Elementary Seismology

CT.Lakshmanan
Assistant Professor (Selection Grade)
School of Architecture & Interior Design
SRM University Prepared by CT.Lakshmanan

The Vulnerability Profile - India

59% of land mass prone to earthquakes

40 million hectares (8%) of landmass prone to floods
8000 Km long coastline with two cyclone seasons
Hilly regions vulnerable to
avalanches/landslides/Hailstorms/cloudburst
68% of the total area susceptible to drought
Different types of manmade Hazards
Tsunami threat
1 million houses damaged annually + human, economic,
social and other losses

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Hazard, vulnerability & disaster

Disaster = F (Hazard, Vulnerability)

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Ingredients of Risk
HxV-C=R
Hazard x vulnerability capacity = risk
H - potential threat to humans and their welfare
V - exposure and susceptibility to loss of life or dignity
C - available and potential resources
R - probability of disaster occurrence

Capacity - resources, means and strengths which exist in

households and communities and which enable them to cope with,
withstand, prepare for, prevent, mitigate or quickly recover from a
disaster
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Disaster Prevention, Mitigation & preparedness

Prevention requires the elimination of risk while mitigation
is the reduction of risk..
Disaster Preparedness : Forecast and take precautionary
measures in advance of an imminent threat.

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Seismology
The term Seismology is derived from Greek word
Seismo, which means earthquake and logos means
science; hence the Seismology is Science of
Earthquakes
Seismology can be defined in two ways:
1. The science of earthquakes and the physics of the
earths interior
2. The science of elastic wave (seismic waves)
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CONTINENTAL
DRIFT

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Source: from internet

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Fault
A fault is nothing but a crack or weak zone inside the Earth. When two blocks of rock
or two plates rub against each other along a fault, they dont just slide smoothly.
As the tectonic forces continue to prevail, the plate margins exhibit deformation as
seen in terms of bending, compression, tension and friction. The rocks eventually
break giving rise to an earthquake, because of building of stresses beyond the
limiting elastic strength of the rock.

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DEPTH OF FOCUS

Shallow focus Earthquakes

Intermediate focus earthquakes

< 70 km deep

70 km ~ 300 km

Deep focus earthquakes

> 300 km

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Magnitude Vs Intensity
The magnitude of an earthquake is
determined instrumentally and is more
objective measure of its size
Intensity of an earthquake is a subjective
parameter based on assessment of visible
effects. It depends on factors other than
the actual size of the earthquake
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EARTHQUAKE MAGNITUDE
CLASS
USGS

IMD

M>8

Great

Very great

7 - 7.9

Major

Great

6 - 6.9

Strong

Moderate

5 - 5.9

Moderate

Moderate

4 - 4.9

Light

Slight

3 - 3.9

Minor

Slight

M<3
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Micro
earthquake

GLOBAL EARTHQUAKE
OCCURRENCE
Magnitude

Annual Average No.

M >8

7 - 7.9

20

6 - 6.9

100

5 - 5.9

3000

4 - 4.9

15,000

3 - 3.9

>100,000

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SEISMIC WAVES

Body Waves

Surface waves

Body Waves

Primary waves P-waves

Secondary waves S-waves

Surface Waves

Love waves

Rayleigh waves
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IS 1893:2002
More than 60 % area
is earthquake prone.
Zone V
%

Fig. courtesy: nicee

12

Zone IV

18 %

Zone III

26 %

Zone II
%

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44

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Casualties during past events

14000

14000

10000

8000

8000
6000
4000
63

Killari

Jabalpur

Chamoli

Bhuj

(1993)

(1997)

(1999)

(2001)

38

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Where
(when?)

768

(1991) Uttarkashi

1004

Bihar

2000

(1988)

Number of deaths

12000

Earthquake Do Not Kill People

Improperly Designed Structures Do!

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Earthquake Design Philosophy

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IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS TO MAKE A

BUILDING EARTHQUAKE RESISTANT
1. Configuration
2. Ductility
3. Quality control
4. Base Isolation
5. Passive Energy Dissipating Devices
6. Active Control Systems

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1. Configuration

A terminally ill patient , however

effective the medication, may
eventually die.
Similarly, a badly configured building
Cannot be engineered for an improved
performance beyond a certain limit.

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Regular Configuration
Regular configuration is seismically ideal. These
configurations have low heights to base ratio,
symmetrical plane, uniform section and elevation
and thus have balanced resistance.

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These configurations
would have maximum
torsional resistance due
to location of shear walls
and bracings. Uniform
floor heights, short spans
and direct load path play
a significant role in
seismic resistance of the
building.

Irregular Configuration
Buildings with irregular configuration

Buildings with abrupt changes in

lateral resistance
Buildings with abrupt changes in
lateral stiffness
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Re-entrant corner

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Discontinuity in diaphragm Stiffness

RIGID

FLEXIBLE

D I APH R AG M

DIAPHRAG
M

Vertical Components of Seismic Resisting System

Discontinuity in Diaphragm Stiffness

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Out of plane Offsets

Shear
Wall
Out-of-Plane Offset
in Shear Wall

Non-parallel system
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Shear
walls

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ELEVATION IRREGULARITIES

1) Soft-Storey/Pan-caked

2) Set-backs

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3) Connections

Pancaking

Soft storey

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ELEVATION IRREGULARITIES

4) Pounding

5) Breaks in
Columns
or Beams

6) Staggered
Levels

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7) In-fills

Open ground storey building (soft storey)

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Right or Wrong?

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Short column effect

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Ductility
Let us first understand how different materials
behave.
Consider white chalk used to write on blackboards and steel
pins with solid heads used to hold sheets of paper together.
Yes a chalk breaks easily!!
On the contrary, a steel pin allows it to be bent back-and-forth.
Engineers define the property that allows steel pins to bend
back-and-forth by large amounts, as ductility; chalk is a brittle
material.

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The currently adopted performance criteria in the earthquake codes

are the following:
i. The structure should resist moderate intensity of earthquake
shaking without structural damage.
ii. The structure should be able to resist exceptionally large intensity
of earthquake shaking without collapse.

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The strength of brittle

construction materials, like
masonry and concrete, is
highly sensitive to the
1. quality of construction
materials
2. workmanship
3. supervision
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4. construction
methods

Quality control
special care is needed in construction
to ensure that the elements meant to
be ductile are indeed provided with
features that give adequate ductility.
Thus, strict adherence to prescribed
standards of construction materials
and construction processes is
essential in assuring an earthquakeresistant building.
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Elements of good quality

control.
1.Regular testing of
construction materials at
qualified laboratories (at site or
away)
2. Periodic training of workmen
at professional training houses,
and
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IS CODES
IS 1893 (Part I), 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 Earthen Buildings
IS 13828, 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
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Base isolators

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While Hazards Are Inevitable, Each Hazard Need Not

Convert
Into A Disaster As What Comes In Between Is
The Culture of Safety And Prevention
Let us Work Together to Build a Culture of Prevention !
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