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1_-_Introduction_to_Earthquake_Engineering

The document provides an overview of earthquake engineering, focusing on seismology, continental drift, and plate tectonics. It explains the movement of tectonic plates, including divergent, convergent, and transform boundaries, and discusses the formation of faults and the elastic rebound theory that leads to earthquakes. The primary cause of significant earthquakes is identified as tectonic activity resulting from slip along geological faults.

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karylleellyrak19
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
2 views

1_-_Introduction_to_Earthquake_Engineering

The document provides an overview of earthquake engineering, focusing on seismology, continental drift, and plate tectonics. It explains the movement of tectonic plates, including divergent, convergent, and transform boundaries, and discusses the formation of faults and the elastic rebound theory that leads to earthquakes. The primary cause of significant earthquakes is identified as tectonic activity resulting from slip along geological faults.

Uploaded by

karylleellyrak19
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Earthquake

Engineering
Introduction to Earthquake
Engineering
Seismology

• study of the generation, propagation and measurement of seismic


waves through earth and the sources that generate them
• The word seismology originated from Greek words, ‘seismos’
meaning earthquake and ‘logos’ meaning science.
Cross-section
of Interior
Earth
Continental Drift

• Alfred Wegener, in 1915, proposed the


hypothesis that the continents had
once formed a single landmass before
breaking apart and drifting to their
present locations.
• He proposed that a large continent
termed Pangaea existed in earth
around 200 million years ago and was
surrounded by an ocean called
Panthalassa
• He suggested that the continents had
been pulled apart by the centrifugal
pseudo force of the Earth's rotation or
by a small component of astronomical
precession. But the calculations
showed that these forces were not
sufficient to cause continental drift.
Plate Tectonics

• The theory of plate tectonics,


presented in early 1960s,
explains that the lithosphere is
broken into seven large (and
several smaller) segments
called plates
Plate Tectonics

• The upper most part of the earth is


considered to be divided into two layers
with different deformation properties.
• The upper rigid layer, called the
lithosphere, is about 100 km thick below
the continents, and about 50 km under
the oceans, and consists of Crust and
rigid upper-mantle rocks.
• The lower layer, called the asthenosphere,
extends down to about 700 km depth.
• The rigid lithospheric shell is broken into
several irregularly shaped major plates
and a large number of minor or secondary
plates.
• The lithospheric plates are not stationary,
on the contrary, they float in a complex
pattern, with a velocity of some 2-10
cm/year on the soft rocks of the
underlying asthenosphere like rafts on a
lake.
Plate Tectonics

• The widely accepted explanation is


based on the force offered by
convection currents created by
thermo-mechanical behavior of the
earth’s subsurface.
• The variation of mantle density with
temperature produces an unstable
equilibrium.
• The colder and denser upper layer
sinks under the action of gravity to
the warmer bottom layer which is
less dense. The lesser dense
material rises upwards and the
colder material as it sinks gets
heated up and becomes less dense
• These convection currents create
shear stresses at the bottom of the
plates which drags them along the
surface of earth.
Plate Tectonics

• As plate glides over the


asthenosphere, the continents
and oceans move with it.
• Because the plates move in
different directions, they knock
against their neighbors at
boundaries.
• The great forces thus generated
at plate boundary build mountain
ranges, cause volcanic eruptions
and earthquakes.
Movement of
Plates

• Spreading ridges
• Convergent boundaries
• Transform boundaries
Spreading ridges

• Spreading ridges or divergent boundaries


are areas along the edges of plates move
apart from each other
• This is the location where the less dense
molten rock from the mantle rises upwards
and becomes part of crust after cooling.
• Highest rate of spreading or expansion
between plates is found to occur near
Pacific Ocean ridges and the lowest rate of
spreading occurs along mid-Atlantic ridges.
• Spreading ridges are generally located
beneath the oceans. A few areas where the
spreading occurs along the continental
mass are East African rift valley and
Iceland
Convergent
Boundaries

• Convergent boundaries are


formed where the two plates
move toward each other. In
this process, one plate could
slip below the other one or
both could collide with each
other.
Convergent Boundaries
(Subduction)

• These boundaries are


created when
• Oceanic lithosphere subducts
beneath oceanic lithosphere
(ocean-ocean convergence),
• Oceanic lithosphere subducts
beneath continental lithosphere
(ocean-continent convergence),
Convergent Boundaries
(Collision)

• When two plates with


continental lithosphere
collide, subduction ceases,
and a mountain range is
formed by squeezing together
and uplifting the continental
crust on both plates
Transform
boundaries

• Transform boundaries occur


along the plate margins where
two plate moves past each
other without destroying or
creating new crust
Faults

• The term fault is used to describe a


discontinuity within rock mass, along
which movement had happened in the
past.
• Plate boundary is also a type of fault.
• Lineaments are mappable linear
surface features and may reflect
subsurface phenomena. A lineament
could be a fault, a joint or any other
linear geological phenomena.
• Most faults produce repeated
displacements over geologic time.
Movement along a fault may be gradual
or sometimes sudden thus, generating
an earthquake.
Faults

a) Normal
b) Reversed
c) Strike-slip fault
d) Oblique fault
Elastic Rebound
Theory

• As the plate try to move relative to each


other, strain energy gets built up along the
boundaries.

• When the stress buildup reaches the ultimate


strength of rock, rock fractures and releases
the accumulated strain energy,

• The nature of failure dictates the effect of


the fracture. If the material is very ductile and
weak, hardly any strain energy could be
stored in the plates due to their movement.

• But if the material is strong and brittle, the


stress built up and subsequent sudden
rupture releases the energy stored in the
form of stress waves and heat.

• The propagation of these elastic stress


waves causes the vibratory motion
associated with earthquakes.
Earthquakes

• Vibration of earth’s surface


caused by waves coming from a
source of disturbance inside the
earth
Earthquakes

• Most earthquakes of
engineering significance
are of tectonic origin and is
caused by slip along
geological faults.
EARTHQUAKES

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