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The seismic design philosophy for buildings aims to balance safety and cost-effectiveness by designing structures that can withstand earthquakes without collapsing, even if they sustain some damage. Engineers focus on ensuring that damage is acceptable, occurs in predetermined locations, and that buildings exhibit ductility to absorb energy during shaking. The goal is to protect occupants and prevent disasters while acknowledging that some damage during earthquakes is inevitable.

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10 views4 pages

structure-1

The seismic design philosophy for buildings aims to balance safety and cost-effectiveness by designing structures that can withstand earthquakes without collapsing, even if they sustain some damage. Engineers focus on ensuring that damage is acceptable, occurs in predetermined locations, and that buildings exhibit ductility to absorb energy during shaking. The goal is to protect occupants and prevent disasters while acknowledging that some damage during earthquakes is inevitable.

Uploaded by

sraddhasreekkutty
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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What is the Seismic Design Philosophy for Buildings?

The earthquake problem


During an earthquake, shaking can be minor, moderate, or strong.
Minor shaking occurs frequently.
Moderate shaking occurs occasionally.
Strong shaking is rare.
Annually, around 800 earthquakes of magnitude 5.0-5.9 occur globally.
Only about 18 earthquakes of magnitude 7.0-7.9 occur each year.
: Not designing buildings for earthquake effects could lead to a major
disaster.
Option 2: Designing buildings to be "earthquake-proof" is too expensive.
The design philosophy should balance between these two extremes to ensure
safety and cost-effectiveness.

Earthquake resistant buildings


engineers design earthquake-resistant buildings that can withstand ground shaking, may
suffer severe damage, but will not collapse.
The goal is to ensure the safety of people and contents inside the building.
Prevents building collapse, thereby avoiding a disaster.
The focus of seismic design codes globally is to achieve earthquake resistance to ensure
safety during earthquakes.
Earthquake design philosophy
Under minor but frequent shaking, the main members of the building that carry vertical and
horizontal forces should not be damaged; however building parts that do not carry load may
sustain repairable damage
. Under moderate but occasional shaking, the main members may sustain repairable damage,
while the other parts of the building may be damaged such that they may even have to be
replaced after the earthquake; and
Under strong but rare shaking, the main members may sustain severe (even irreparable)
damage, but the building should not collapse

Seismic design philosophy for buildings

Damage during earthquakes is inevitable, often visualized as cracks in


buildings, especially in concrete and masonry structures.
Some cracks are acceptable (based on size and location), while others
are not.
Example: In reinforced concrete frame buildings with masonry filler
walls, cracks between vertical columns and filler walls are acceptable;
diagonal cracks through columns are not.
Diagonal cracks in columns
Qualified professionals understand the causes and severity of different
jeopardize vertical load
types of damage in earthquake-resistant buildings. carrying capacity of
buildings - unacceptable
damage.
Qualified professionals understand the causes and severity of different types of damage
in earthquake-resistant buildings.
The aim is to ensure damages are acceptable, occur in the right places, and are of the
right magnitude.
This approach is similar to using electrical fuses, where certain parts are allowed to
"sacrifice" to protect the whole system.
To prevent building collapse, certain predetermined parts are designed to undergo
controlled, acceptable damage.

Acceptable damage: Ductility

Task in Earthquake-Resistant Designis to identify acceptable


forms of damage and desirable building behavior during
earthquakes.
Different materials behave differently under stress:
Chalk: Breaks easily and is brittle.
Building performances during
Steel pins: Can bend back-and-forth, demonstrating
earthquakes: two extremes – the
ductility. ductile and the brittle.
Ductility is the ability of a material to undergo significant
deformation without breaking, allowing it to bend rather
than snap.
Main elements of earthquake-resistant buildings need
ductility to sway and absorb energy without collapsing during
earthquakes.
Ductile buildings can sustain damage but avoid collapse.
Earthquake-resistant design focuses on determining specific
locations where damage should occur and providing proper
detailing at these points to ensure ductile behavior.
Ductile and brittle structures –
seismic design attempts to avoid
structures of the latter kind.

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