Introduction to Earthquake Engineering - when a loose soil is vigorously shaken or

vibrated
Earthquake - a phenomenon resulting from the sudden
release of stored energy in the Earth’s crust which INDIRECT EFFECTS TO STRUCTURE
creates seismic waves
1. TSUNAMIS - a large sea wave generated mostly
A broad-banded vibratory ground motions, resulting from by an undersea earthquake.
several causes including tectonic ground motions, 2. SEICHES - long-period oscillating waves
volcanism, and man-made explosions. generated by distant earthquakes in enclosed
bodies of water such as bays, lakes, reservoirs,
Earthquakes generate horizontal ground motion and even swimming pools.
Seismogram - is a visual record, a graph, of ground - Occurs when the natural frequency of a
motion, typically from an earthquake, created by a water body matches the frequency of the
seismograph, showing the varying intensity of earth's incoming earthquake waves
movements over time. GROUND SHAKING - a structure lying on the shaking
Damaging effect of earthquakes ground oscillate back and forth and up and down and
makes the structure experience large stresses and
In general, an earthquake can damage a deformations in the process.
structure in three different ways:
EARTHQUAKE FORCES - Depends on magnitude,
• By causing a ground failure duration of the earthquake, location, type of foundation
• By producing other effects that may soil and type of structure.
indirectly affect the structure, e.g., ground
BRIEF HISTORY OF EARTHQUAKE
cracking, landslides or tsunami
• By shaking the ground on which the structure Robert Mallet
rests.
➢ Irish Civil Engineer
GROUND FAILURE TYPES ➢ First earthquake engineer
➢ Report on the 1857 Naples earthquake is the
1. SURFACE FAULTING - the displacement that
first scientific investigation that included
reaches the earth's surface during slip along a
observations of the seismological, geological,
fault.
and engineering aspects of an earthquake.
2. GROUND CRACKING - when the soil at the
surface loses its support and sinks, or when it is Modern research on earthquake-resistant structures
transported to a different location. when
displaced, a soil layer breaks causing fissures, ✓ began in Japan in 1881
scarps, horsts and grabens on the ground ✓ the year of the 1890 Nobi Earthquake
surface. ✓ first proposed the use of a lateral force equal to
3. GROUND SUBSIDENCE - the ground surface of the fraction of the total weight of a building to
a site settles or depresses as a result of account for the forces exerted on buildings
compaction induced by an earthquake’s study the earthquake and the formulation of practical
vibrations. recommendations for the seismic design of buildings
- Sites with loose or compressible soils are
susceptible recommended buildings were to be designed for
- Damage: cracks and/or tilting of building horizontal forces equal to fractions of the building
- Pipelines, channels and road embarkments weight based on different story levels
may damage
The 20th Century can be divided into three very distinct
4. LANDSLIDES - the failure of slopes that are periods:
marginally stable before the earthquake and
become unstable as a result of the violent ▪ First period (until 1950): is characterized by very
shaking generated by the earthquake. timid attempts to develop a consistent
5. SOIL LIQUEFACTION - which fine saturated explanation of the nature of earthquake by
granular soils temporarily change from a solid to recording, 1940 El Centro earthquake.
a liquid state and as a result lose their ability to ▪ Second period (1950-1980): coherent theory
carry loads or remain stable. development: limited information concerning
 the characteristics of ground motions and
damage done by these earthquakes.
▪ Third period: A dense network of instrumental
seismic stations characterizes the last period of
20th Century with large number of records and
developing of anti-seismic concepts.

Elements of Seismology
SEISMOLOGY

- the scientific study of earthquakes and the This sudden slip, termed Elastic Rebound by Reid (1910)
propagation of elastic waves through the Earth. based on his studies of regional deformation following the
- includes studies of earthquake environmental 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, releases large amounts
effects such as tsunamis as well as diverse of energy, which constitutes or is the earthquake.
seismic sources such as volcanic, tectonic,
oceanic, atmospheric, and artificial processes
such as explosions.
- uses geology to infer information regarding past
earthquakes is paleoseismology.

Engineering seismology is the study and application of

seismology for engineering purposes. It generally applied
to the branch of seismology that deals with the
assessment of the seismic hazard of a site or region for
the purposes of earthquake engineering.

ELEMENTS OF ENGINEERING SEISMOLOGY

1. Studying earthquake history and tectonics to PLATE BOUNDARIES MOVEMENT

assess the earthquakes that could occur in a ▪ The lateral movement of the plates is mainly at
region and their characteristics and frequency of the speeds of 50-100 mm annually.
occurrence. ▪ Earthquakes, volcanoes, mountain and oceanic
2. Studying strong ground motions generated by trench formation normally occur along these
earthquakes to assess the expected shaking boundaries.
from future earthquakes with similar
characteristics. These strong ground motions
could either be observations from
accelerometers or seismometers or those
simulated by computers using various
techniques

DIVERGENT

Mantle rock migrates upward; small ponds of magma

form and rise upward

CONVERGENT

The theory of plate tectonics derives from the theory of Accretionary wedge builds up
continental drift and floor spreading.
Because of high friction between the plates, they get
stuck together and the leading edge of the overlying plate
gets dragged backwards.
TRANSFORM TYPES OF EARTHQUAKE FAULT:

Transform Fault – contact between two plates that slides Strike-slip Fault - A fault on which the two blocks slide
horizontally past one another, commonly connecting two past one another. The San Andreas Fault is an example
mid-ocean ridges. of right lateral fault.

Subduction zone

- This refers to the plunging of one plate (e.g., the

Pacific) beneath another, into the mantle, due to
convergent motion.
- Typically characterized by volcanism, as a portion
of the plate (melting in the lower mantle) remerges
as volcanic lava

Subduction occurs along the following:

✓ west coast of South America at the boundary of

the Nazca and South American Plate Normal Fault - A dip-slip fault in which the block above
✓ Central America (boundary of the Cocos and the fault has moved downward relative to the block
Caribbean plates), below.
✓ Taiwan and Japan (boundary of the Philippines
and Eurasian plates), Observed in the Western United States Basin and Range
✓ North American Pacific Northwest (boundary of Province and along oceanic ridge system.
the Juan de Fuca and North American Plates)

▪ Stretching 40,000 km (24,000 miles) around the

circumference of the Pacific Ocean
▪ Plates that make up the Pacific basin are
generally subducting beneath continental
plates, causing subduction-zones volcanism in
the surface.
Thrust or Reverse Fault – A dip-slip fault in which the
▪ Nearly 80% of the earth’s volcanoes are found
upper block, above the fault plane, moves up and over
near the tectonic plate boundaries of the Pacific
the lower block.
Ocean.
▪ Tectonic Plates move relatively slowly (5 cm per Common in areas of compression, such as regions where
year is relatively fast) and irregularly, with one plate is being subducted under another as Japan.
relatively frequent small and only occasional
large earthquakes.
▪ violent motions produce the shaking that is felt
as an earthquake

FAULTING

Fault - a zone of the earth’s crust within which the two

sides have moved. Faults may be hundreds of miles long,
from one to over one hundred miles deep, and are
sometimes not readily apparent on the ground zone.
 Propagation of Seismic Disturbances

- For most earthquakes, shaking is the dominant

and most widespread agent of damage.

• Generally, earthquakes will be concentrated in the Shaking near the actual earthquake rupture lasts only
vicinity of faults. during the time when the fault ruptures, a process that
• Faults that are moving more rapidly than others will takes second or at most a few minutes.
tend to have a higher rate of seismicity,
The seismic waves generated by the rupture propagate
• Larger faults are more likely to produce a large event
long after the movement on the fault has stopped,
than others.
however, spanning the globe in about 20 minutes.
• However, earthquakes continue to occur on
"unknown" or "inactive" faults. Earthquake ground motions

Blind Thrust Faults – Hidden - powerful motions to cause damage only in the
near field (i.e., within a few tens of kilometers
Associated with folded topography in general, including
from the causative fault)
areas of lower and infrequent seismicity
- long period motions have caused significant
Potential for an earthquake exists in any area even if there damage at great distances, to selected lightly
are few or no earthquakes in the historic record. damped structures.

Focus or hypocenter - point within the Earth along the

rupturing geological fault where in earthquake originates

Epicenter - point on the Earth's surface directly above the

focus

Near-field means within one source dimension of the

epicenter.

Source dimension refers to the width or length of

faulting.
Far-field means beyond near-field.

Meizoseismal means the area of strong shaking and

damage.

Energy is radiated over a broad spectrum of frequencies

through the earth, in body waves and surface waves.

Body waves are two types:

1. P waves mean transmitting energy via push-pull These P waves can travel through both solid rocks, such
motion as volcanic magma or the water of the oceans.
2. S waves mean transmitting energy via shear
action at right angles to the direction of motion

Surface waves are also of two types:

1. Love waves mean horizontally oscillating

(analogous to body s waves)
2. Rayleigh waves mean vertically oscillating

P wave's motion is the same as that of sound wave in that,

as it spreads out, it alternatively pushes (compresses)
and pulls (dilates) the rock.

S waves propagate, it shears the rock sideways at right

angles to the direction of travel.

S waves cannot propagate in oceans and lakes

Love waves move the ground from side to side in a

horizontal plane but at right angles to the direction of
propagation.
LOVE WAVES travels faster than Rayleigh waves.

Do not propagate through water

Rayleigh waves move like rolling ocean waves. It can

affect the bodies of water such as lakes