Not everyone realizes the difficulties that people living in hazard prone areas face daily. Foundation issues and structural damage are common in areas that are susceptible to earthquakes, soil erosion, and so forth. Maintenance of your commercial building becomes unavoidable when you live or work in such regions. There are weak spots in every building that could go down in the event of an earthquake. One could suffer an insurmountable loss in the case of such an unfortunate occurrence. Soft Stories are reportedly most vulnerable to damage in a seismic attack. Earthquake retrofitting could enable a building to endure the forces of nature and stand firm when the unforeseen catastrophe hits.
Foundation repair specialists explain what buildings require seismic retrofitting.
Buildings that were constructed prior to 1970 do not possess the safety features for earthquakes. Unreinforced masonry structures are the sort of buildings vulnerable to damage when attacked by seismic waves.
The mortar holding the masonry structure together is not strong enough. It might give way when the earthquake forces hit.
Tilt-up buildings are also unsafe in the event of an earthquake. In the aftermath of an earthquake, debris of these types of structures are most commonly seen.
These constructions are unstable because of the large openings for bulky sized industrial doors and windows.
Modifying commercial buildings for enhanced resistance to seismic activity.
The aim of earthquake retrofitting is to boost the lateral strength of a structure as well as increase its ductility.
This can be achieved in many ways, but experts choose the one which is most compatible with the existing structure and what fits in your budget.
Adding a shear wall could give the weakened structure an enormous boost of lateral strength. A faster and more cost-effective retrofitting method is adding steel bracings to the structure that is susceptible to collapse in an earthquake.
Jacketing is a popular solution used in seismic retrofitting, where concrete is enclosed in a steel structure to improve the shear strength of the concrete pillars.
When a superstructure is being modified to defend against an earthquake two popular ways to achieve this are base isolation and mass reduction technique.
To control the passive structural vibration in lofty buildings, the structure is isolated from the foundation by means of isolation bearings.
As the building is isolated from the ground itself, the seismic vibrations have a reduced influence on the structure thus making is safer under the circumstance.
