Seismic Assessment of Earthen Structures

Earth is an ancient construction material that is attracting numerous scientific investigations due to the sustainable characteristics of this material and the significant heritage of existing earth constructions. Several studies have recently been conducted to investigate the seismic performance of earth buildings. This chapter presents the state of the art related to the seismic performance of earth structures. Since the seismic performance of a structure depends both on the dynamic and static characteristics of the material and the structure, the chapter starts with a summary of the static characteristics, followed by the results on the dynamic characteristics. Then the existing methods for the earthquake performance evaluation are presented. Finally, the techniques of seismic strengthening are cited and discussed. This chapter is a useful repertoire for further studies on the seismic design of earthen structures.
This chapter is prepared in the case of the RILEM Technical Committee TC 279-TCE (Testing and characterisation of earth-based building materials and elements). The authors wish to thank the French National Research Agency (ANR) for funding the PRIMATERRE project (ANR-12-Villes et Bâtiments Durables). Several results presented in this paper are the outcome of this project. The funding from the ReBuMAT project (German-Vietnamese Collaborative Project on Resource-efficient Construction using Sustainable Building Materials) is acknowledged. Part of this work was also carried out within the framework of project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016737 (PTDC/ECM-EST/2777/2014), financed by FEDER funds through the Competitivity Factors Operational Programme—COMPETE and by FCT—Foundation for Science and Technology. The funding provided is kindly acknowledged. This work was partly financed by FEDER funds through the Competitivity Factors Operational Programme—COMPETE and by national funds through FCT—Foundation for Science and Technology within the scope of project SafEarth (PTDC/ECM-EST/2777/2014).