The lack of compliance with seismic standards in the structures is unfortunate. We all deeply regret the recent human damage in #Syria and #Turkey, which is dramatic from a humanitarian point of view and should never happen.
However, it also happens here. Sometimes, the lack of compliance with seismic regulations in our demarcations is unfortunate, and it continues to occur for commercial or economic reasons, prioritizing construction costs.
We recently lost the award for the construction of a 6,000 m² logistics warehouse since the project did not take seismic regulations into account, and we proposed an alternative technical and economic solution that complied with these regulations.
By proposing a solution that contemplated the forecast of lateral displacements at the head of the pillars in the event of seismic acceleration, according to the standard and taking into account the data on the deformability of the ground according to a geotechnical study, our proposal turned out to be economically higher than the solution of the competition without consideration of seismic.
We have lost an important work for us, but in our company culture we prioritize technical solutions and the safety of buildings and people over commercial competitiveness at any price, and we are proud of it.
Fortunately, we are in a region where high-magnitude earthquakes are unlikely, although if they occur they can cause significant material and personal damage, as occurred in Italy in 2016 with an earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale (ML). , which caused 290 fatalities.
In the same way that the actions of wind or snow are taken into account, it is necessary to apply Eurocode 8 EN 1998 and the NCSE-02 earthquake-resistant construction standard, for the design and calculation of structures for resistance to earthquakes.
In the design and calculation of industrial and logistics buildings, it is also necessary to consider the earthquake hypothesis, observing the data for basic seismic acceleration (ab), dimensionless risk coefficient (ρ), contribution coefficient (K) depending on the location of the building and the coefficient of amplification of the ground (S) determined according to the coefficient of ground (C) by its classification (I to IV) according to its deformability or rigidity, and which affects the speed of propagation of the waves and which is determined through in situ tests of an adequate geotechnical study and its subsequent calculations.
In cases of calculation in seismic zones, in addition to compliance with the calculation, the design criteria have a significant impact on the seismic behavior of the structures. Thus, the arrangement in the symmetry of the structures, the distributed arrangement of the pillars embedded in the base that contribute to the absorption of horizontal efforts with distribution of efforts, are important factors.
Another very relevant aspect for the behavior in the earthquake in the design phase is the reduction of the mass in the facades and enclosures of the building and the reduction of the height of the center of mass if possible.
Conceptually, we can simplify the horizontal forces with the basic formula known by all of Newton's second law as F = m • a, and therefore reducing the mass with different building materials and lowering the center of mass with the architectural composition of the facades, we substantially improve the horizontal forces and the seismic behavior of the buildings.
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