Common questions

What is the purpose of weights in a building during an earthquake?

What is the purpose of weights in a building during an earthquake?

Earthquake forces are called lateral forces because their predominant effect is to apply horizontal loads to a building. Although earthquake waves do impart a vertical component of force to buildings, the weight of the building normally provides sufficient resistance.

What factors affect strength and stability for structures?

It is found that the primary factors affecting deep beam structure stability are deep beam thickness, cable pre-tension and cable spacing.

What are the effects of earthquake on structures?

The inertia forces can cause shearing of the structure which can concentrate stresses on the weak walls or joints in the structure resulting in failure or perhaps total collapse. Finally, more mass means higher inertia force that is why lighter buildings sustain the earthquake shaking better.

What causes the most structural damage during earthquakes?

Seismic damage in structures is caused either by lack of sufficient strength or lack of inelastic deformability. Lack of strength and/or deformability creates seismically deficient structures that often suffer significant damage during strong earthquakes.

How architectural features affect buildings during earthquakes?

Some buildings have reinforced concrete walls to carry the earthquake loads to the foundation. Buildings, in which these walls do not go all the way to the ground but stop at an upper level, are liable to get severely damaged during earthquakes.

How does technology make buildings more safe during an earthquake?

Shear walls are a useful building technology that helps to transfer earthquake forces. Made of panels, these walls help a building keep its shape during movement. Thus, the building is able to resist the larger forces of an earthquake while allowing designers more freedom to arrange building elements.

Why is stability important in a structure?

Failure occurs because of loads acting on the structure. A structure which will not topple over easily when acted upon by a load is said to be stable. This is very important because when the tilting force is removed, gravity pulls the structure back to its original position.

Why is structure stability important what might happen if a structure was not stable?

Furthermore, when a structure incapable of meeting the above requirement, geometry of structural component will change under compression, resulting in loss of ability to resist loading and it would be unstable. Instability can lead to catastrophic failure that must be accounted in design.

What are three factors that influence the magnitude of the earthquake load on a structure?

Earthquake load acts over the surface of a structure placed on ground or with adjacent building. Earthquake load depends on the following factors, 1) Seismic hazard, 2) Parameter of the structure and 3) Gravity load.

How do earthquakes affect buildings and property?

What sort of damage can an earthquake cause to a building or structure? Earthquakes and seismic activity cause structures to suffer substantial damage. They sink, or partially sink, down into the ground, cracks appear in walls, doors and windows jam and cease to work properly, and the ground itself can be weakened.

Which type of building structure is more resistant to earthquake forces?

A ductile building is able to bend and flex when exposed to the horizontal or vertical shear forces of an earthquake. Concrete buildings, which are normally brittle (relatively easy to break), can be made ductile by adding steel reinforcement.

Which shape of structure is more susceptible to earthquake *?

Mauro Sassu (n.d.) stated that the circular floor plan of vernacular buildings offers the best resistance to seismic forces, and a box- shaped building performs poorly with out-of-plane forces and separation at the wall corners.

What happens to a building during an earthquake?

When seismic waves shake the ground beneath a building at its resonance frequency, the structure will begin to sway back and forth. This concept can be demonstrated in the classroom using the BOSS Model Lite as a discrepant event demonstration to engage students in earthquake-engineered buildings.

How is passive earth pressure determined during an earthquake?

There are many unknown factors concerning the method for determining the passive earth pressure of cohesive soil during an earthquake.

How are magnitude and intensity of an earthquake related?

Magnitude and intensity are both related to the size of an earthquake, but they each measure different aspects. One is measured using seismometers; the others is felt.

When do you need a seismic design for a bridge?

For bridges classified as “essential” or “critical”, a two level seismic design is required: the SEE as defined above, except that the damage due to the earthquake is limited to minimal to moderate and limited service for the structure is expected after the earthquake, and the Functional Evaluation Earthquake (FEE).

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