SURFACE GROUND MOTIONS, STRUCTURAL

DAMAGE AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES IN R/C

BUILDINGS DURING AND AFTER THE 2010 MW 8.8
MAULE EARTHQUAKE, CHILE
Patricio BONELLI
Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Universidad Tcnica Federico Santa Mara,
Valparaso, Chile, patricio.bonelli@usm.cl
ABSTRACT: The overall performance of R/C buildings in Chile to the Maule
earthquake and previous earthquakes has been rather acceptable, in terms of the amount
of damage observed. However, newer high-rise buildings founded on softer soils, with
natural periods shorter but close to the natural period of the soil, suffered unacceptable
levels of damage in walls in lower levels. This paper describes one of some emerging
low-damage technologies implemented in Chile after the 2010 earthquake. It is an
industrial facility built using precast post-tensioned elements.
Key Words: Bedrock depth, soft soils, lateral drifts, R/C industrial facilities, damage.

INTRODUCTION
The February 27th, 2010, Mw 8.8 Maule earthquake in Chile, generated MM VII intensity or higher, on
a 100 km wide by 600 km long corridor. About eight million people live in this corridor, forty percent
of the country population. The central government, and a large percentage of the domestic and export
industries are located within this area. Direct costs of damage might have exceeded US $25 billion,
about 16% of GDP.
In the northern of such affected area, a magnitude M s 7.8 earthquake had previously occurred in
1985. Approximately 9,974 buildings over 3 stories high were built within this area ever since (Comit
Inmobiliario CChC 2010); only a three per cent of them were taller than ten stories. During the 2010
Earthquake only four buildings collapsed. Forty buildings were severely damaged in the city of
Concepcion and one new fifteen story building experienced a catastrophic collapse. Only ten
buildings had severe damage in the coastal city of Via del Mar, but none of them collapsed. Ten of
the most severely damaged buildings were demolished in Concepcin and four in Via del Mar. Most
engineered buildings, designed in accordance with the Chilean practice, must have been sustained to
lateral drifts lower than 0.5%, having an operational response. The historical Chilean practice
consisting in using high-density shear walls as lateral load resistant systems, instead of frames, has
been considered as the reason of a good global performance of high-rise buildings during the 2010
Chile Earthquake (Lagos et al, 2012). However, the damage occurred in a few amount of buildings can
be minimized by adding some changes to current loading and design codes.
Four millions dwellings were affected by the 2010 Earthquake, only 1,424,809 dwellings, 36% of
total affected dwellings, had insurance against earthquake damage (Brain and Mora, 2014). Most of

damage occurred in non-engineering housing. According to government statistics, 370,000 dwellings

had severe or reparable damage (MINVU, 2010).
Although most of structures behaved well, there was significant damage to non structural
elements. This was in part because of a lack of design and installation of these elements. Office and
commercial buildings were affected and over fifteen hospitals lost operation. The damage occurred
mainly due to the lack of lateral bracing and compression struts, and in connections. Widespread flood
was caused by breakage of fire sprinkler systems, affecting immediate operation of shopping malls,
casinos and airports. Additionally, severe damage and loss of operation was reported in practically
50% of the elevators (Boroscheck et al, 2014).
Design codes were modified after the Maule earthquake and a number of emerging low-damage
technologies have become popular. Because no base isolated building experienced damage, baseisolation has become popular among government agencies, investors, stakeholders and the public,
increasing considerably the number of new buildings with base isolators.
DAMAGE IN R/C BUILDINGS AND SOIL CONDITIONS
The overall performance of R/C buildings in Chile to the Maule earthquake and previous earthquakes
has been rather acceptable, in terms of the amount of damage observed. However, many newer highrise buildings founded on softer soils conditions suffered damage in walls in lower levels.
Assessments of buildings designed before the 2010 Chile Earthquake have concluded that these
types of buildings can withstand lateral displacements between half and one percent their height,
without visible damage. Buildings with natural periods similar to the natural period of the soil above
them suffered damage in their walls in sites where the bedrock was deeper than 70 meters (230 feet).
Photos of damages in some of these buildings are shown in Photo 1.

(i) Marina del Sol, repaired

(iv) Festival, to be demolished

(ii) Antigona, repaired

(v) Monte Bianco, repaired

(iii) Bahia, demolished

(vi) Tricahue, repaired

Photo 1. Damage in walls in buildings in Via del Mar.

Fig. 1. Bedrock depth and damaged buildings in Via del Mar, during the 2010 Earthquake. Yellow
circles show buildings badly damaged, red circles show location of buildings that were demolished.
Equal bedrock depths are shown with colored contour lines.
The natural period of the soil in Via del Mar has been measured using Nakamuras method. Results
are valid only for small deformations. Damages occurred where the natural period of the building,
around one second, was similar to the natural period of soil. Similar building with natural periods in
this range founded on firm soils withstood the earthquake without visible damage. Buildings with
periods lower than 0.5 seconds founded in the area where the rock is deep, did not have exhibit
damage.

(i) Concepcin

(ii) Via del Mar

Fig. 2. Fundamental period of soil and damaged buildings in Concepcin and Via del Mar cities city,
during the 2010 Earthquake.
SURFACE GROUND MOTION IN VIA DEL MAR
Several strong motion records were obtained by the University of Chile during this earthquake and are
available (terremotos.ing.uchile.cl). Some of them had peak ground accelerations in the order of 0.9g.
There is only one record in Via del Mar city, one kilometre far from the area with damage in
buildings, and other one recorded on rock, at Universidad Santa Mara. These two stations are shown
in Fig. 3a) and records in top of Fig. 5. No records were obtained close to the area of the city where a

large number of buildings suffered damage. This zone will be called as Ocho Norte Street (see Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. a) Locations of seismological stations in Valparaiso and Via del Mar. b) Shear wave velocity
for different layers of soil for two locations: Via del Mar Centre and Ocho Norte Street.
Shear wave propagation velocity was measured in Via del Mar using ReMi and downhole tests. Fig.
3 b) shows the shear wave velocity for different layers of soil for two locations: Via del Mar Centre,
where a record of the 2010 Earthquake was obtained by Universidad de Chile network, and for Ocho
Norte Street, area of the city with many buildings with damage in walls.
A cross section through the city, passing through yellows circles in Fig. 3, is shown at Fig. 4. The
one dimension theory (Bardet, 2000), called as 1-D, was applied, but displacements computed for
Ocho Norte street were too smalls to explain the damage in walls. To consider the basin effect, a two
dimensional analysis was run using finite elements, with Plaxis computer program, referred as 2-D.

Fig. 4. Diagrammatic cross section through Via del Mar City.

Shear moduli degradation and damping were considered from relationships proposed by Seed & Idriss
(1970). Stiffness degradation and damping ratio for the bedrock were taken from Idrisss relationships
for rocks. Results from both methods for Via del Mar Centre, where the record was obtained, and for
Ocho Norte Street, where damage occurred, are shown in Fig. 5. The record of the ground motion
obtained in rock, in Valparaso UTFSM station, which location is shown in Figure 3 a), was used to
estimate the possible ground motion in the bedrock.

(a) Valparaso UTFSM and Via del Mar Centre record.

(b) Ground motions computed with 1D and 2D models for Via del Mar Centre, and Ocho Norte Street.

Fig. 5. Records on rock, on sand and surface ground motion calculated with 1-D model EERA, and
2-D model Plaxis.
Elastic displacement response spectra are usually used to estimate displacement at roof of buildings
for design purposes. FEMA 273 permits to evaluate lateral displacement at roof as = C0 C1 C2 C3 Sd,
where coefficients C take into account the higher mode contribution, relation between inelastic
displacement and elastic displacement and the effect of hysteretic shape and P- effects. There are
other effects to be taken into account, as damping ratio and the possibility the design earthquake can
be exceeded. The Chilean Code uses only one factor, equal to 1.3. Then, linear elastic displacement
response spectra were computed for Via del Mar Centro record and for surface ground motion in
Ocho Norte since they can be related to displacement demands. Results obtained with both methods,
the 1-D and the 2-D theories are shown at Fig. 6, left. Results matches well and can be considered
satisfactory for periods until one second.
Most of R/C buildings with damage in boundary elements in walls had a natural period around 0.6
sec, when gross section properties have been considered in analysis, and equal to 1.0 second if cracked
section properties were used. In that order of periods, elastic displacement spectra have ordinates
around 160 mm (6.3 in). Assessment of some buildings with damages permits estimate that the
observed type of damage would have occurred at lateral displacements of roof around 300 mm (11.8
in), close to one per cent drift, with a very brittle behavior. Elastic displacements for Via del Mar
Centro Station are consistent with building behavior in that area, since no damage was reported.
Elastic displacement spectrum obtained for Ocho Norte Street, where many medium high rise
buildings were damaged, has large spectral ordinates around 1.2 sec. periods. Fig. 6 right, compares
elastic displacement spectra for the ground motion recorded in rock, UTFSM station, on sand in Via
del Mar Centre, and for the ground motion calculated with 1-D and 2-D models for Ocho Norte Street
area. Damping ratio equal to = 2%, was considered in computations. Important differences result
from both theories, for 1.3 to 1.4 seconds, displacements reach values as large as 800 mm (31.5 in),
while with a 1-D model only 200 mm (7.9 in) have been computed in that range of periods.
A Comparison of Present Chilean and U.S. Model Building Code Seismic Provisions and Seismic
Design Practices has been made by the Applied Technology Council and National Institute of
Standards and Technology, research project ATC-92 (Report NIST GCR 11-917-18). The Chilean
Code computes the design lateral displacement at roof as 1.3 times the elastic displacement spectrum
ordinate for the natural period of the building, for a 1.0 second structure, the design displacement
would be about 1.3 x 200 = 260 mm (10 in). It does not correlate well with observed damage in that
area since those buildings could have been subjected to lateral displacement between 300 and 400 mm
(12 16 in). Better results are given from FEMA 273, using an amplification factor equal to 1.5, then
1.5 x 200 = 300 mm (12 in). This procedure must not be applied to sinusoidal records as that obtained
in Concepcin city, since displacement demands are sub estimated.

Fig. 6. Left) Elastic displacement spectra for Via del Mar Centro record and for surface ground
motion computed in that place from a 1-D model and 2-D models, = 2%. Right) Elastic displacement
spectra for rock and sand for Valparaiso record, Via del Mar Centro record and for surface ground
motion obtained in 8 Norte Street from 1-D and 2-D models , damping ratio = 2%.
Since non-linear excursions are expected, according the observed damage, nonlinear displacement
spectra were computed for a Clough rule of behavior, for ductility ratios equal to 2, 3 ad 4, for surface
ground motion in Ocho Norte Street obtained with 1-D and 2-D models. Fig. 7 shows results only for
ductility ratio equal to 2. Results are very similar for ductility ratios between two and three.
Displacements are as large as 500 mm (20 in) for periods close to 1.3 seconds, however, taller
buildings in that area did not exhibit damage.

Fig. 7. Inelastic displacement spectra for Ocho Norte Street for ductility ratios equal to one and two,
for ground motion at surface calculated with 1-D and 2-D models, = 2%.
Results of amplification theory are very sensitive to soil properties and type of model. Damage in
buildings in Via del Mar cannot be explained only from displacement response spectra as computed
in the Chilean Code or using expressions from FEMA 273.

CONCEPCIN CENTRO RECORD

A record was obtained in Concepcin city, in soil conditions similar to Via del Mar city. Soil can be
classified as Class D, with an average Vs of 220 m/sec (722 feet/sec). Duration of strong ground
motion was 85 seconds and included more than 10 cycles of high accelerations with amplitudes
greater than 0.10g, Fig. 8. This characteristic is strongly related with geotechnical conditions of the
site. Narrow band-pass filtering of this record at T = 1.9 sec shows 14 sinusoid cycles of increased
acceleration resulting from the response of the deep alluvial soil column where the station is located
(Boroschek et al, 2014). Similar frequency content to Ocho Norte Street ground motion can be
observed if frequencies are filtered between 0.25 Hz 0.8 Hz, Fig. 8.

Fig. 8. Acceleration time histories. Station: Concepcin-Colegio Inmaculada Concepcin. Low

frequency contents in both records, Concepcion and Ocho Norte Street in Via del Mar.
Nonlinear displacement spectra were computed for Clough rule of behavior, for ductility ratios equal
to 2, 3 and 4, for Concepcin Centro record. Displacement design spectra for ductility ratio equal to
two were drawn in Fig. 9.

Fig. 9. Inelastic displacement spectra for Concepcion Centro record and surface ground motions
obtained for Via del Mar, for ductility ratios equal to 2, = 2%, and design spectra of current
Chilean Code.

A comparison with inelastic displacement spectra for Via del Mar Centro record and Ocho Norte
street computed surface ground motion is made in Fig 9. Design displacement spectra from Chilean
Code were added. For structures with natural periods between 1.0 and 1.5 sec., lateral displacements
as large as sixty centimeters are expected for Concepcion record. Displacements for all the considered
records are very similar for periods lower than 1.4 sec. Displacement spectra ordinates do not reach
twenty centimeters for one second period. Only for Concepcion record ordinates in that range of
period are slightly larger, 300 mm (12 in) for the longitudinal component in one second period. That is
not consistent with the large number of buildings with severe damage in that area since almost all
buildings with important damages in Concepcion and Via del Mar city has a natural period around
1.0 sec., when cracked properties were considered in analysis. Damages in those buildings have been
related to lateral displacements larger than 300 mm (12 in). Nonlinear time history analysis has given
larger displacements for some analyzed buildings; Wallace has computed lateral displacements as
large as 450 mm (18 in) for the collapsed building in Concepcion (Wallace, 2012).
CASE OF STUDY INDUSTRIAL FACILITY
A single structure has been chosen as case of study to compare displacement demands from records
considered in this paper. It is a frame, part of an industrial facility, under construction in Concepcion.
The frame has been designed using precast prestressed beams and precast columns with hybrid
connections, Fig. 10. Connections are in the columns, and they were designed according to PRESSS
system, tested at University of California, San Diego. TG1.1 y TG1.2 from ACI task groups were
applied in design.

Fig. 10. Precast frame with hybrid connections in columns.

A time history analysis was run using Ruaumoko computer program (Carr, 2000). Fig. 11 shows the
lateral displacement at roof calculated using Concepcion record, and the moment rotation relationships
for one of the connections for a R/C conventional structure and for the hybrid precast frame. The
maximum lateral displacement at roof computed for the conventional structure was 340 mm (13 in),
little smaller than the 400 mm (16 in) calculated for the hybrid precast frame. Rotation in the hybrid
connection was as large as three percent. These values justified the selection of a hybrid system, since
this amount of displacements would be related with important structural damage in a conventional R/C
structure.

Fig. 11. Lateral displacement at roof calculated using Concepcion record, top) conventional reinforced
concrete frame, bottom) precast frame with hybrid connections.
Fig. 13 shows moment curvature relationship at a critical section in the column of a R/C conventional
frame, and moment rotation relationships for a hybrid connection at same position in the column in the
hybrid precast frame. Maximum rotations computed for Via del Mar and Concepcin ground motions
were drawn over the moment rotation curve. Maximum rotation at critical section was 1.5% for Ocho
Norte Street, with the acceleration history with the 2-D theory, and only one percent for Via del Mar
Centro record.

Fig. 13. Left) Moment curvature at critical section for Concepcion record, right) moment rotation in a
hybrid connection.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
New high-rise buildings founded on softer soils suffered damages in walls in lower levels during the
2010 Chile Earthquake, while similar buildings behaved quite well when they are founded on firm
soils. Buildings with natural periods shorter but close to the natural period of the soil above them
suffered damage in their walls, particularly where the bedrock depth was deeper than 70 meters.
Assessments of buildings designed before the 2010 Chile Earthquake has concluded that high-rise R/C

wall buildings can withstand lateral displacements between half and one percent of their height,
without visible damage.
A number of emerging low-damage technologies are being implemented in Chile after the 2010
earthquake. An industrial facility has been built using precast post-tensioned elements. Large
displacements are expected for a ground motion as recorded in Concepcion Centre. The structure was
designed using prestressed hybrid connections, similar to those tested in PRESSS program at UC San
Diego in the United States. Important differences in displacement demands have been obtained using
records for different soil conditions.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to acknowledge significant contribution of the former graduate student at Universidad
Santa Mara, Valparaso, Chile, Rodrigo Thiers, and to professor Ramn Verdugo for his contribution.
Professor Jos Restrepo, University of California at San Diego, and Dr. Sam Kono have made valuable
observations.
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