Tono, Gabriel Yushua G.

Yiu, Paul Andy L.

Topic: Sturdier & Safer Buildings

Thesis Statement: The structural integrity of buildings can be improved through a variety

of factors such as the structural components, design and placement of structure, and

building maintenance.

IMPROVING THE STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY

OF BUILDINGS IN THE PHILIPPINES

I. Introduction

Developing buildings and making them sturdy and safe has been the main goal

of every engineer. Building structures has developed throughout the decades. Houses

nowadays have more resistance to anything that can damage it. The goal of this topic is

to help us (civil engineers) improve on the structures we have today, and future

buildings to be constructed. The importance of this topic is about knowing what kind of

materials are to be used to obtain a strong foundation for the building. Furthermore,

having a strong foundation also gives you a strong base. Knowing the right materials to

be used, the structure can be resistant to several kinds of disaster such as floods,

earthquakes, climate conditions, and many more. These are all important factors to take

note of when constructing a building in order to ensure its safety and stability.

It is an important research because the knowledge this research can give

towards engineers can greatly change the way on how future engineers will create the
integrity of the building. Furthermore, it can assure safety to the people that will live in

the futuristic buildings to be built.

The structural integrity of buildings can be improved through a variety of factors

such as the structural components, design and placement of structure, and building

maintenance. Knowing what part of the building we should improve on, we can further

increase the sturdiness of it, which will result to a safer place to live. With structural

components, we find what kind of material best suitable for the part. While in design and

placement, we put the materials in the right place and order to create a strong bond

between the materials being stick together. Lastly, the building maintenance. This may

not seem very important, but knowing how long your building can last before it becomes

very old and starts to crack can help you improve the kinds of materials you will use in

order to have a long-term goal of making your building to last longer as time goes by.

Having these three components as key factors for improving the structural integrity of a

building is a big step for the world of engineers.

With all these factors taken into account, we can assure that the building is

somewhat stronger and more resistant to heavy load, up and down movements, and

even side-to-side movements. Knowing which materials to be used is a great

contribution to the sturdiness of the building, it can enhance the structural compounds

and the building can last even for a century.

II. Body
 An earthquake moves the ground, it can be a sudden movement for a short while,

but often a sequence of shock waves. It can greatly cost damage to structures as it can

move the land up and down, even sideways.

Each building carries their own weight and load; otherwise, they would fall down by

themselves. A building can usually carry loads of things on each floor. Even badly built

buildings can resist a few up and down movements, but most buildings are not capable

of resisting side-to-side movements. The weakness of the building can only be found

out when the earthquake actually strikes and it is a bad kind of testing method to know

how sturdy the building can be. It is this side-to-side load which causes the worst

damage, often collapsing poor buildings on the first shake (Reid, 2017).

To improve the structural integrity of buildings, we must first look at the components

of its parts. Material selection is a basic, but important step to take in building

construction. When choosing from different materials, it is important to take note of

properties such as strength, stiffness, ductility, and toughness (Tindell, 2014). The

weaknesses of certain materials should also be noted like brittleness, fatigue and wear.

This is important information to note when utilizing strength, stiffness, weight, etc. for

certain structures.
 Once the floors are robustly fitted to the frames, the frames themselves must be

correctly designed (Reid, 2017).

The next important step to take when building a structure is to find a suitable

location. We have to check the area if it is prone to calamities and natural disasters

such as a landslide or typhoon, or if it is also placed near a fault line. We should also

take into account the type of soil it is placed on. Different types of soil have different

behavior. For example, based on recent major earthquakes in Mexico (1985), Loma

Prieta (1989), Northridge (1994), Kobe (1995), alluvial soils can increase the effects of

an earthquake (Mazars & Millard, 2009). It is important to take note of the amount of

seismic stress certain types of soil can take especially because the Philippines is placed

on the Pacific Ring of Fire.

The design of the building is arguably the most important factor when constructing a

building. It is important that the design adheres with the building's purpose while also

being safe from possible disasters. Poor design concepts cannot perform well during

strong earthquakes whereas good design concepts perform well (Dowrick, 2009).
Altough there is no such thing as an earthquake proof material, we know that materials

such as glass, brick, and concrete are very bad materials to be used for an earthquake-

resistant building. During an earthquake, the building is constantly pushed and pulled in

lots of directions, and we know that glass, brick, and concrete are materials that are

weak when forces such as pulling and sideways pushing. Buildings, structures, and

their foundations needs to be built to be resistant to sideway loads. This can strengthen

the building and can make it earthquake resistant. The lighter the materials used, the

lesser the load. This is more applicable to higher weight. The roof must also be light, but

heavy enough not to be blown away. This goes same for the walls and partitions, but

not too light that it cannot support the whole buildings.

Most of the sideways resistance will come from the walls. The walls must be parallel

and equal in both directions so that the weight the pushes the building down keeps the

building resistant to sideways. If the sideways resistance will come from diagonal

bracing, then it must also go equally all round in both directions. Buildings designed to

resist seismic forces must have well detailed members and joints so the building can

take a lot of side-to-side movement without losing its verticality (Taranath, 2010).

While the framework of the roof can vary in size and scope, there are multiple ways

on constructing a functional roof. You have to make the roof anchored to the top of the

building so that strong wind will not carry it away. The weight of the roof should be

spread throughout the foundation and the earth underneath the foundation. Its surface

should be sturdy for people to walk on if repairs and additional improvements are to be

done. Lastly, the roof should be constructed so that water cannot leak from it.
 A sturdy roof can be done in a lot of ways but the most effective way to have a

sturdy roof is to have a large number of triangles. Triangles are considered to be a

sturdy shape and a good roof should have triangles in critical places.