Issues and Structural Design Challenges for

Earthquake Resistant Buildings

Eshana Jain and Mayank Chaurasia

Abstract  Of the 500,000 or so discernible earthquakes that fall out on Planet

Earth each year, people “feel” about 100,000 of them and about 100 are the roots
of damage. Although most earthquakes are middling in size and catastrophic
potential, a severe earthquake periodically strikes a community that is not
adequately prepared and thousands of lives and billions of currency in economic
investment are lost. Why earthquakes occur? The most important earthquakes
occur close to borders of tectonic plates. The movement of these plates is opposed
by friction until the stresses developed between them become so high near the
epicenter, they tend to move. The seismic waves are generated in the ground which
propagates over the earth’s surface creating movement at bases of the structures.
A few earthquakes have their origin at the interiors of the plates called fault lines.
Such types of earthquakes transmit lower level of energy but can be destructive in
places closer to the epicenter.
The earthquakes can be resisted by two ways: 1) the structures should be
made of efficiently large sections that are subjected to only large elastic stresses.
2) The structures should be made of smaller sections which are subjected to plastic
stresses. The structure designed according to the first option will be heavier and
may not provide safety margin for the earthquake rescuing actions. Experiences
show that steel structures behave well when subjected to earthquake. The steel
structures are ductile providing extended deformation capacity. Their flexible
nature along with low weight provides better resistance to seismic waves.
The mankind has been experimenting restlessly to construct earthquake
resistant structures to reduce the destruction caused by earthquakes. It has been

Eshana Jain (y)

Student, Dept. of Architecture and Planning, MANIT, Bhopal
e-mail:eshana93@gmail.com
Mayank Chaurasia
Student, Dept. of Architecture and Planning, MANIT, Bhopal
© Bloomsbury Publishing India Pvt Ltd 2015
V. Matsagar (ed.), Materials, Design and Testing
ISBN 978-93-84898-71-7 3807
3808 Eshana Jain et al.

able to achieve success in constructing earthquake proof buildings but the issues
with these structures still question their stability. Buildings are scarcely built to
engineering standards and are hopelessly insubstantial in the grip of such a strong
earthquake. Experience in past earthquakes has demonstrated that many common
buildings and typical methods of construction lack basic resistance to earthquake
forces. The challenges of the earthquake resistant structure are more profoundly
faced by the developing nations, their inadequacy and poor access to the advanced
technology, resources and knowledge add to the devastating effects of the
earthquakes. In addition to poor coordination between the related departments,
maintenance issues and neglected attitude of the concerned authorities and the
people, the uneven performance of the code-compliant buildings is leading to
catastrophic results. It has been estimated that nearly 70% new steel structures
suffered brittle fracture in Northridge shakes, adding to it more than 10% of steel
structures collapsed in Kobe. In efficient work force, poor education systems
neglecting the earthquake engineering and no proper regulation of building codes
and standards also lead to complicated construction problems. In most cases
this confrontations can be achieved by backing simple, economical principles
of quality building construction practice. Cohesion to these simple rules will
not avert all damage in middling or large earthquakes, but life threatening
crumbles should be prevented, and limited damage to repairable proportions.
Altering the education system along with the improvements on various fronts
simultaneously-the up gradation of the building codes and the development of
the more affective approach and guidelines for existing buildings. The essential
features of earthquake resistant buildings: stable foundations, regularity, ductility
and toughness, adequate stiffness, redundancy and ruggedness are to be taken care
of while designing and constructing the structures. The type of soil and resonance
phenomenon also plays an imperative role during the construction of earthquake
proof structures, hence should not be neglected. Proper testing of the materials
and the structure is also required.
RPS (Retrofitting Promotion System), structures of uniform reform, more
advanced technologies are being deployed which have proved to have reduced
the destruction remarkably.
This paper aims to present the essential of seismic design of the earthquake
resistant structures and is intended to be used by architects and other types
of engineers; its main aim is to increase the knowledge about the dictum of
earthquake resistant design and discuss the various sorts of issues and challenges
especially about those that should be respected during initial conceptual design
of the building. By this way we can embark on the problem of constructing an
earthquake resistant structure from another end, by trying to circumvent the bad
structure layouts already during the inceptive design phase.

Keywords  Catastrophic • Insubstantial • Earthquake • Seismic.

Issues and Structural Design Challenges for Earthquake Resistant Buildings 3809

1 Introduction
Earthquakes past experience has demonstrated that many common buildings and
typical technique of construction dearth basic resistance to earthquake forces.
Mostly, it has been seen in that this resistance can be attained by following simple
and affordable principles of good building construction practice. These concepts
fall into assorted broad categories which includes, planning and layout of the
building intricating consideration of the location of spaces, vertical supports
like walls, openings such as doors and windows and the number of floors, etc.
At this stage, site and foundation facet should also be considered. Layout and
basic design of the structural framing system with special surveillance to enhance
lateral resistance, and consideration of highly loaded and critical sections with
equipping of reinforcement as required.
After responding to such events, there have been ventures to mitigate
devastating effects of these disasters and hazards. Results of such endeavors are
very encouraging in developed countries but unfortunately and miserably poor
in developing countries because of the lack of the knowledge, technology and
economy. Mitigation of the devastating destruction caused by earthquakes is of
dominant requirements in many parts of the world. Since earthquakes are so far
unstoppable and unpredictable, the only option with us is to design and build
the structures which are earthquake resistant and which can withstand during the
earthquake.
Accordingly attempts have been made in this direction all around the world.
This is proved by minimal destruction generally without any loss of life when
moderate to severe earthquake strikes the developed countries, whereas even a
moderate earthquake cause’s wide spread destruction in developing countries as
it has been observed in recent earthquake in Japan. Keeping in mind the huge
loss of livelihood and property in past earthquakes, it has become an intense
topic worldwide to research and to understand the reasons of such failures and
experiencing the useful lessons to mitigate the recapitulation of such destruction.
If buildings are built earthquake resistant at its first place (as is being done in
developed countries) the destruction caused by earthquakes will be mitigated
most effectively. The professionals involved in the design/construction of such
structures are structural/civil engineers/architects, who are responsible for
building and designing earthquake resistant structures and keeping the society at
large in a safe and healthy environment.

2 Issues
Haiti was struck with an earthquake of 7.0M magnitude on January10, 2010,
rendering around 1.5 million people homeless and killing more than 230,000 people.
These numbers were far more than the causalities caused by the earthquake of
same magnitude in San Francisco. The reasons behind such astonishing difference
3810 Eshana Jain et al.

were devastating. The buildings were barely built according to the engineering
standards and were hopelessly fragile in the grip of such a strong earthquake. This
is a major problem in the developing countries. Improper construction techniques,
faulty designs, absence of skilled workforce and lack of technology make the
building vulnerable to earthquakes. Many a time building codes and standards
are not followed strictly leading to weak structural framework which becomes
incapable of supporting the building during earthquake. Weak joints between
the structural members like walls, beams, columns, roofs and slabs result in the
movement of these components in different directions with different velocities
which further leads to the separation of these components, the building collapses.
One of the major components behind building failure is the mass of the building.
Greater the mass of the building, more lateral force is exerted. Inappropriate and
poor quality of construction materials used either due to lack of knowledge or
economic factors are posing a great threat to the buildings in earthquake prone
areas.

3  Structural Design and Construction Features

Before Designing or While Designing an Earthquake Resistant Building, several
characteristics has to be kept in mind to ensure that they will behave adequately
in indestructible earthquake.
This includes:
•  Stable Foundations
•  Continuous Load Paths
•  Regularity
•  Redundancy
•  Ductility and Toughness
•  Adequate Stiffness and Toughness
•  Ruggedness
In areas of highest seismic risk (i.e., where the strongest earthquakes may
occur) and for the most important structures in those areas, the project requires
inclusion of all of these features in the design and construction of buildings and
other structures. In areas of lower seismic risk and for less important structures,
the project permits some of these features to be neglected if the structures are
designed stronger.

4  Stable Foundations
In addition to being able to support a structure’s weight without excessive
settlement, the foundation system must be able to resist earthquake-induced
overturning forces and be capable of transferring large lateral forces between the
structure and the ground. Foundation systems also must be capable of resisting
Issues and Structural Design Challenges for Earthquake Resistant Buildings 3811

both transient and permanent ground deformations without inducing excessively

large displacements in the supported structures. On sites that are subject to
liquefaction or lateral spreading, it is important to provide vertical bearing support
for the foundations beneath the liquefiable layers of soil. This often will require
deep foundations with drilled shafts or driven piles. Because surface soils can
undergo large lateral displacements during strong ground shaking, it is important
to tie together the individual foundation elements supporting a structure so
that the structure is not torn apart by the differential ground displacements. A
continuous mat is an effective foundation system to resist such displacements.
When individual pier or spread footing foundations are used, it is important to
provide reinforced concrete grade beams between the individual foundations so
that the foundations move as an integral unit. Among the most important advanced
techniques of earthquake resistant design and construction are base isolation and
energy dissipation devices.

5  Base Isolation
It is easiest to see this principle at
work by referring directly to the
most widely used of these advanced
techniques, which is known as base
isolation. A base isolated structure
is supported by a series of bearing
pads which are placed between
the building and the building’s
foundation.(See Figure 1) A variety
of different types of base isolation
bearing pads have now been
developed. For our example, we’ll
discuss lead–rubber bearings. These
are among the frequently–used
types of base isolation bearings.
A lead–rubber bearing is made
from layers of rubber sandwiched
together with layers of steel. In
the middle of the bearing is a solid
lead “plug.” On top and bottom, the
bearing is fitted with steel plates
which are used to attach the bearing
to the building and foundation. The
bearing is very stiff and strong in the
vertical direction, but flexible in the
Fig. 1 Base Isolation Techniques.
horizontal direction.
3812 Eshana Jain et al.

6  Energy Dissipation Devices

The second of the major new techniques for improving the earthquake resistance
of buildings also relies upon damping and energy dissipation, but it greatly extends
the damping and energy dissipation provided by lead–rubber bearings.
The building will dissipate energy either by undergoing large scale movement
or sustaining increased internal strains in elements such as the building’s columns
and beams. Both of these eventually result in varying degrees of damage. So, by
equipping a building with additional devices which have high damping capacity,
we can greatly decrease the seismic energy entering the building, and thus
decrease building damage.
The large number of damping devices that have been developed can be
grouped into three broad categories:
• Friction Dampers– these utilize frictional forces to dissipate energ
• Metallic Dampers– utilize the deformation of metal elements within the
damper
• Viscoelastic Dampers– utilize the controlled shearing of solids
• Viscous Dampers– utilized the forced movement (orificing) of fluids
within the damper.

Fig 2. Damping Devices and Bracing System.

Damping devices are usually installed as part of bracing systems. Above

figure shows one type of damper–brace arrangement, with one end attached to a
column and one end attached to a floor beam. Primarily, this arrangement provides
the column with additional support.

7  Continuous Load Path

It is very important that all parts of a building or structure, including non-structural
components, be tied together to provide a continuous path that will transfer the
inertial forces resulting from ground shaking from the point of origination to the
ground. If all the components of a building or structure are not tied together in
this manner, the individual pieces will move independently and can pull apart,
allowing partial or total collapse to occur. Figure 3 shows the near total collapse
Issues and Structural Design Challenges for Earthquake Resistant Buildings 3813

of a concrete tilt-up structure near Los Angeles that occurred in the 1971 San
Fernando earthquake. This collapse occurred because the exterior concrete walls,
which supported the structure’s wood-framed roof, were not adequately connected
to the roof; under the influence of strong shaking, the walls pulled away, allowing
both the walls and roof to collapse. If structures are properly tied together to
provide a continuous load path, damage like this can be avoided.

Fig. 3  Collapse of a tilt up building in 1971 San Fernando Earthquake.

8 Regularity
A structure is “regular” if the distribution of its mass, strength, and stiffness is such
that it will sway in a uniform manner when subjected to ground shaking – that is,
the lateral movement in each story and on each side of the structure will be about
the same. Regular structures tend to dissipate the earthquake’s energy uniformly
throughout the structure, resulting in relatively light but well-distributed damage.
In an irregular structure, however, the damage can be concentrated in one or a few
locations, resulting in extreme local damage and a loss of the structure’s ability to
survive the shaking. Figure 4 shows the Imperial County Services Building in El
Centro, California, an irregular structure that was damaged by the 1979 Imperial
Valley earthquake.
This six-story structure had several types of irregularity including end shear
walls that stopped below the second floor and a first story with less strength and
stiffness than the stories above. As a result, earthquake energy dissipation and
damage were concentrated in the first story columns, a condition that could not
be repaired and required demolition of the building after the earthquake. In a
more severe earthquake, this type of damage could have caused the building to
collapse.
3814 Eshana Jain et al.

Fig. 4 Imperial County Services Building, California. The photo on the right side shows the
crushed columns at the base of the building.

9 Redundancy
As noted above, for economic reasons, it reflects a design philosophy that
anticipates damage to buildings and other structures as a result of strong earthquake
shaking. If all of a structure’s strength and resistance is concentrated in only
one or a few elements, the structure will not have any residual strength if these
elements are seriously damaged and it could collapse. If a structure is redundant, a
relatively large number of elements participate in providing a structure’s strength
and, if only a few are badly damaged, the remaining elements may have adequate
residual strength to prevent collapse. This can be thought of as not putting all of
your earthquake-resistant eggs in one basket.

10  Ductility and Toughness

Ductility and toughness are structural properties that relate to the ability of a
structural element to sustain damage when overloaded while continuing to carry
load without failure. These are extremely important properties for structures
designed to sustain damage without collapse.
Most structural elements are designed to provide sufficient strength to
support anticipated loads without failure and enough stiffness so that they will
not deflect excessively under these loads. If such an element is subjected to a
load substantially larger than it was designed to carry, it may fail in an abrupt
manner, losing load-carrying capacity and allowing the structure to collapse.
Masonry and concrete, for example, will crush when overloaded in compression
and will crack and pull apart when placed in tension or shear. Wood will crush
when overloaded in compression, will split when overloaded in shear, and will
Issues and Structural Design Challenges for Earthquake Resistant Buildings 3815

break when overloaded in tension. Steel will buckle if overloaded in compression

and will twist when loaded in bending if not properly braced but will yield when
overloaded in tension.
In masonry and concrete structures, steel is used in the form of reinforcing
bars that are placed integrally with the masonry and concrete. When reinforced
masonry and concrete elements are loaded in bending or shear, the steel reinforcing
bars will yield in tension and continue to carry load, thus protecting the masonry
and concrete from failure. In structures of all types, ductility and toughness are
achieved by proportioning the structure so that some members can yield to protect
the rest of the structure from damage.

Fig. 5 Failure of an unreinforced masonry wall in a building in Santa Cruz, California ,

Loma Prieta Earthquake (1989).

11  Adequate Stiffness and Strength

Strong earthquake shaking will induce both vertical and lateral forces in a structure.
The lateral forces that tend to move structures horizontally have proven to be
particularly damaging. If a structure has inadequate lateral stiffness or strength,
these lateral forces can produce large horizontal displacements in the structure
and potentially cause instability. Figure 6 shows large permanent deformation
in the first story of a four-story apartment building in the Marina District of San
Francisco, California, damaged by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Greater
strength and stiffness at the first story would have prevented this damage.
3816 Eshana Jain et al.

Fig. 6 First story of an apartment building in California, Loma Prieta Earthquake(1989).

12 Ruggedness
Ruggedness is a property of some mechanical and electrical equipment and other
non-structural building components that permits these items to remain functional
after experiencing strong shaking. A rugged piece of equipment will have adequate
structural strength and will be composed of components that do not lose their
ability to properly perform their intended functions when shaken. Ruggedness
of equipment usually can be demonstrated only by subjecting the equipment to
shaking, either in a real earthquake or using special laboratory devices (called
shake tables) that simulate the shaking induced by earthquakes.
As the seismic waves travel through the earth, they get filtered in different
ways by different types of soil. The ground below the buildings plays a significant
role in the construction process. The bedrock absorb more energy than the
sandy soils and landfills, hence least effects are absorbed on buildings built on
bedrocks. A softer soil behaves a little like quicksand during an earthquake if
there are traces of water in it. The loss in the strength of the soil due to strong
squeeze leads to the process called liquefaction resulting in the sinking of the
building which often topples. The earthquake is particularly devastating when the
frequency of the seismic waves matches the natural frequency of the buildings.
This is called resonance phenomenon. When such a phenomenon occurs, multiple
waves at resonance frequency pass through the buildings leading to destructive
consequences.

13 Conclusion
Earthquakes have caused a great loss of human life and the resources over time
and will continue to do so if unchecked. There is a dire need for the developed
Issues and Structural Design Challenges for Earthquake Resistant Buildings 3817

nations to help the developing and under developed nations to combat their
problems of technology, economic factors and skilled workforce. The system of
Retrofitting Promotion should be devised by the governments of various nations.
Such a system guarantees a portion of the building repair and reconstruction
expenses to the owner if he has followed the retrofitting rules and regulations.
The educational system needs to be improved and upgraded, covering earthquake
engineering as an important part of its curriculum. But in order to achieve the
efficiency of buildings towards resisting earthquakes immediate steps have to be
taken to upgrade and improve the building codes and standards. People need to
understand the phenomenon of earthquake and make effective improvements in
the construction methods.

14. References
1. IAEE Manual/ Chapter 3/ General Concepts of Earthquake Resistant Design.
2. Earthquake-Resistant Design Concepts An Introduction to the NEHRP Recommended
Seismic Provisions for New Buildings and Other Structures
FEMA P-749 / December 2010
3. http://mceer.buffalo.edu/infoservice/reference_services/adveqdesign.asp
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Imperial_County_Services_
building_damage_1979.jpg
http://articles.architectjaved.com/earthquake_resistant_structures/files/2010/06/base_
isolation.jpg
http://www.eqclearinghouse.org/2011-10-23-eastern-turkey/files/2011/10/DSC_0112-
copy.jpg
http://www.iitk.ac.in/nicee/wcee/article/13_927.pdf
http://peer.berkeley.edu/course_modules/eqrd/index.htm?c227top.htm&227cont.
htm&Intro/intro2.htm
4. Earthquake Resistant Steel Structures
Arcelor Mittal
5. Taipei Project Review And Management
By KTRT Joint Venture
6. Structural Developments In Tall Buildings: Current Trends and Future Prospects
By - Mir M. Ali† and Kyoung Sun Moon,
Architectural Science Review Volume 50.3, pp 205-223
7. Affordable Solution for Earthquake Resistant Building Construction in Haiti By:
Dawang Sherpa
Earthquake Resistant Building Construction - 1
8. Indian Standard
“Criteria For Earthquake Resistant Design of Structures
Part 1 General Provisions And Buildings”.
8. Earthquake resistant/Earthquake Proof and Resistant Building Structures REIDsteel.htm