Earthquake Resistance of Adobe Buildings

Unreinforced adobe or mud-brick structures have in the past suffered severe damage from seismic forces and have caused a vast number of deaths. However, a number of adobe buildings located in seismic regions have performed well under several seismic events. Most existing circular adobe houses have performed well in withstanding earthquakes even though some did not have any additional ductile reinforcements. This book presents a series of tilt table tests conducted to study the performance of unreinforced circular adobe buildings subjected to earthquake forces. A static pushover test and two shake table tests were also conducted in order to evaluate the reliability of the predictive model from the tilt table tests. The study outcomes give simple and effective solutions for construction of new adobe buildings located in seismic hazard areas. It can also be applied to evaluate existing circular adobe buildings for their seismic resistance which can assist in predicting the likely outcome in the event of an earthquake.