Nature of Earthquakes - Earthquakes Resistant Structures and More !

Earthquake is the shivering or vibration of the earth. The shake varies from a lullaby to the vigorous shake of the hand - like while trying to get rid of sticky bit of tape. Probably more like the hysterical movements of a lady when faced with the daunting rat near the lower hem of her dress.

Unfortunately the characteristic of the effective earthquake depends on the characteristics of the vibrations of the earth and the forced vibrations of the building along with it. The strength of the arm/hand and the kind of tape.

Once these two have been established the duration and the magnitude of the vibrations are another factor. Keep in mind that one varies all these factors when trying to get rid of that sticky piece of paper or tape from your hand. We must consider the energy generated in the building, the dissipation of which is likely to cause disintegration or failure.

Unfortunately in the case of the structures, it is not only the sticking of the tape to the hand that alone is the problem point. The sticking may not go but the rest of the tape or shall we say the baby would have started coming apart at other portions of its body. Sorry for the unpleasantness of the analogy - but it would help if we remind ourselves that there are going to be many more people in a building than a handful of babies.

The bigger and heavier the doll the more effective in many ways is the shaking. Anyway, after parts of the doll fall off, the body becomes more resilient to shaking. Thing is that during this shake down some important connections should not break.

As far as a structure is concerned the variation in the nature of earthquakes can be such that it either affects and breaks down the integrity of the supporting soil or the elements forming the superstructure or both.

As much as possible these two extremes should be in some ways considered when doing the layout of the elements in the structure.

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