Earthquake-Resistant Structures - Design, Assessment and Rehabilitation

Earthquake-resistant structures are the structures considered to withstand earthquakes. While no structure can be entirely resistant to damage from earthquakes, the goal of earthquake-resistant building is to create structures that fare better during seismic activity than their predictable counterparts. Earthquake-resistant structures are envisioned to resist the largest earthquake of a certain probability that is likely to occur at their location. This means the loss of life should be minimized by preventing collapse of the buildings for rare earthquakes while the loss of functionality should be limited for more frequent ones. To be earthquake proof, buildings, structures and their foundations need to be built to be resistant to sideways loads. The lighter the building is, the less the loads. This is particularly so when the weight is higher up. They must be strong enough to take the loads. They must be tied in to any framing, and reinforced to take load in their weakest direction. They must not fall apart and must remain in place after the worst shock waves so as to retain strength for the aftershocks. Currently, there are several design philosophies in earthquake engineering, making use of experimental results, computer simulations and observations from past earthquakes to offer the required performance for the seismic threat at the site of interest. These range from appropriately sizing the structure to be strong and ductile enough to survive the shaking with an acceptable damage, to equipping it with base isolation or using structural vibration control technologies to minimize any forces and deformations. This book highlights on seismic-resistance design of masonry and reinforced concrete structures to be constructed in addition to safety assessment, strengthening and rehabilitation of existing structures in contrast to earthquake loads. This book focuses on earthquake-resistant structures, such as, buildings, bridges and liquid storage tanks. It covers topics in the field of earthquake engineering. The book provides the contemporary topics on recent progress in earthquake-resistant structures and a helpful tool for graduate students, researchers and practicing structural engineers.