Construction materials in seismic zones 1

[Andrea_martinez325]

Hello everyone!!,

I am doing a study for my final project at the university. This project is about the construction of buildings on dangerous terrain where there is a lot of seismic activity and that is why I want to ask you the following question:

What are the most important factors to consider (in terms of materials) when building in seismic zones? Because We can consider a lot, for instance, the ductility, energy absorption capacity, stiffness, durability or the compressive strength. But I do not know what can be the most important

Thanks!

 

[Luceid]

*Most important* is a bit hard to make as a generalization, so I will comment on the topics you brought up.

1. Ductility and energy absorption go hand in hand, and are typically the most impactful factors in overall seismic design. A building that dissipates more energy is going to dissipate earthquake motion more effectively, and a ductile building is going to encourage more energy dissipation and encourage a safer failure mechanism.

2. Stiffness is an important consideration, as this can have a big impact on your building's performance. Overstiffeneing parts of your building can lead to concentrated forces, understiffeneing can lead to excessive displacements, but if used effectively, can improve the seismic performance dramatically.

3. By durability, I am assuming you mean the long-term resistance of materials to deterioration. This is certainly an important concept in building design in general, but is often buried in code specifications, more in the "background" rather than extensively thought about while designing. However I'm sure we all agree that deteriorating structural elements are never a good thing, without even considering earthquakes (e.g. Champlain Towers).

4. Compressive strength is always important for any element that undergoes bending or axial compression. Material properties are more general, so I wouldn't say it is the "most important" variable for seismic design, but different materials have different associated performance in the seismic elements they are used in, so it is also part of the equation.

The list could go on, but you have a good start for yourself. Ductility/Energy absorption, stiffness, structural layout, seismic system, material choice, seismicity of the site itself, distance to nearby buildings, etc. etc. etc., all come into play when you design structures for seismic accelerations.

Hope this gets you moving! Best of luck with your project.