Building structure &
Earthquake resistant capacity
YAN WENLI A9SJ2002
2010/05/07
Outline
 Building structure types
Adobe
Masonry
Reinforced Concrete
Steel
Timber
 Earthquake resistant capacity showed in earthquake
cases
1995/01/17 Hyogo-ken earthquake, Japan
1999/08/17 Kocaeli earthquake, Turkey
2003/12/26 Bam earthquake, Iran
2008/05/12 Wenchuan earthquake, China
Building structure I
Adobe
Raw material
 Sand
 Clay
 Manure
 Water
 Fibrous or organic material (sticks and/or straw)
Shaped into bricks using frames and dried in the sun
Building structure I
Advantage:
 Durable(account for some of the oldest extant
buildings on the planet)
 Great thermal mass(for living comfort)
Disadvantage:
 Susceptible to seismic damage
 Great weight of adobe bricks
Building structure II
Masonry
Raw material
 Brick
 Stone(marble, granite, travertine, limestone)
 Concrete Block
 Glass block
 tile
Building structure II
Advantage:
 Great thermal mass
 Heat resistance
 Resistance to projectiles
Disadvantage:
 degradation of wall surfaces due to extreme weather
 Heavy and easy to crack
Building structure III
Steel
Constituent
• Iron(mostly)
• Carbon(between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight)
• Other alloying elements(such as manganese, chromium,
vanadium, and tungsten)
Varying the amount of alloying elements and form of
their presence in the steel controls qualities such as the
hardness, ductility, and tensile strength of the resulting
steel.
Building structure III
Advantage:
 High strength
 Light weight
 Great ductility and toughness
Disadvantage:
 Expensive
 Vulnerable to fire
Building structure IV
Reinforced Concrete
concrete in which reinforcement bars ("rebars"),
reinforcement grids, plates or fibers have been
incorporated to strengthen the concrete in tension.
Building structure IV
Advantage:
 Enlarged tensile strength
 Durable
 Resistance of fire
Disadvantage:
 Expensive
 Technical difficulty
Building structure V
Timber
Timber framings refer to structures utilizing heavy
timbers jointed via pegged mortise and tenon joints.
Building structure V
Advantage:
 allowing great rapidity in erection on site and more
precise alignments. (an "average"-sized timberframe home can be erected within 2–3 days)
 Light weight
 Great Elastic property
Disadvantage:
 Poor prevention of capillary movement of water
 Burn easily
Earthquake archive I
 1995/01/17 Hyogo-ken earthquake, Japan
RC structure – not collapse easily
Earthquake archive I
 Fire-vulnerable timber structure should be paid
great attention, as fire usually take place together
with and earthquake.
Earthquake archive II
 1999/08/17 Kocaeli earthquake, Turkey
Earthquake archive III
 2003/12/26 Bam earthquake, Iran
Masonry structure
Earthquake archive IV
2008/05/12 Wenchuan earthquake, China
Expose “tofu-dregs projects” (jerry-built projects, lowquality construction, Chinese: 豆腐渣工程)
Building structure of reinforced concrete should have
good earthquake resistant capacity. However, in the
case that the steel bar is not thick enough, expected
strength can not be supported.
Conclusion
 In respect of earthquake resistant capacity, building
structures of steel and timber are the best.
 However, reinforced concrete is an eclectic choice
when taking into consideration the economic factor.
To be mentioned, it’s important to produce and
exploit high-quality RC rather than tofu-dreg
material.