Knowra Earthquake engineering Earthquake engineering Earthquake engineering assesses seismic hazards and designs, evaluates, and strengthens structures to limit damage and protect lives during earthquakes.
Seismic wave : An elastic disturbance that travels through Earth or along its surface, carrying energy from an earthquake. Seismic waves produce the ground motions that structures must resist.
Seismic hazard : The potential for earthquake shaking or related effects to occur at a location over a specified period. Hazard assessment supplies the shaking levels used in design.
Seismic design category : A classification used by building codes to assign seismic design and detailing requirements. It translates mapped hazard and building characteristics into design obligations.
Seismic isolation : A design strategy that reduces the transfer of earthquake motion to a structure, commonly through flexible bearings or sliding interfaces. Isolation limits transmitted motion, unlike conventional fixed-base resistance strategies.
Ground motion : The movement of the ground during an earthquake, described by measures such as acceleration, velocity, and displacement. Its intensity, duration, and frequency content determine demands on a structure.
Seismology : The scientific study of earthquakes, seismic waves, and the structure of Earth. Earthquake engineering draws on seismology to characterize sources and shaking.
Performance-based earthquake engineering : An approach that evaluates structural performance against explicit damage or safety objectives under defined earthquake hazards. It connects predicted response to outcomes such as repair costs and life safety.
Energy dissipation device : A component designed to absorb or dissipate energy through deformation, friction, or fluid motion. Dampers dissipate response energy while retaining a conventional structural connection to the ground.
Structural dynamics : The study of how structures move and respond under time-varying forces. Dynamic analysis predicts how earthquake shaking excites a building's modes.
Response spectrum : A plot of peak response for idealized oscillators across natural periods, usually for specified damping and ground motion. Design spectra summarize expected structural demands across building periods.
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