Earthquake Engineering :: Earthquakes Earth Geology Essays

seism Engineering Earthquakes are vibrations mat at the surface of the earth which are causal agencyd by disturbances of the energy in the earths interior. These vibrations are known as seismic waves. (Skinner Robinson McVerry 1) There are different type sof seisimc waves such as Primary (P) waves, whcih travel the fastest, Secondary (S) waves which military campaign the earth to vibrate vertically, Surface (L) waves. P and S waves are touch by changes in the density and the rigidity of the materials through which they pass. (Columbia Encyclopedia) Earthquakes vary in their intensity and duration. Often times they are strong enough to cause massive destriction. Tall buildings often suffer as a debate out of these natural disasters. In recent years this has become a larger and larger threat with both the number of large buildings, and their number of occupants increasing. In an effort to try to minimize the damage caused by earthquakes many approximately engine ers focus primarily on designing and constructing earthquake resistant buildings. Earthquake engineers befool gathered much of their information from analyzing past earthquakes, and learning which buildings tramp and cant withstand the tremors. The goals of these engineers is to design buildings that can withstand moderate earthquakes and obtain marginal damage, and that the buildings will not collapse lowering the probability of human deaths. regime have attempted to implement codes or regulations, but that has proved to be very difficult tasks becasue there are many variables that effect the energetic response of buildings. One way to try to avoid disaster is to tax seismic risk is to look at a buildings hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and location. Hazards are, for example, landslides ad body politic type. Exposure is a buildings occupancy and function. Vulnerability is the expected performance of a buildings system, and location is how often earthquakes occur in the area. (Lagorio) Some other things that have become evident are that geometric simplicity and symmetry are key to constructing an earthquake resistant building. Simplicity often leads to symmetry, and in turn symmetry tends to decrease the likelihood of a concentration of mass. This idea of visible light buildings being safer can be explained mathematically using the formula F=MA. To understand how this formula works it is pertinent to recognize that earthquakes alone do not cause damage because all they provide is an acceleration.