008 Command Prompt

Figure 2.6: Data Plotting in Excel

10
 Chapter 3: Result

3.1 Output of MDOF by Visual studio

In this research, we do the analysis on soil by expecting to get the result as Acceleration along
X-direction which related to Time.

About the layers, we will take two different layer for each bole hold and they called "Outlast_X
& Out1_X". Those results contained:
• ID Number
• Time
• Step Number
• Type of Motion (Acceleration)
• Accel_X

Figure 3.1: Output of MDOF

11
3.2 Linear graphical result
After getting all the numerical results from MDOF, we will import those results into excel and
plot as linear graphical results. For the functions that we use to plot, they are Acceleration along
X-direction and Time as we have mentioned above then we will find the maximum value in each
layer. The results have shown as figures below. (Figure 3.2).
Note: The results below are just a small part of our research. We will show more results in Annex.

Figure 3.2: Linear graphical result

12
 Chapter 4: Discussion

4.1 Critical Zone

After we got all the linear graphical results in each zone, we use those values to hatch as a simpli-
fied map in Porsechey District. The result or value as shown in the figure is the value of Kobe_X so
if we want to check about the acceleration along X-direction we only need to multiply those value
by g = 9.8m/s2 (Acceleration of Gravity).

The figure below represented about the value of Kobe_X which stay in the Domain {0.1 −→ 1.0}.
The soft color (Pink) indicated about Minimum Value and the heavy color (Dark red) indicated
about Maximum Value.

In Porsenchey District, the Critical zone goes to Krok Roka, Chom Chav, and Plerng Chhes
Rotes commune which meant those zones could be the lake zone and filled with new soil proper-
ties.

Figure 4.1: Simplified Map as Critical Zone in Porsenchey District

13
4.2 Suggestion
As we have seen the result that analyzing by OBASAN application, the soil properties in some
zone of Porsenchey District will be easy to collapse if earthquake occurs. As our suggestion, even
Cambodia is not earthquake-prone, but we should design structure by adding more seismic load
in order to prevent the collapse or overturn of building by Earthquake. Base on code in ETABS
2016, To design structure which add seismic load in, we only need more 5 percent of overall
reinforcement bars into the whole structure. Thus it is still economical and even more safety.

14
 Bibliography

[1] Narith PROK, Yoshiro KAI, 2015. Soil-structure Interaction Analysis Integration in an Ad-
vanced Application Tool for Disaster Mitigation. Internet Journal of Society for Social Man-
agement Systems Issue 10 Vol.1 sms15-8494 (2015) ISSN: 2432-552X.

[2] USGS, 2016. The Severity of an Earthquake. Retrieved from:

https://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/earthq4/severitygip.html

[3] Paul Fairclough, 2011. The 10 most powerful recorded earthquakes. Retrieved from:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/11/10-most-powerful-earthquakes-history

[4] Becky Oskin, 2017. Japan Earthquake & Tsunami of 2011: Facts and Information. Retrieved
from:
https://www.livescience.com/39110-japan-2011-earthquake-tsunami-facts.html

[5] ReadDigest. What is an earthquake? Retrieved from:

https://readanddigest.com/what-is-an-earthquake/

[6] WILLIAM HARRIS, 2011. How Earthquake-resistant Buildings Work. Retrieved from:
https://science.howstuffworks.com/engineering/structural/earthquake-resistant-buildings1.htm

[7] Siv Meng, 2016. Time to rethink earthquake management for high buildings in Cambodia.
Retrieved from:
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-property/time-rethink-earthquake-management-high-
buildings-cambodia

[8] CAROLINE MCCAUSLAND & PIOTRSASIN. 2015. Cambodia Needs to Learn From the
Harsh Lesson of Nepal. Retrieved from:
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/opinion/cambodia-needs-to-learn-from-the-harsh-lesson-of-
nepal-83289/

[9] Bernard R. Wair, Jason T. DeJong, 2012. Guidelines for Estimation of Shear Wave Velocity
Profiles

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Chapter 5: Annexes

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