NEHRP Clearinghouse
- Title
- Architects and Earthquakes.
- File
- PB271949.pdf
- Author(s)
- Botsai, E. E.; Goldberg, A.; Fisher, J. L.; Lagorio, H. J.; Wosser, T. D.
- Source
- National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C. Research Applied to National Needs., January 1977, 113 p.
- Abstract
- This primer attempts: (1) to develop a national awareness among the members of the architectural profession that earthquakes can and do occur east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains; (2) to help architects further understand the nature of earthquakes and the basic response of buildings to these unique forces; (3) to emphasize how architectural planning and design affects the performance of buildings under earthquake conditions; (4) to provide architects from geographical regions of varying degrees of seismic activity with a vocabulary with which to talk to clients and engineers about seismic resistance of buildings and their components; and (5) to encourage further in-depth study by the architectural profession into the areas of building performance and seismic response. The primer begins with a discussion of basic geological and seismic phenomena that cause earthquakes. Types of structural systems and materials performance and interactions under earthquake forces are discussed. Following are discussions of how these basic structural movements translate into forces acting on building components, how these are likely to fail and what can be done. The final section discusses how these relatively simple technical design issues quickly broaden into very complicated social-economic-political issues.
- Keywords
- Seismic design; Earthquake resistant structures; Geological faults; Risk analysis; Seismic risk; Earth movements; Structural design; Ground motion; Earthquake engineering; Buildings; Design criteria; Earthquakes; Dynamic structural analysis