Earthquake Resistant Buildings

Dear Colleagues,

Comparison of the number of casualties caused by failure of building parts or entire building collapse in earthquakes that have occurred in many developing countries with that in industrial countries, in particular the ones that seriously practice seismic design provisions and codes, shows the results of proper earthquake resistant design and retrofit of buildings. The significantly lower number in the latter indicates that it is not the earthquake that kills people, it is how we design and construct buildings. The development and advancement of earthquake design provisions in modern building codes is therefore a success story. Today, it is established that if buildings are designed according to the modern seismic codes incorporating sound structural lateral force resisting systems and constructed using good quality materials, workmanship, and inspection, the chance of building collapse is minimized, although damage to structural systems and nonstructural (e.g., architectural) components cannot be entirely prevented.

Many types of nonstructural components are actually manufactured products that are mainly specified by architects and that are not necessarily recognized by building codes. Acceptable seismic performance of such components is generally established through component mockup testing. Past damaging earthquakes have in particular revealed the vulnerability of architectural components (e.g., building envelope) to significant damage with potential life-safety hazard. This emphasizes the need for appropriate testing (e.g., racking) of such products/systems to ensure satisfactory performance under building design acceleration or drift.

For this special issue of the Buildings Journal, authors are invited to submit papers related to the general theme of the Special Issue for all types of buildings. Among relevant topics, submission of papers discussing earthquake analysis and design methods and guidelines, experimental testing of structural and nonstructural building components, and retrofit techniques is highly encouraged. In addition, it is of interest to invite contributions that address innovative structural and nonstructural systems with minimal seismic damage potential, as well as earthquake resistant structural systems appropriate for residential construction.

Prof. Dr. Ali M. Memari
Guest Editor