RECOMMENDED FIELD INVESTIGATIONS FOR EARTHQUAKE SAFTEY OF LOW, MEDIUM AND HIGH-RISE BUILDINGS IN DIFFERENT SOIL CONDITIONS

Abstract

Soil act as the supporting medium for structures where loads from the structure transfer to the soil medium. The ability of the soil to resist these loads depends on the type of the structure and the type of soil. During seismic event soil behavior becomes complex under dynamic loads. So maximum base shear among all the dynamic loads is considered for design of the structure. Structural design has to consider the real conditions that will occur during certain time interval such as seismic events for which the structure will not exceed the design limits. To achieve this, soil plays an important role in maintaining the stability of the structure. To understand the soil behavior under the action of these loads geotechnical investigations and testing of soil is required. Among all the geotechnical investigations and the soil tests only some of them are required depending on the site conditions. This paper addresses the geotechnical investigations required for each low, medium and high-rise structures founded on hard, medium and soft soils respectively.