Waves in Solids

Earthquakes
Professor K. W. Chow
Department of Mechanical Engineering
The University of Hong Kong

Destruction of the rail transportation system in Kobe in

1996 Kobe Earthquake
[Courtesy of Michiko Igarashi, Asahi Shinbun]

Devastating Waves in Solids Background

2008 Sichuan Earthquake
Casualties:
69,180 confirmed dead
474,412 injured
17,460 listed as missing

Economic loss
around US $200 billion

(AP Photo/Nicky Loh, POOL)

(Extracted from Wikipediea)

From McGuire
(2002), Raging
Planet

Modern Idea about Earthquakes

Modern space exploration technology found no
catfish, nor frog beneath our Earth. Hence, what
our ancestors thought might not be correct.
Modern ideas about the causes of earthquakes
have a history of only about 200 years.
It is now generally agreed that an earthquake is
the result of a sudden release of energy in the
Earths surface as seismic waves.

Basic Geography: What is inside the Earth?

The crust: The crust is the
outermost layer of the
Earth. It is relatively thin
compared to other
layers.
The mantle: The mantle
contains molten rocks. It
is more mobile than
the crust.
The core: The earth has a
solid inner core and a
liquid outer core. The
core is extremely hot,
with a temperature in
the range of 2000
7000 degree Celsius!!

Tectonic Plates

The crust and the upper mantle make up a thin skin on

the surface of our planet, called lithosphere.
However, this skin does not exist as one single piece,
and instead is made up of many pieces like a puzzle
covering the surface of the earth (the tectonic plates).
The plate boundaries are called faults.

(Earth's tectonic
plates. Plate
boundaries are
shown in red.
Courtesy of
Windows to the
Universe,
http://www.window
s.ucar.edu)

Locations of Earthquakes
Most earthquakes around the world occur on
these faults.

(Extracted from Bolt,

2004, P.115)

Why do the tectonic plates move?

The hot core causes molten rock in the mantle layer to
flow as convection cell.
A convection cell is formed when the hot material rises,
cools and eventually sinks towards the center. When the
cooled materials approach the core, it is heated by the
core and rises again.
The convection cells drag the tectonic plates into motion.
The plates are thus
constantly moving but at a
very low speed
(a few cm per year).(Courtesy of
Windows to the
Universe,
http://www.windows
.ucar.edu)

Why do earthquakes happen?

Although the tectonic plates keep on moving

slowly, the plate boundaries are rough and the
motion in that region is hampered or severely
restricted.
The rocks along the boundaries are pushing
against each other but not moving. Hence,
pressure or stress is built up (or, technically,
some potential energy is stored).
When this stress is sufficiently high, the rocks
along the fault rupture, and the plates suddenly
slip past one another (rather violently).
Energy stored is released as seismic
waves. Earthquake
occurs.
(Extracted from
http://www.geo.mt
u.edu/UPSeis/why.
html)

Types of seismic waves

The seismic energy travels through the Earth as three types
of wave:
P wave
(Primary wave)

S wave
(Secondary wave)

Surface wave
(Rayleigh wave)
(Extracted from McGuire,
2002, P.109)

Body
Wave

Surface
Wave

P waves
Animation:

Extracted from http://www.geo.mtu.edu/UPSeis/waves.html

P waves
A body wave it can propagate through the
Earths interior.
A longitudinal wave The direction of wave
propagation is parallel to the particle motion.
They propagate by repeated squeezing and
stretching of the rock (and liquid) through which
they move, just like sound waves squeezing and
stretching the air.
It is the fastest kind of seismic wave.
It moves at a speed of, roughly, 5.5km per
second (about eight times faster than the
Concorde).

P waves
When P waves reach Earths surface,
some of the energy enters the air above
the ground and becomes a sound wave.
Sometimes animals can hear the P waves
of an earthquake, and hence escape from
the more destructive S waves and surface
waves following the P waves. That is why
dogs commonly begin barking hysterically
just before an earthquake hits (more
technically, before the S waves and
surface waves arrive).

 Animation:

S waves

Extracted from http://www.geo.mtu.edu/UPSeis/waves.html

S waves
A body wave it can propagate through the Earths
interior, but NOT the LIQUID outer core
They also propagate by distorting (shearing) the
elastic medium through which they pass by changing
the shape of the material.
Since liquids have nearly no strength or elasticity in
shearing motion. Therefore, the S wave cannot travel
through the outer core of the Earth, which is a liquid.
An S wave is more destructive as it moves rock
particles up and down.

Propagation of sesimic waves

(Extracted from Bolt,

2004, P.115)

Surface Waves (Rayleigh Wave)

Animation:

Extracted from http://www.geo.mtu.edu/UPSeis/waves.html

Surface Wave (Love Wave)

Animation

Extracted from http://www.geo.mtu.edu/UPSeis/waves.html

Surface Waves
There are two kinds of surface waves,
Rayleigh wave and Love wave.
The conditions for the existence of Love
wave are quite restrictive and the
damages caused are relatively small.
Hence only the Rayleigh wave will be
discussed here.

Surface Waves
Surface waves travel only through the
crust.
They are of lower frequencies than body
waves.
Surface waves usually arrive after body
wave as they take the longer route around
the planets surface.
However, surface waves are almost
entirely responsible for the damage and
destruction in an earthquake.

Surface Waves
Most of the shaking felt from
an earthquake is due to the
Rayleigh wave.
It causes the ground surface
to roll like the surface of the
ocean, which makes the
bridges and skyscrapers
sway back and forth.
It is particularly effective at
damaging railway lines,
roads, gas pipes, power
cables and communication
lines. Destruction of the rail transportation system in Kobe in
1996 Kobe Earthquake
[Courtesy of Michiko Igarashi, Asahi Shinbun]

How to measure an earthquake?

Almost 2000 years ago, the
first earthquake instrument was
developed in China by Chang
Heng ( ).
When the ground moved, balls
located favourably to the
direction of ground movement
would drop out of the dragons
mouth and fall into the mouth
of a frog below.
By noting the specific balls
dislodged, it was an indication
of the direction of the
earthquake.
This suggests that Chang Heng
had some idea about the
spread of earthquake energy
along specific paths.

Modern Seismographs
Today, seismographs or seismometers are used to
measure and record the ground motion.
The records produced are called seismograms.

A Delaware Geologic
Survey Seismometer
location
Extracted from
http://www.lhup.edu/
mkhalequ/Fieldtrip/pi
ctures/Seismograph
@DGS.JPG

Principle of a seismograph
The basic principle of modern
seismographs is easy to
understand. It works like a
pendulum. The seismograph
has its supporting frame set
firmly in the ground, and a
heavy weight hanged freely.
During an earthquake, the
supporting frame is shaken by
seismic waves. However, inertia
keeps the vibration of the
weight to a minimum. A spring
or string is also added to help
absorb all the movement.
The relative motion can then be
recorded as a wiggly line by
pen and ink on paper wrapped
around a rotating drum.

(Extracted from
http://www.thetech.org/exhibits/onlin
e/quakes/seismo/)

Seismograph
North-south, east-west and vertical motions of the
ground are measured by attaching the mass in
slightly different ways.

(Extracted from
http://www.alancol
ville.com/quakes/s
eismograph_vert.j
pg)

How to understand a seismogram?

A seismogram appears to be a complicated series of wavy
lines.
However, with careful observations, important information
such as the source location, magnitude and source properties
of an earthquake can be extracted from seismograms.

Extracted from http://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentoring/project_ideas/Geo_img025.jpg

Understanding Seismogram
Several principles will help us to understand these
seismograms.
First, an earthquake radiates predominantly of three types
of wave: P waves, S waves and surface waves. You can
find that almost always each kind of wave is present on a
seismogram.

Extracted from http://www.wwnorton.com/college/geo/egeo/flash/8_3.swf)

Understanding Seismogram

Since P waves are the fastest seismic waves, they will usually be
the first ones that a seismograph records. Hence, the left-most set
of wiggles is the P waves.
The next set of seismic waves on the seismogram will be the S
waves, which are usually bigger than P waves.
The surface waves (Rayleigh waves and Love waves) are often the
last ones to be recorded as they travel a little slower than S waves.
Surface waves have a lower frequency which means that the
wiggles will appear to be more spread out on the seismogram.

Extracted from
http://www.wwnorton.
com/college/geo/ege
o/flash/8_3.swf)

How to locate an earthquake?

We are able to locate the source of an
earthquake by analyzing the seismograms.
The idea is simple but requires some
knowledge about the seismic waves.
You learned that an earthquake will radiate
P and S waves. P waves are faster than S
waves. It is this fact that allows us to locate
an earthquake rather easily.

How to locate an earthquake?

An analogy between P and S waves to lighting and
thunder will be helpful.
Light travels faster than sound, so you will first see the
lightning before the thunder in a thunderstorm. If you are
close to the storm, the thunder will boom right after the
lightning, but if you are far away from the lightning, the
thunder will arrive at you for a longer time lag.
In other words, the further you are from the storm, the
longer the time lag between
the lightning and the thunder
will be.

Extracted from
Wikipedia

How to locate an earthquake?

P waves are like the lightning while S waves are like the
thunder.
If you are close to the earthquake, the S waves will be
just behind the P waves. If you are far away, there will be
more time between the two types of waves.

(Extracted
from
www.iris.edu
/edu/onepag
ers/no6.pdf)

How to locate an earthquake?

Hence, we can tell how close

we are to the source of an
earthquake by looking at the
amount of time between the
P and S waves (S-P time)
on a seismogram.
The scientists have
constructed nomograms like
the one shown below to
convert the S-P time into the
distance between the source
and the seismic station.
(Extracted from
http://www.geo.mtu.edu/UP
Seis/why.html)

Example
For example,
the S-P time in the
seismogram above
is around 24 s.
According to the
nomogram, the
distance between
the source and this
seismic station is
around 220 km.

How to locate an earthquake?

Although we can tell that we are 220km away
from the earthquake source, we cannot tell in
what direction from the seismograph the
earthquake was.
In other words, we can draw a circle on a map
around the station with the radius of the circle
being the determined distance to the
earthquake. We know that the earthquake lies
somewhere on the circle, but we are yet to know
the precise location!

How to locate an earthquake?

Triangulation

It is called triangulation since it takes three seismographs to locate

an earthquake.
From the three seismograms, three different circles with different
radius can be drawn on the map.
The radius of each is the distance from that station to the source of
the earthquake.
The intersection of those three circles is then the exact location of
the earthquake.

(Extracted from
www.iris.edu/edu/o
nepagers/no6.pdf)

Richters Scale

How do we quantify an earthquake?

The Richter magnitude scale, or
sometimes called the local magnitude
ML scale, assigns a single number to
express the seismic energy released
by an earthquake.
For example, the 2008 Sichuan
Earthquake was an 8 earthquake on
Richter scale, and the 2004 Indian
Ocean earthquake causing the
devastating tsunami in Southeast
Asia was a 9.3 earthquake on Richter
scale.
Charles F. Richter, renowned
seismologist, a professor emeritus
at the California Institute of
Technology (Caltech)
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learnin
g/topics/people/int_richter.php

Richters Scale
The Richter magnitude of an earthquake is
determined from the logarithm of the amplitude
of waves recorded by seismograms (produced
by seismographs or seismometers).
Richter magnitude is based on the maximum
amplitude of the largest waveform. For local
earthquakes of moderate size, this turned out to
be the S-wave.

Conclusions
Earthquakes result from movement of large
scale plates on the surface of the earth
against each other.
As a result a huge amount of energy is
released and this energy is spread around
the epicenter through a sequence of elastic
waves.
These waves consist of the P-, S- and
surface waves.

Conclusions (contd)
By ingenious quantitative measurements, the
location and strengths of earthquakes can
be determined.
One useful additional source of reference for
layman is the webpage of the US
Geological Survey:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/