US Migrating
type: Agent

Behavior of Columns During Earthquakes
type: Dataset
contact point: Organization
  fn: Heather McCullough
keyword: u-s-department-of-commerce
keyword: boulder
keyword: natural-hazard
keyword: doc-noaa-nesdis-ngdc-national-geophysical-data-center
keyword: geoss
keyword: amerigeoss
keyword: united-states
keyword: earth-science-solid-earth-seismology-earthquake-occurrences
keyword: geo
keyword: wdc-mgg
keyword: amerigeo
keyword: boulder-world-data-center-for-marine-geology-and-geophysics
keyword: national
keyword: noaa
keyword: photo
keyword: ckan
keyword: global
keyword: lithosphere-seismic-activity-seismic-activity
keyword: nesdis
keyword: earth-science-solid-earth-tectonics-faults
keyword: north-america
description: The behavior of columns during earthquakes is very important since column failures may lead to additional structural failures and result in total building collapses. For example, in the Mexico City earthquake, the most frequent observed cause of structural failure was linked to inadequate beam-to-column and slab-to-column connections. Building configurations may cause columns to be over stressed. Columns of unequal length result in unequal load distribution and hence failure. Column construction and underlying soils also are factors in column failures. The slides in this set illustrate these and a variety of other column failure types.A column is a supporting pillar consisting of a base, a cylindrical shaft and a capital. These columns may be made of welded steel or reinforced concrete in which steel rods (rebar) are imbedded in the concrete. These steel rods may be tied together with metal strips at intervals (ties), or they may be wrapped spirally around the column with metal strips (spirally wrapped). All the metal reinforcing is embedded in the concrete. The Uniform Building Code requires that columns be confined by such spirals or ties. A spirally-confined column is basically more ductile than a tied column, but in lateral motion this ductility can only be achieved if ductility also exists at the column-to-beam connection at the top of the column.Shear is a condition caused by forces that tend to produce an opposite but parallel sliding motion of the body's planes. A shear wall is a wall in a building designed to absorb these forces. A soft story is a story in a building (often the first story) with few partitions and/or open exterior walls (such as garage doors, large windows, etc.). This openness makes it vulnerable to earthquake damage. Sometimes the configuration of the building causes the columns to be over stressed, and when they fail, the building fails. This was the case with the Olive View Hospital, which was severely damaged in the 1971 San Fernando C…
issued: 2025-11-22T16:12:59.778181
language: {en-US}
modified: 1994
spatial: Location

Web Page
type: Distribution
access URL: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/nndc/struts/results
media type: text/html
format: HTML
issued: 2021-03-11T00:04:26.632903
modified: 2025-11-22T16:12:59.766039

Web Page
type: Distribution
access URL: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazard/
media type: text/html
format: HTML
issued: 2021-03-11T00:04:26.632910
modified: 2025-11-22T16:12:59.766468