Behavior of RC Buildings to Tsunami Action

The present report describes the characteristics of damages and behavior of reinforced concrete buildings during the tsunami action. The discussion is based on the field damage survey in selected cities located on the coast of the zone affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011. This earthquake is the most powerful know earthquake that has hit Japan with a magnitude 9.0 and with epicenter located at 129 km of Sendai city (off the coast). The earthquake triggered a destructive tsunami with run up height of up to 40 meters that mainly affect cities located on the Pacific Ocean coast of the Tohoku region (north-east region of Japan). Reinforced concrete buildings in general resist the tsunami without collapse however the non-structural elements like panels and ceilings were severely damaged. The analysis of damages has permitted to understand the behavior of RC buildings under tsunami attack, and has also permitted to establish recommendations for their use to take refuge from tsunami in places where natural topography makes impossible to reach hilltops or other safer places.

Authors:

• Carlos H. Cuadra

Keywords:

• tsunami
• RC buildings
• East Japan Earthquake
• seismic damage

References:

[1] Meteorological Research Institute, Japan Meteorological Agency. Report
on the analysis results of Tohoku Pacific Earthquake of March 11, 2011
(in Japanese).
http://www.mri-jma.go.jp/Topics/press/20110324/press20110324.html,
2011.
[2] Shimizu Corporation. Report on the Tohoku Area Pacific Offshore
Earthquake.
http://www.shimz.co.jp/english/theme/earthquake/outline.html, 2011.
[3] Building Research Institute, Ministry of Construction of Japan, survey
team. Quick Report on the Tohoku Area Pacific Offshore Earthquake (in
Japanese), 2011.
[4] Geospacial Information Authority of Japan (GSI). Aerial photographs of
Tohoku region after the Great Earthquake of March 11, 2011 (in
Japanese).
http://saigai.gsi.go.jp/h23taiheiyo-ok/photo/photo_dj/index.html, 2011.
[5] Tohoku Branch of the Architectural Institute of Japan. Quick report of
Tsunami damage at Onagawa town. March 29, 2011
[6] Yushiro Fujii, Kenji Satake, Shin-ichi Sakai, Masanao Shinohara and
Toshihiko Kanazawa. Tsunami source of the 2011 off the Pacific coast of
Tohoku, Japan earthquake Report of the International Institute of
Seismology and Earthquake Engineering (IISEE),Building Research
Institute (BRI). 2011.
[7] Akenori Shibata. An Overview of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and
Tsunami. Presented at ROSE School Seminar, University of Pavia, Italy,
May 19 2011
[8] K. Sugiyama, C. H. Cuadra and Y. Fujiwara. Characteristics of peak
acceleration and attenuation during the 2008 Iwate-Miyagi earthquake.
Proceedings of the 14th European Conference on Earthquake
Engineering, August 30 ~ September 3, 2010, Ohrid, Macedonia.
[9] Cuadra, C. and Tokeshi, J. Lessons learned from the 2007 Pisco
earthquake (Peru) and recommendations for disaster mitigation.
Proceedings of the The 14thWorld Conference on Earthquake
Engineering, October 12-17, 2008, Beijing, China
[10] A. Gupta and B.M. McDonald. Performance of building structures during
the October 15, 2006 Hawaii earthquake. Proceedings of the The
14thWorld Conference on Earthquake Engineering, October 12-17, 2008,
Beijing, China
[11] Kanai, J., Tokeshi, K., Cuadra, C., & Karkee. M.B. Vibration
characteristics of buildings using microtremor measurements. First
European Conference on Earthquake Engineering and Seismology (a
joint event of the 13th ECEE & 30th General Assembly of the ESC),
Geneva, Switzerland, 3-8 September 2006, Paper Number: 708.
[12] Sunuwar, L., Karkee, M., Tokeshi, J., and Cuadra, C. Applications of GIS
in Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis of Urban Areas. Proc. Of the
Fourth International Conference of Earthquake Engineering and
Seismology, Tehran, Iran, 2003.