i

DECISION MAKING FRAMEWORK FOR AN EARTHQUAKE RESISTANT

BUILDING

CHOO KOK WAH

A report submitted in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the award of the degree of

Master of Science (Construction Management)

Faculty of Civil Engineering

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

MAY 2011

iii

Specially for my beloved family,

Thank you for the nurturing and support you have given ...

For the lecturers,

Thank you for all the assistance and the guidance you devoted ...

For my friends,

Thank you for the encouragement and support you have given ...

iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

My deepest appreciation to all those involved in helping and assisting me

either directly or indirectly in preparing this project, without you all this project will

never be produced successfully. Thank you to my family members for giving me the

encouragement and support.

In addition, I also wish to thank Dr. Rozana Binti Zakaria as she often

provides assistance and guidance throughout the course of this project. The

assistance she gave was of great help for this project to progress smoothly

My appreciation to all my friends who have given me assistance and

encouragement during the course of this project, your help will always be

remembered.

Finally, I want to thank once again to all those involved directly or indirectly

in helping me to prepare this project.

v

ABSTRACT

Earthquake is a natural disaster that is resulted from the abrupt movements on

faults or fractures in Earth’s lithosphere. The destruction that an earthquake causes

depends on its magnitude and duration, or the amount of shaking that occurs. A

structure’s design and the materials used in its construction also affect the amount of

damage the structure incurs. Earthquakes vary from small, imperceptible shaking to

large shocks that can be felt over thousands of kilometers. Earthquakes can deform

the ground, making buildings and structures collapse. Lives may be lost as a result of

destruction. Malaysia is a country with very low seismic activity. However, Malaysia

is bordered by Philippines and Indonesia, which are two of the most seismically

active countries and certain degree of surface waves could still be felt in our country.

Most of the buildings in our country may not consider seismic load during structure

design, thus the level of safety remains unknown. Recently, earthquake events have

become more frequent. Therefore, engineers have to be alert and kept updated with

the knowledge and behavior of earthquake trend in this area. It is vital to assess the

precaution measures that can be taken and consider them in the future building

design. Therefore, a decision making framework in designing earthquake resistant

building especially for school building in Malaysia is needed to help engineers to

consider earthquake risk in the building design. This framework employed NERA

Program with the assistance of SAP2000 software for analysis of the performance of

earthquake resistant building. The proposed framework is then used to verify an

actual school project. The verification found that the school building is subjected to

additional seismic load during earthquake but the school building structure is still

capable of resisting the additional load incurred. This is because the structural

capacity for that building is relatively high.

vi

ABSTRAK

Gempa bumi merupakan bencana alam yang dihasilkan dari gerakan pada

lithosfer bumi. Gegaran gempa terjadi kerana plat kerak bumi bergerak, di bawah

dan jauh daripada satu sama lain. Tahap kerosakan pada struktur bergantung pada

tahap gegaran dan tempoh, atau bilangan getaran yang berlaku. Rekabentuk struktur

dan bahan yang digunakan dalam pembinaan juga mempengaruhi jumlah kerosakan

ke atas struktur. Kesan gempa bumi boleh dirasai walaupun lokasi gempa terletak

jauh beribu kilometer. Gempa bumi boleh merosakkan tanah, membuat bangunan

dan struktur lain runtuh. Bangunan sekolah mengandungi sejumlah besar pengguna

awam pada kebanyakan waktu. Keselamatan pelajar dan guru di sekolah mungkin

akan terjejas apabila berlaku gempa bumi. Sebahagian besar bangunan di negara ini

tidak direkabentuk untuk menanggung beban gempa bumi dan tahap keselamatan

struktur bangunan masih tidak diketahui. Sejak kebelakangan ini, kejadian gempa

bumi lebih kerap berlaku. Oleh kerana itu, jurutera perlu berwaspada dan mengambil

tahu maklumat mengenai keselamatan bangunan terhadap kejadian gempa bumi.

Adalah penting untuk mengambil tindakan pencegahan dan mempertimbangkan

rekabentuk struktur yang tahan terhadap gegaran gempa bumi pada bangunan sedia

ada dan akan datang. Oleh kerana itu, rangka kerja membuat keputusan dalam

merekabentuk bangunan yang dapat menahan daya luar hasil daripada gempa bumi

diperlukan. Ia penting terutamanya membantu jurutera untuk mempertimbangkan

risiko gempa bumi dalam rekabentuk bangunan sekolah di Malaysia. Rangka ini

menggunakan Program NERA dan Program SAP2000 untuk menganalisa prestasi

rekabentuk bangunan sedia ada. Pengesahan yang dijalankan ke atas rekabentuk

bangunan sekolah sedia ada, mendapati bahawa bangunan sekolah yang dikenakan

beban tambahan gempa bumi masih dapat berdiri kukuh. Struktur bangunan sekolah

tersebut adalah kukuh dan boleh kekal selamat pada tahap gegaran gempa bumi yang

amat tinggi.

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

DECLARATION ii

DEDICATION iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv

ABSTRACT v

ABSTRAK vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS vii

LIST OF TABLES viii

LIST OF FIGURES ix

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS x

LIST OF SYMBOLS xiii

1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Introduction 1

1.2 Problem Statements 3

1.3 Research Questions 4

1.4 Objectives 4

1.5 Scope of Work 5

viii

2 LITERATURE REVIEW 7

2.1 Earthquakes 7

2.1.1 Introduction of Earthquake 7

2.2 Earthquake Effects On Building 8

2.3 Building Damage 9

2.4 Seismic Waves 10

2.5 Earthquake Magnitude 12

2.6 Dynamic Analysis 13

2.6.1 Introduction of Dynamic Analysis 13

2.6.2 Response Spectrum Analysis 14

2.7 Seismic Screening For School 15

3 METHODOLOGY 18

3.1 Method to Conduct The Study 18

3.2 Introduction of NERA Program 21

3.2.1 Data Collection 21

3.2.2 NERA Commands 22

3.2.3 NERA Worksheets 23

3.2.4 Earthquake Data 24

3.2.5 Soil Profile 26

3.2.6 Output for Acceleration 28

3.2.7 Output for Spectra 29

3.3 SAP 2000 Model 30

3.3.1 Introduction 30

3.3.2 Using SAP 2000 31

3.3.3 Data Collection 32

3.3.4 Two Dimensional Frame Model Using SAP 2000 32

4 RESULTS AND ANALYSIS 40

4.1 Introduction 40

4.2 NERA Program Analysis 41

4.3 SAP 2000 Finite Element Structural Analysis 50

4.4 Research Finding 54

ix

4.4.1. Objective 1: To Identify the Required Parameter for Seismic 54

Structural Analysis on School Building.

4.4.2. Objective 2: To Propose A Decision Making Framework in 54

Designing Earthquake Resistant Building.

4.4.3. Objective 3: To Validate the Framework on the Pilot School 56

Building Project.

5 CONCLUSION 61

5.1 Introduction 61

5.2 Conclusion 61

5.3 Suggestion 63

REFERENCES 64

APPENDIX A – LOADING CALCULATION 66-70

APPENDIX B – STRUCTURAL DRAWING FOR 4 STOREY 71-75

STANDARD SCHOOL BUILDING

APPENDIX C – FINITE ELEMENT STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS 76-108

PROGRAM SAP 2000 OUTPUT

x

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE NO. TITLE PAGE

2.1 Adjectives for Describing Earthquakes 13

3.1 Types of Worksheets in NERA and their contents 24

4.1 Maximum Acceleration for Various Schools in Johor Bahru 42

4.2 Maximum Ground Acceleration for Various Schools in 46

Johor Bahru

4.3 Forces Generated from Normal Design Loading as 52

per BS8110 and Seismic Loading

4.4 Bending Moment Generated from Normal Loading 53

as per BS8110 and Seismic Loading

4.5 Proposed Percentage of Design Load Increment Caused 60

by Earthquake to be Incorporated into the New

Structural Design

xi

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE NO. TITLE PAGE

1.1 Map of Shallow-Depth Earthquakes 2

Location, Plate Boundary and Seismic

Zone Boundary

2.1 School Building that Collapse from 9

Chi-Chi Earthquake in Taiwan in the

year of 1999

2.2 School Building Structure that had 10

Deform Resulted from Chi-Chi Earthquake

in Taiwan in the year of 1999

2.3 The Basic Types of Seismic Waves 11

2.4 Comparison of Frequency, Magnitude and 12

Energy Release of Earthquake and Other

Phenomena

3.1 Fraction Process Produces by Wave 19

Propagation

3.2 Methods Adopted to Conduct the Study 20

3.3 The NERA Pull-Down Menu 23

3.4 The Earthquake Worksheet 25

3.5 Macrozonation Map for 500 years Return 25

Period at T=0.2 sec

3.6 The Profile Worksheet for Data Entries 27

3.7 Graphical Illustration of Data Obtained 28

from the Profile Worksheet

3.8 The Acceleration Worksheet 29

xii

3.9 The Spectra Worksheet 30

3.10 Flow Chart of Processing Data Using 31

SAP 2000

3.11 Model Menu from SAP 2000 32

3.12 Portal Frame Menu from SAP 2000 33

3.13 Coordinate Menu 33

3.14 Joint Restraints Menu 34

3.15 Material Property Data Menu 34

3.16 Define Loads Menu 35

3.17 Response Combination Data Menu 36

3.18 Time History Function Definition Menu 36

3.19 Time History Function at Ground Level 37

3.20 Response Spectrum at Ground Level 37

3.21 Analysis Options Menu 38

3.22 Set Analysis Menu 38

3.23 Result Selection Menu 39

3.24 Result of the Analysis 39

4.1 Flow Chart of the Result and Analysis 40

4.2 Time History Analysis Output 42

4.3 Semi Log Graph of Response Spectrum 42

Analysis Output

4.4 Graph Show Maximum Acceleration for 48

Various School Locations in Johor Bahru

4.5 Seismic zoning Map with 3 specific regions 49

4.6 Seismic zoning Map with School Location 50

4.7 Side View of the Standard School Building 51

4.8 Cross Section of the Standard School 51

Building

4.9 Decision Making Framework For 55

Earthquake Resistant Building

4.10 Analysis of Structure with Design Load 56

4.11 Analysis of Structure with Live and Dead 57

Load

4.12 Maximum Moment Generated from the 57

xiii

Analysis

4.13 Maximum Shear Force Generated from 58

the Analysis

4.14 Maximum Axial Force Generated from 58

the Analysis

4.15 Deformation of the Structure Generated 59

from the Analysis

xiv

LIST OF SYMBOLS

Kg - Kilogram

g - Gram

N - Newton

kN - Kilo Newton

kNm - Kilo Newton Meter

H - Hour

s - Second

e - Degree of Freedom Vector

m - Meter

mm - Milimeter

mins - Minutes

E - Young Modulus

fcu - Concrete Compressive Strength

fy - Steel Bar Yield Strength

g - Gravity Accelaration

M - Maximum Moment Capacity

S - Maximum Shear Capacity

T - Period

u - Relative Displacement

UTM - Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

xv

LIST OF APPENDICES

APPENDIX TITLE PAGE

Appendix A Loading Calculation 66

Appendix B Structural Drawing for 4 Storey Standard School 71

Building

Appendix C Finite Element Structural Analysis Program SAP 76

2000 Output

1

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

Malaysia is situated on the southern edge of the Eurasian Plate and bordered

to the west by the seismically active Indonesia Volcanic Arc (200 – 300km away)

which demarcates the inter-plate boundary (subduction zone) between the Indo-

Australian and Eurasian Plate and to the east of Sabah by the inter-plate boundary

(subduction zone) between the Eurasian and Philippines Plate (Mark Peterson et al.,

2007). Although Malaysia is located on the stable Sunda plate, pressure on the

continent is mounting Australian, Eurasian and Philippines plates around us to move

and push into us. Figure 1.1 shows the shallow-depth earthquakes in the region with

epicentres of shallow-focus earthquakes in two categories- the plate boundaries and

seismic zone boundary. Seismic in Malaysia is still unknown due to lack of

understanding of seismicity and lack of seismic data. Seismic factor in the planning

and design of the building structures is not considered in Malaysia.

On 26th

December 2004, a large earthquake of 9.0 on the Ritcher scale

occurred in west of Acheh in Sumatra, Indonesia. The epicentre was located at

latitude 3.1° N and longitude 95.5° E, about 680 kilometres northwest of Kuala

Lumpur and 590 kilometres west of Penang. This earthquake had resulted in the

generation of a massive and disastrous Indian Ocean-wide tsunami that swept

through the coasts of a number of countries region with high “tidal” waves. (Mark

Peterson et al., 2007)

2

Although our country Malaysia was not hit as hard as Acheh, Indonesia,

precaution on this incident should be taken because it does not mean that Malaysia

could escape from any hazardous events (Adnan et al., 2008). There is thus an urgent

need to carry out a study to assess the level of safety for any structure under a

seismic load.

Figure 1.1: Map of Shallow-Depth Earthquakes Location, Plate Boundary and

Seismic Zone Boundary (Mark Peterson et al., 2007)

3

1.2 Problem Statements

Due to the reason that Malaysia is located at a very low potential earthquake

zone, most of the buildings in Malaysia are not designed to resist earthquake. This

has caused lack of knowledge and attention from design engineer to pay serious

detail design in earthquake engineering field. The recent trend shows that earthquake

events have become more frequent. Therefore, engineer has to be more alert and

updated with the knowledge and behaviour of earthquake trend in this area. In order

to evaluate the potential hazard effect on the building’s structure due to excessive

seismic loading, more research needed to be carry out in this field. Design engineer

need to know all the vital information regarding earthquake resistant building.

Further question rises on what information need to support the decision of engineer

in designing the earthquake resistant building. Are the location of the building highly

expose to the earthquake risk? What step of precaution can be taken in analysing

existing earthquake loading? Based on the above queries, the following list of the

problems form the basis of this research:

a) Which area has the higher risk to be affected by earthquake?

b) What are the potential hazards for building structure affected by excessive

seismic loading?

c) Most of the buildings in Malaysia never take seismic design into account,

what is the effect of this decision?

d) Malaysia is considered to be an almost seismic-free country. However, it

is bordered by Indonesia and Philippines, which are two of the most

seismically active countries in this region with frequent earthquakes.

Does this mean that Malaysia is free from both distant and local

earthquakes risk?

e) What are the consequences of lack of knowledge and attention from the

community about earthquake engineering field?

f) What are the precautions that can be taken into consideration for the

design parameter of future building design?

4

1.3 Research Questions

In order to answer the problem statements, engineers have to be equipped

with earthquake design information. Therefore the following research questions are

important to engineers when designing an earthquake resistant building. A

framework to design earthquake resistant building are needed to help engineer to

gain information that are required and this framework will also guide engineer to

design earthquake resistant building with ease. Beside that, the framework will

become a main reference for engineer in understanding earthquake engineering for

this region.

1. Maximum acceleration in the building location

2. Method of precaution that could be taken in designing the building’s

structure.

3. The percentage of loading increment due to seismic activity.

4. The increment of the structural component’s size to cater for

earthquake loading.

5. The increment of the time and cost of construction in order to design

earthquake resistant building.

1.4 Objectives

This research aims to develop a decision making framework that can help

engineers in designing earthquake resistant building. In order to achieve the above

research aim, the following objectives are established:

1. To identify the required parameter for seismic structural analysis on school

building.

2. To propose a decision making framework in designing earthquake resistant

building.

3. To validate the framework on the pilot school building project.

5

1.5 Scope of Work

This research is carried out by using 30 set of boreholes data obtained from

Johor Bahru District. All the boreholes selected to conduct this study lie within the

area that contains school buildings. All the boreholes data are processed and analysed

for school building modelling by using finite element software.

School building is selected to be analyzed because it contains a huge numbers

of students and teachers most of the time. Some of the schools which are residential

schools have higher impact as it has more students and teachers staying in the

building. Significant casualties and property losses could happen due to collapse of

these school buildings during strong earthquakes. Furthermore, school buildings

might have to be assigned as emergency shelters immediately after any severe

earthquake. Therefore, limiting casualties in future earthquake is very important.

Hazard and structural performance analysis to those school buildings with high risk

potential is one approach towards reducing casualties in future earthquake.

To carry out the research, the pre-field data such as location, area, number of

stories, construction types, soil profile and most information related to the school

building are collected. Nera Program used to obtain Peak Ground Acceleration

(PGA) value from the boreholes data. Collected PGA values are plotted against Johor

Bahru district map to produce seismic zone mapping for Johor Bahru District. The

seismic zone mapping is useful for earthquake risk management and for future

building development consideration.

Modelling and analysis of the building structure characteristic is carried out

using SAP 2000 program. SAP 2000 is a very useful tool for earthquake engineering

to analyse various type of loading generated from earthquake events. School building

structure is modelled in the program and imposed with the earthquake loading from

the seismic zone mapping. Additional load generated from the earthquake event is

6

identified and further analysis is carried out to determine the propose earthquake

loading to be incorporated in the future building structural design.

64

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Tsunami Hazards And Risks Study In Malaysia. 15 July 2008. 19-29.

Mark Petersen, Stephen Harmsen, Charles Mueller, Kathleen Haller, James Dewey,

Nicolas Luco, Anthony Crone, David Lidke and Kenneth Rukstales (2007).

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of the Interior and U.S. Geological Survey. 30 September 2007.

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Newsletter, June 2010, Vol. 5, No. 2: 4-5.

Paolo E. Pinto and Paolo Franchin (2008). Assessing existing building with Eurocode

8 Part 3: a discussion with some proposals. 1-10.

Peter I. Yanev and Andrew C.T. Thompson (2008). Peace Of Mind In Earthquake

Country, How To Safe Your Home, Business And Life. 3rd

Edition.USA:

Chronicle Books LLC. 2008.

65

Prof. Dr. Azlan Adnan (2008). Seismic Hazard Assessment of Selected

Infrastructures in Malaysia. Forum On Seismic And Tsunami Hazards And Risks

Study In Malaysia. 15 July 2008. 45

Rui Pinho and Helen Crowley (2009). Revisiting Eurocode 8 Formulae For Periods

Of Vibration And Their Employment In Linear Seismic Analysis. 1-14.

Seth Stein and Michael Wysession (2003). An Introduction to Seismology,

Earthquakes and Earth Structure. 10-290.

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