Cursory seismic drift assessment for buildings in moderate seismicity regions

This paper outlines a methodology to assess the seismic drift of reinforced concrete buildings with limited structural and geotechnical information. Based on the latest and the most advanced research on predicting potential near-field and far field earthquakes affecting Hong Kong, the engineering response spectra for both rock and soil sites are derived. A new step-by-step procedure for displacement-based seismic hazard assessment of building structures is proposed to determine the maximum inter-storey drift demand for reinforced concrete buildings. The primary information required for this assessment is only the depth of the soft soil above bedrock and the height of the building. This procedure is further extended to assess the maximum chord rotation angle demand for the coupling beam of coupled shear wall or frame wall structures, which may be very critical when subjected to earthquake forces. An example is provided to illustrate calibration of the assessment procedure by using actual engineering structural models.

Katla volcano in Iceland, potential hazards and risk assessment

Katla in Iceland is one of the famous volcanoes of the world for the ferocity of the eruptions and associated j?kulhlaups. The major potential hazards are the j?kulhlaup floods that can hit three different floodplains, an associated tsunami that can harass the south coast of Iceland and a volcanic ash cloud that endangers civil aviation on an unknown scale. The eruption probabilities in Katla and the two others known eruption sectors of the Myrdalsj?kull glacier are reassessed and a 2013 risk curve for the next eruption in Katla is found. The probability of tsunami heights is estimated and the risk from other tsunami sources in the Atlantic Ocean is included. For the danger to aviation, two classes of eruption are defined: an EYF (EYjaFjallaj?kull) eruption class that does not produce volcanic plumes that are dangerous for air traffic in Europe, and another stronger class, the KAT (KATla) class, producing plumes that most likely are dangerous for air traffic in Europe. Overall probabilities for an EYF class eruption in next year and a KAT class eruption in the next 5 years are estimated.

Effect of Heterogeneities in Soil on Spatial Variation of Peak Ground Acceleration

In the proximity of an active fault, spatial variation of peak ground motion is significantly affected by the faulting mechanism. It has been observed that near fault ground motions consists of different characteristics compared to the far fault ground motions. Near fault records, in the distance range of less than 100 m from the faults are not available except for few cases. Therefore numerical simulation of ground motions for such near-fault situations is necessary. In addition to the understanding of the phenomenon of near fault ground motion there is a need to enhance our understanding of the possible potential hazard that can be caused due to the future rupture activity by understanding the phenomenon of surface faulting. In this paper we propose numerical simulation based on discrete modeling to investigate the fault rupture propagation and its effect on the surface peak ground acceleration. In the present two dimensional study rupture propagation due to bedrock motion has been observed for different shear wave velocity. A model of size 1000× 150 m is selected for this purpose. It has been observed that as the stiffness of the media is decreasing, the affected surface is decreasing and also width of the shear crack zone is decreasing. Secondly, we attempted to study the ground motion on the surface due to the bedrock motion in presence of boulders in the soil media by keeping the boulder at different positions. We find that there is an increase in the shear zone as well as the PGA on the surface when the boulder is present on the foot wall and in the vicinity of the rupture zone. Finally, we performed the analysis using layered media and studied the affect of crack propagation and also the variation of peak accelerations. Findings from the study can be utilized to assess the damage potential of the near fault areas.

Effect of axial load and transverse reinforcements on the seismic performance of reinforced concrete columns

The aim of this research is to assess the seismic performance of reinforced concrete columns under different axial load and transverse reinforcement ratios. These two parameters are very important as for the ductility, strength, stiffness, and energy dissipation capacity for a given reinforced concrete column. Effects of variable axial load ratio and transverse reinforcement ratio on the seismic performance of reinforced concrete columns are thoroughly analyzed. The finite element computer program Seismo-Structure was used to perform the analysis of series of reinforced concrete columns tested by the second author and other researchers. In order to reflect the reality and grasp the actual behavior of the specimens, special attention was paid to select the models for concrete, confined concrete, and steel components. Good agreements were obtained between the experimental and the analytical results either for the lateral force-drift relationships or for the damage progress prediction at different stages of the loading.