Effects of Earthquake Faulting on Civil Engineering Structures

Ground motion characteristics, deformation and surface breaks of earthquakes depend upon the causative faults. Their effects on the seismic design of engineering structures are almost not considered in the present codes of design although there are attempts to include in some countries (i.e. USA, Japan, Taiwan, and Turkey). In this study, the authors first describe ground motions, crustal deformation and surface break observations caused by earthquakes having different faulting mechanism. Then some laboratory experiments were carried out to simulate the motions during normal and thrust faulting and their effects on model structures. And then, the effects of surface ruptures and deformations due to earthquake faulting on the response and stability engineering structures through observations in recent great earthquakes are presented. Finally, some recommendations for the design of structures with the consideration of permanent ground deformation in addition to ground shaking, which may be used in the development of seismic codes incorporating the effect of permanent deformation on structures, are proposed.

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Estimating co-seismic subsidence in the Hutt Valley resulting from rupture of the Wellington Fault, New Zealand

Bulletin of the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering ◽

10.5459/bnzsee.49.3.283-291 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 49 (3) ◽

pp. 283-291

Author(s):

Dougal B. Townsend ◽

John G. Begg ◽

Russ J. Van Dissen ◽

David A. Rhoades ◽

Wendy S. A. Saunders ◽

...

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Sea Level ◽

Ground Deformation ◽

Mitigation Strategies ◽

Societal Implications ◽

Vertical Deformation ◽

Ground Shaking ◽

Mean Values ◽

Permanent Ground Deformation ◽

Strong Ground

Ground deformation can contribute significantly to losses in major earthquakes. Areas that suffer permanent ground deformation in addition to strong ground shaking typically sustain greater levels of damage and loss than areas suffering strong ground-shaking alone. The lower Hutt Valley of the Wellington region, New Zealand, is adjacent to the active Wellington Fault. The long-term signal of vertical deformation there is subsidence, and the most likely driver of this is rupture of the Wellington Fault. In 1855 the Mw ~8.2 Wairarapa Earthquake resulted in uplift of the lower Hutt Valley area and created an expectation that future earthquakes would do the same. However, sediments beneath the lower Hutt Valley floor up to c. 220 thousand years old provide data that when combined with the international sea level curve demonstrate cumulative net subsidence of up to c. 155 m during that period. Recent refinement of rupture parameters for the Wellington Fault (and other faults in the region), based on new field data, has spurred us to reassess estimates of vertical deformation in the Hutt Valley that would result from rupture of the Wellington Fault. Using a logic tree framework, we calculate subsidence for an “average” Wellington Fault event of ~1.9 m near Petone, ~1.7m near Lower Hutt City, ~1.4 m near Seaview, and ~0 m in the Taita area. Such a distribution of vertical deformation would result in large areas of Alicetown-Petone and Moera-Seaview subsiding below sea level. We also calculate and present “minimum” and “maximum” credible subsidence values, which are approximately half and twice the mean values, respectively. This ground deformation hazard certainly has societal implications, and we are working with local and regional councils to develop a range of mitigation strategies.

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Adapting Hazus for seismic risk assessment in Canada

Canadian Geotechnical Journal ◽

10.1139/cgj-2013-0080 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 51 (2) ◽

pp. 217-222 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Miroslav Nastev

Keyword(s):

Natural Hazards ◽

Structural Damage ◽

Best Practice ◽

Ground Deformation ◽

Physical Damage ◽

Ground Shaking ◽

Emergency Managers ◽

Damage States ◽

Earthquake Model ◽

Permanent Ground Deformation

Although earthquakes have been recognised as major natural hazards with the potential to cause loss of life, property damage, and social and economic disruption in Canada, most risk and emergency managers still lack the necessary tools and guidance to adequately undertake rigorous risk assessments. Recently, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) has adopted Hazus, a standardized best-practice methodology developed by the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for estimating potential losses from common natural hazards, such as earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes. Hazus combines science, engineering knowledge, and mathematical modelling with geographic information systems technology to estimate physical damage and economic and social losses. Besides the ground shaking, the earthquake model considers landslide, liquefaction, and fault rupture susceptibilities. Depending on the severity of the resulting transient ground motion and permanent ground deformation, five potential damage states (none, slight, moderate, extensive, complete) are employed to estimate the amount of structural damage and consequent economic and social losses. This note reports some of the typical features of the recently adapted Hazus earthquake model, with an emphasis on the considerations of earthquake-induced hazards, and overviews the ongoing activities and potential challenges in implementing this model in Canada.

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Towards Robust Fragility Relations for Buried Segmented Pipe in Ground Strain Areas

Earthquake Spectra ◽

10.1193/032311eqs076m ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 31 (3) ◽

pp. 1839-1858 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Michael O'Rourke ◽

Evgueni Filipov ◽

Eren Uçkan

Keyword(s):

Wave Propagation ◽

Linear Function ◽

Ground Deformation ◽

Unit Length ◽

Ground Movement ◽

Seismic Fragility ◽

Ground Shaking ◽

Permanent Ground Deformation

Seismic fragility relations of buried segmented pipelines are currently defined in terms of pipe repairs per unit length as a function of some measure of ground shaking or ground movement. In some current relations, both wave propagation (WP) and permanent ground deformation (PGD) damage are addressed by combining the hazard into a measure of ground strain. One troubling aspect of these fragility relations is that each new event seems to provide new data that in some cases, are significantly different from existing relations. Herein, we investigate the robustness of these expressions by using new data from the 1999 M = 7.4 Turkey earthquake. A methodology is presented to calculate ground strains, by considering relative PGD along the axis of the pipeline. Results indicate that, for the strain/damage range of interest, a linear function (on a log-log scale) provides a relatively robust fragility relation for buried segmented pipes.

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Impacts of surface fault rupture on residential structures during the 2016 Mw 7.8 Kaikōura earthquake, New Zealand

Bulletin of the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering ◽

10.5459/bnzsee.52.1.1-22 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 52 (1) ◽

pp. 1-22 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Russ J. Van Dissen ◽

Timothy Stahl ◽

Andrew King ◽

Jarg R. Pettinga ◽

Clark Fenton ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Slope Failure ◽

Ground Deformation ◽

Local Strain ◽

Fault Rupture ◽

Surface Rupture ◽

Ground Shaking ◽

Lateral Offset ◽

Permanent Ground Deformation ◽

Fault Displacement ◽

Kaikoura Earthquake

Areas that experience permanent ground deformation in earthquakes (e.g., surface fault rupture, slope failure, and/or liquefaction) typically sustain greater damage and loss compared to areas that experience strong ground shaking alone. The 2016 Mw 7.8 Kaikōura earthquake generated ≥220 km of surface fault rupture. The amount and style of surface rupture deformation varied considerably, ranging from centimetre-scale distributed folding to metre-scale discrete rupture. About a dozen buildings – mainly residential (or residential-type) structures comprising single-storey timber-framed houses, barns and wool sheds with lightweight roofing material – were directly impacted by surface fault rupture with the severity of damage correlating with both local discrete fault displacement and local strain. However, none of these buildings collapsed. This included a house built directly atop a discrete rupture that experienced ~10 m of lateral offset. The foundation and flooring system of this structure allowed decoupling of much of the ground deformation from the superstructure thus preventing collapse. Nevertheless, buildings directly impacted by surface faulting suffered greater damage than comparable structures immediately outside the zone of surface rupture deformation. From a life-safety standpoint, all these buildings performed satisfactorily and provide insight into construction styles that could be employed to facilitate non-collapse performance resulting from surface fault rupture and, in certain instances, even post-event functionality.

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Damage to Civil Engineering Structures with an Emphasis on Rock Slope Failures and Tunnel Damage Induced by the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake

Journal of Disaster Research ◽

10.20965/jdr.2009.p0153 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 153-164 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Ö. Aydan ◽

◽

M. Hamada ◽

J. Itoh ◽

K. Okubo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Civil Engineering ◽

Ground Deformation ◽

Mitigation Measures ◽

Cut Slope ◽

Slope Failures ◽

Engineering Structures ◽

2008 Wenchuan Earthquake ◽

Civil Engineering Structures ◽

Permanent Ground Deformation ◽

Strong Ground

The Great Wenchuan (Sichuan) Earthquake of 2008 occurred in Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province, China, extensively damaging buildings and infrastructures, caused natural and cut slope failures, and over 85,000 people lost their lives. We present an overview of the damage to civil engineering structures, emphasizing slope failures and tunnel damage. Damage to civil engineering structures was due mainly to high strong ground motion and permanent ground deformation resulting from the earthquake fault’s diluted deformation front. After discussing damage to bridges and viaducts, we classify slope failures, landslides, and possible causative mechanisms. We then introduce slope-rehabilitation measures. And then damage to tunnels, which are generally resistant to earthquakes, are explained together with mitigation measures.

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Failure Analysis Of Buried Gas Pipelines Crossing Seismic Faults

Academic Perspective Procedia ◽

10.33793/acperpro.03.02.2 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 781-790

Author(s):

M. Rizwan Akram ◽

Ali Yesilyurt ◽

A.Can. Zulfikar ◽

F. Göktepe

Keyword(s):

Ground Deformation ◽

Warning System ◽

Strike Slip ◽

Gas Pipelines ◽

Steel Pipes ◽

Seismic Fault ◽

Fault Parameters ◽

Dip Angle ◽

Permanent Ground Deformation ◽

Recent Earthquakes

Research on buried gas pipelines (BGPs) has taken an important consideration due to their failures in recent earthquakes. In permanent ground deformation (PGD) hazards, seismic faults are considered as one of the major causes of BGPs failure due to accumulation of impermissible tensile strains. In current research, four steel pipes such as X-42, X-52, X-60, and X-70 grades crossing through strike-slip, normal and reverse seismic faults have been investigated. Firstly, failure of BGPs due to change in soil-pipe parameters have been analyzed. Later, effects of seismic fault parameters such as change in dip angle and angle between pipe and fault plane are evaluated. Additionally, effects due to changing pipe class levels are also examined. The results of current study reveal that BGPs can resist until earthquake moment magnitude of 7.0 but fails above this limit under the assumed geotechnical properties of current study. In addition, strike-slip fault can trigger early damage in BGPs than normal and reverse faults. In the last stage, an early warning system is proposed based on the current procedure.&nbsp;

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The 30 October 2020 Samos (Eastern Aegean Sea) Earthquake: effects of source rupture, path and local-site conditions on the observed and simulated ground motions

10.21203/rs.3.rs-215817/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Aybige Akinci ◽

Daniele Cheloni ◽

AHMET ANIL DINDAR

Keyword(s):

Ground Motion ◽

Structural Damage ◽

Ground Motions ◽

Aegean Sea ◽

Peak Ground Velocity ◽

Ground Shaking ◽

Local Site ◽

Eastern Aegean ◽

Motion Characteristics ◽

Eastern Aegean Sea

Abstract On 30 October 2020 a MW 7.0 earthquake occurred in the eastern Aegean Sea, between the Greek island of Samos and Turkey’s Aegean coast, causing considerable seismic damage and deaths, especially in the Turkish city of Izmir, approximately 70 km from the epicenter. In this study, we provide a detailed description of the Samos earthquake, starting from the fault rupture to the ground motion characteristics. We first use Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) and Global Positioning System (GPS) data to constrain the source mechanisms. Then, we utilize this information to analyze the ground motion characteristics of the mainshock in terms of peak ground acceleration (PGA), peak ground velocity (PGV), and spectral pseudo-accelerations. Modelling of geodetic data shows that the Samos earthquake ruptured a NNE-dipping normal fault located offshore north of Samos, with up to 2.5-3 m of slip and an estimated geodetic moment of 3.3 ⨯ 1019 Nm (MW 7.0). Although low PGA were induced by the earthquake, the ground shaking was strongly amplified in Izmir throughout the alluvial sediments. Structural damage observed in Izmir reveals the potential of seismic risk due to the local site effects. To better understand the earthquake characteristics, we generated and compared stochastic strong ground motions with the observed ground motion parameters as well as the ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs), exploring also the efficacy of the region-specific parameters which may be improved to better predict the expected ground shaking from future large earthquakes in the region.

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Crowdsourcing an Earthquake early warning system for the Indian Subcontinent

10.31224/osf.io/3nm5v ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Abdul Aleem ◽

Paul George ◽

Prasanna Natarajan

Keyword(s):

Indian Subcontinent ◽

Low Cost ◽

Warning System ◽

Strong Motion ◽

Deep Penetration ◽

Ground Shaking ◽

Earthquake Early Warning System ◽

Ongoing Work ◽

Motion Characteristics ◽

Main Components

Earthquakes are potentially very destructive natural events. The risk fromearthquakes is aggravated because they are unpredictable and can cause tremendousloss of life and property within seconds, particularly in dense urban settings. Wepresent our ongoing work to develop a comprehensive earthquake early warningsystem (EEWS) for the Indian subcontinent. The impetus for this work comes fromthe fact that India has just 82 seismic stations for a land area of about 3.2 million sq.km, with no dedicated EEWS, plus low-cost accelerometers are now easily available,and smartphones have deep penetration. The planned system will use a network ofmobile smartphones and stationary low-cost MEMS-based strong motion sensors.The main components of this project are: creating a high-density network of low-costsensors, real-time transmission of data, algorithms to analyze ground shaking data,compute ground motion characteristics, and determine if the source of shaking is anearthquake.

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