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Vulnerability Towards Earthquakes

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Soft story configuration in structures is a type of construction where any one story of the articles to your email inbox

building is more flexible (less stiff) when compared with other floors. This may be located Email *
at the bottom, or at any intermediate points, where the floor above or below it may be
stiffer compared to itself. This accounts to be a weak element in the perspective of
seismic forces. Subscribe!

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During an earthquake motion, the soft story behavior is based on the criteria that the
Concrete for Slab, Beam,
ground motion will look for all possible weakness in the structure. This weakness may be
Column and Footings
a sharp variation in the stiffness, ductility or in the strength parameters. These variations
result in the poor distribution of masses throughout the floor, which itself is undesirable.

Many structural damages recorded due to earthquake had a major problem of change in
stiffness and strength along their vertical configuration. It is not only essential to have
symmetry along the horizontal direction, i.e. in the plan, but also in the vertical direction.
This is a factor that assures lateral stiffness. Abrupt changes in the vertical plan should be
avoided to the maximum.

A typical example of the same is an open story building, where the bottom floor is
constructed open for considering the parking utilities and people spaces, as shown in
figure.1. This floor hence has a lower structural stiffness compared to the above floor. It
Common Causes of Failures of
represents a vertical symmetry.
Dam Structures
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Bridge Structures

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Fig.1: An Open Storey Building- Bottom floor resembles soft story configuration Carpet Area of a Building

Different Soft Storey Configurations

The soft story configuration is possible in by different arrangement in the building. It is

illustrated in figure-2. One such arrangement is the combination of open ground floor and
the masonry fill at other top floors. This arrangement is shown in figure 2(a).

The presence of walls in upper stories makes them much stiffer compared to the bottom
stories. This makes the upper stories to behave like a single block. Under dynamic forces,
most of the horizontal displacement take place at the bottom soft story alone. This would
result in the swinging of building back and forth like a pendulum, as shown in figure.3.

This irregularity if is minor in nature, the system will resist the seismic forces, as per the
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seismic codes. For this, it is essential to give specially characterized strength for that Coefficients for Various
story to resist the dynamic force, by the structural engineer. This is carried out by extra Construction Works
ductile detailing and additional strength giving materials.

Another arrangement is the provision of longer columns at the bottom floor and another
with smaller ones, as shown in figure 2(b). Figure 2(c) shows a soft story arrangement
where the columns are arranged in a discontinuous manner. This itself have problems in
a discontinuity in the load transfer, which becomes severe under the seismic forces.

Terms Used in Plane Table

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Fig.2: Soft Story Arrangement

DAMPERS FOR SEISMIC

RESISTANT STRUCTURES

Fig.3: Upper Building Floors Moving to and forth like a Pendulum under
Earthquake Motion

Structural Behavior of Soft Storey

When it comes to vertical symmetry i.e. the form of soft story construction, rather than the
energy absorption by the reinforcing bars or the steel sections in their plastic zones, there Types of Earthquake Resistant
is higher energy concentration at the soft story levels. This would result in serious Masonry Walls Construction
damage to those columns that are in that zone.

SOURCES OF EARTHQUAKE
DAMAGE
Fig.4: Columns in the bottom open story of a six-story building, after undergoing
plastic hinge due to the China earthquake,2008

Once it has damaged the members at the soft story, it does not have a nature to move on
and damage the other members. Instead, they apply their intense pressure on the same
story. Therefore, we see most of the structure above the soft story remain undamaged
(Fig.5).
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This is due to the sacrificial action of the soft story. The columns in the soft story lack the
capacity to absorb the seismic damage under usual cases, and they are doomed for the
same reason. But they continue to support the whole weight coming over it.
BASE ISOLATION METHOD IN
BUILDING

Fig.5. The total collapse of the bottom open floor of an apartment, caused by
Northridge earthquake. The bottom floor was spaced for car parking.

Improvement in Design Strategies

The 2001 Bhuj earthquake effects on RC buildings have bought special consideration in
the design of soft-story buildings in the Indian Seismic Code IS 1893 (Part 1)-2002. The
initial specification is to determine when a building must be considered as a soft story and
a weak story building. The second provision is to determine the higher value of forces for
the soft story structure.

The design must be proceeded by determining the forces in each of the structural
element ie the columns, beams and the shear walls, by neglecting the consideration of
masonry walls or assume the building to be as bare frame during the calculation.

During the design of beams and the columns, the forces are equal to 2.5 times the value
of forces obtained from the bare frame analysis for the respective structural elements.
When it comes to the shear walls, the design is carried out for force equal to 1.5 times the
calculated bare fill forces.

When it comes to a new plan for building construction, it is advised to avoid large
decrease or increase of stiffness throughout the building. It is recommended to construct
walls at the bottom floor also. The discontinuity in the wall construction must be
minimized in the construction by the designers.
 Fig.6: Provision of Shear wall in vertical direction in planned position to offer
higher resistance and control the undesirable behavior of soft story

When it comes to the rehabilitation or improvement of existing soft story buildings,

additional strengthening construction must be implemented under the assistance of
qualified structural engineers, to prevent the building collapse from strong ground motion.

One of the methods is to fill up all the possible open story that brings the discontinuity by
the masonry wall similar to the above floors.

The shear wall at plan positions, that is concluded based on analysis is another remedy
for rehabilitation, which can improve the stiffness and resistance towards ground motion.
When the open ground floor is essential and cannot be compromised, inside infill walls
can be provided as shown in the below plan.

Fig.7: Ground Open Story with Infill inside, without interrupting the Provision of
Car Parking

Fig.8: Provision of Lateral Bracing System to an already built Soft Story, to Resist
against Earthquake Motion

Read More:

Performance and Behavior of Masonry Structures during Earthquakes

Ductility of Building Structures for Earthquake Resistant Design

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