EARTHQUAKE RESISTANT

CONSTRUCTION

BY

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INTRODUCTION

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 WHAT IS EARTHQUAKE ?

 Earthquake is a natural phenomenon occurring with all

uncertainties

 During the earthquake, ground motions occur in a

random fashion, both horizontally and vertically, in all
directions radiating from epicenter

 These cause structures to vibrate and induce inertia

forces on them

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 PRINCIPLE OF EARTHQUAKE-
RESISTANT DESIGN

 The building shall withstand with almost no damage to moderate

earthquake which have probability of occurring several times
during life of a building.

 The building shall not collapse or harm human lives during

severe earthquake motions, which have a probability of
occurring less than once during the life of the building.

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 RULES FOR BUILDING DESIGN

 The configuration of the building (Plan and elevation)

should be as simple as possible.
 The formation should generally be based on hard and
uniform ground.
 The members resisting horizontal forces should be
arranged so that torsional deformation is not produced.
 The structure of the building should be dynamically simple
and definite.
 The frame of the building structure should have adequate
ductility in addition to required strength.
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CLASSIFICATION OF EARTHQUAKE

 Slight: Magnitude up to 4.9 on the Richter Scale

 Moderate: Magnitude 5.0 to 6.9
 Great: Magnitude 7.0 to 7.9
 Very Great: Magnitude 8.0 and above

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 SEISMIC DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
FOR BUILDINGS
 Severity of ground shaking at a given location during an
earthquake can be minor, moderate and strong
 Relatively speaking, minor shaking occurs frequently,
moderate shaking occurs occasionally and strong shaking
rarely
 As we know that the life of the building itself may be only
50 or 100 years, a conflict arises: whether to design the
building to be “earthquake proof” where in there is no
damage during the strong but rare earthquake shaking or
should we do away with the design to building ‘
 the former approach is too expensive and the second
approach can lead to a major disaster
 Hence, the design philosophy should lie somewhere in
between these two extremes.
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SEISMIC RISK TO BUILDING IN INDIA

The construction may generally be classified into two types:

 Non-Engineered Construction: Ex un reinforced brick
masonry, stone masonry
 Semi -Engineered Construction: Ex Reinforced brick
masonry
 Engineered Construction: Ex Reinforced Concrete framed
structures or steel structures.

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Non-Engineered buildings are those which are spontaneously
and informally constructed in various countries in the traditional
manner without any or little intervention by qualified architects and
engineers in their design.
Such buildings involve field stone, fired brick, concrete blocks,
adobe or rammed earth, a combination of wood with these
traditional locally available materials in their construction
the design frequently adopted in a non-engineered manner is ,
without taking into consideration the stability of the system under
horizontal seismic forces.
Masonry buildings of all types, except those constructed with
earthquake resisting elements, are at the greatest risk of heavy
damage in seismic zoneIII and of destruction to collapse in zones
IV and V.

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CLASSIFICATION OF SEISMIC ZONES IN
INDIA

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 INDIAN SEISMIC CODES

 IS 1893-2002, Indian Standard Criteria for Earthquake Resistant

Design of Structures (5th Revision)
 IS 4326-1993, Indian Standard Code of Practice for Earthquake
Resistant Design and Construction of Buildings (2nd Revision)
 IS 13827-1993, Indian Standard Guidelines for Improving
Earthquake Resistance of Low Strength Masonry Buildings
 IS 13920-1993, Indian Standard Code of Practice for Ductile
Detailing of Reinforced Concrete Structures Subjected to Seismic
Forces
 IS 13935-1993, Indian Standard Guidelines for Repair and
Seismic Strengthening of Buildings
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SEISMIC EFFECTS ON STRUCTURES

 INERTIA FORCES IN STRUCTURES

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 HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL SHAKING

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 CAUSES OF EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE

 Heavy dead weight and very stiff buildings, attracting large seismic
inertia forces.
 Very low tensile and shear strength, particularly with poor mortars.
 Brittle behavior in tension as well as compression.
 Weak connection between wall and wall & roof and wall.
 Stress concentration at corners of doors and windows.
 Overall un symmetry in plan and elevation of the building
 Un symmetry due to imbalance in the sizes and positions of
openings in the wall.
 Defects in construction, such as use of sub standard materials,
unfilled joints between bricks. 14
BEHAVIOUR OF BRICK MASONRY
WALL
Ground vibrations during
earthquakes causes inertia forces
to travel through the roof and walls
to the foundation.
The main emphasis is on
ensuring that these forces reach
the ground without causing major
damage or collapse.
Of the three components of a
masonry buildings, walls are most
vulnerable to damage caused by
horizontal forces due to
earthquake.
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 IMPROVING BEHAVIOUR OF
MASONRY WALL
Box action: A number of construction aspects are required
to ensure box action

Ensuring good interlocking

of the masonry courses at
the junction.
Employing horizontal
bands at various levels,
particularly at the lintel
level

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 The size of the doors and
window opening need to
be kept small.

 The smaller the opening,

larger is the resistance
offered by the wall.

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 The tendency of wall to topple
when pushed in the weak
direction can be reduced by
limiting its length-to-thickness
and height-to-thickness ratios

 The length of the wall should be

limited to 6m or else cross walls
should be provided

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 IMPORTANCE OF
REINFORCEMENTS IN MASONRY
BUILDING
 The walls, if constructed with plain masonry would be incapable
of resisting the magnitude of horizontal shear and bending forces
imposed on them during earthquakes.
 For this reason, in the modern reinforced masonry systems,
reinforcing steel is incorporated to resist the shear and tensile
stresses, so developed.
 When these walls are subjected to lateral forces acting on them,
they behave as flexural members spanning vertically between
floors and horizontally between pilasters/ lateral walls.
 Therefore reinforcement in both vertical and horizontal directions
is required to be provided to develop resistance against torsion.
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ROLE OF HORIZONTAL BANDS
 Plinth band: This should be provided
in those cases where the soil is soft or
uneven in their properties, as it usually
happens in hilly areas. This band is
not too critical.
 Lintel band: This is the most important
band and covers all door and window
lintel.
 Roof band: In buildings with flat
reinforced concrete or reinforced brick
roofs, the roof band is not required
because the roof slab itself plays the
role of a band. However, in buildings
with flat timber or CGI sheet roof, a
roof band needs to be provided. In
buildings with pitched or sloped roof,
the roof band is very important.
 Gable band: It is employed only in
buildings with pitched or sloped roofs
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 LINTEL BANDS

 Lintel bands ties the walls together and creates a support for walls

loaded along weak direction from walls loaded in strong direction

 This band also reduces the unsupported height of the walls and

there by improves their stability in the weak direction

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DESIGN OF LINTEL BANDS

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IS SPECIFICATION FOR LINTEL BANDS

 The Indian Standards

IS:4326-1993 and IS:13828-
1993 provide sizes and details
of the bands.
 When wooden bands are
used, the cross-section of
runners is to be at least
75mmx38mm and the spacers
at least 50mmx30mm.
 When RC bands are used the
minimum thickness is 75mm,
and at least two bars of 8mm
diameter are required, tied
across with steel links of at
least 6mm diameter at a
spacing of 150mm centers.
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ROLE OF VERTICAL REINFORCEMENTS
IN WALLS

 Even if horizontal bands are

provided, masonry buildings are
weakened by the openings in
their walls
 During earthquake shaking, the
masonry walls get grouped into
3 sub-units, namely Spandrel
masonry, Wall Pier masonry
and Sill masonry

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When the ground shakes, the inertia
force causes the small-sized
masonry wall piers to disconnect
from the masonry above and below.
These masonry sub-units rock back
and forth, developing contact only at
the opposite diagonals The rocking
of a masonry pier can crush the
masonry the corners.
Rocking is possible when masonry
piers are slender, and when weight
of the structure above is small.
Otherwise, the piers are more likely
to develop diagonal (X-type) shear
cracking this is the most common
failure type in masonry buildings.
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During strong earthquake
shaking, the building may slide
just under the roof, below the
lintel band or at the sill level.

Sometimes, the building may

also slide at the plinth level.

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HOW VERTICAL REINFORCEMENT HELPS?
 Embedding vertical
reinforcement bars in the edges
of the wall piers and anchoring
them in the foundation at the
bottom and in the roof band at
the top forces the slender
masonry piers to undergo
bending instead of rocking.
 In wider wall piers, the vertical
bars enhance their capability to
resist horizontal earthquake
forces and delay the X-cracking.
 Adequate cross-sectional area of
these vertical bars prevents the
bar from yielding in tension.
 Further, the vertical bars also
help protect the wall from sliding
as well as from collapsing in the
weak direction. 29
PROTECTION OF OPENINGS IN WALL

 The most common damage,

observed after an earthquake,
is diagonal X-cracking of wall
piers, and also inclined cracks
at the corners of door and
window opening.
 When a wall with an opening
deforms distorts and becomes
more like a rhombus.
 Steel bars provided in the wall
masonry all around the
openings restrict these cracks
at the corners
 Thus, lintel and sill bands
above and below openings and
vertical edges, provide
protection against this type of
damage
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 STRUCTURAL DESIGN
 The structure should be ductile, like the use of steel in concrete
buildings. For these ductile materials to have an effect, they should be
placed where they undergo tension and thus are able to yield.
 Apart from ductility, deformability of structures is also essential.
Deformability of structures is also essential. Deformability refers to the
ability of a structure to dispel or deform to a significant degree without
collapsing. For this to happen, the structure should be well- proportioned,
regular and tied together in such a way that there are no area of
excessive stress concentration and forces can be transmitted from one
section to another despite large deformations. For this to happen,
components must be linked to resisting elements
 Damageability is another aspect to be taken into consideration. This
means the ability of a structure to withstand substantial damage without
collapsing. To achieve this objective “minimum area which shall be
damaged in case a member of the structure is collapsed” is to be kept in
view while planning. Columns shall be stronger than beams for that
purpose and it is known as strong column and weak beam concept
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 TIPS FOR EARTHQUAKE-RESISTANT
DESIGN
 The building plan should be in a regular shape such as square or
rectangular.
 No wall in a room should exceed 6.0m in length. Use pilasters or cross
walls for longer walls. In hilly terrain, it should not exceed 3.5m in
length.
 The height of each storey should be kept below 3.2m.
 Don’t use bricks of crushing strength less than 35kg/cm2 for single
storeyed building and of 50kg/cm2 for 2-3 storeyed building. Only solid
and sound bricks/ concrete blocks should be used
 Provide a R.C.C band of 4” thickness throughout the run along wall at
lintel level passing over doors and windows.
 The thickness of load bearing wall should be at least 200mm
 The clear width between a door and nearest window should not be less
than 600mm.
 Location of a door or window from edge of a wall shall be 600mm
minimum.
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 CONCLUSIONS

 Earthquake resistant construction is important in

earthquake prone area

 The building can resist earthquake forces with almost

no damage

 The building shall not collapse or harm human lives

during severe earthquake motions.

 However these structures will be uneconomical.

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 REFERNCES
 Murthy, C.V.R.(2003): IITK-BMTPC “Earthquake Tips”,
Indian Concrete Institute Journal,Vol.4, July-Sept. 2003
No., pp.27-32.
 Murthy, C.V.R.(2003): IITK-BMTPC “Earthquake Tips”,
Indian Concrete Institute Journal,Vol.4, Oct.-Dec. 2003
No., pp.31-34.
 Arya, A.S., (2003): “Seismic Status of Masnory Buildings
in India and their Retroffiting”, Civil Engineering &
Construction, Oct.2003, pp.32-45.
 Bhagavan,N.G., Sreenath,H.G., Rama Chandra
Murthy,A., Vimalandam,V.(2003), “A Novel Concept of
Reinforcing the Brick Masonry as Shear Wall Structural
System for Earthquake Resistant Construction”,
Journal,Civil Engineering & Construction, Oct.2003, pp.60-
66.
 www.nicee.org
 www.nicee.EQTips
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