EN 1998 EUROCODE 8:

DESIGN OF STRUCTURES FOR EARTHQUAKE

RESISTANCE

Dr. Borislav Belev

Dept. of Steel and Timber Structures
UACEG, Sofia

Teaching mobility, ERASMUS Programme

Host university: IKU, Istanbul
March-April 2010
 European Standards (ENs)
Material standards (steel, concrete, etc.)
Product standards (hot-rolled shapes,
structural hollow sections, suspended
ceilings, etc.)
ETAs (European Technical Approvals)
Test standards
Design standards → the Eurocodes
Execution standards (steel, concrete str.)
 The Structural Eurocodes
EN 1990 Eurocode 0 : Basis of structural design
EN 1991 Eurocode 1 : Actions on structures
EN 1992 Eurocode 2 : Design of concrete structures
EN 1993 Eurocode 3 : Design of steel structures
EN 1994 Eurocode 4 : Design of composite steel and
concrete structures
EN 1995 Eurocode 5 : Design of timber structures
EN 1996 Eurocode 6 : Design of masonry structures
EN 1997 Eurocode 7 : Geotechnical design
EN 1998 Eurocode 8 : Design of structures for
earthquake resistance
EN 1999 Eurocode 9 : Design of aluminium
structures
 Features of Eurocode system
Integrated and comprehensive set of documents;
Covers all major structural materials and systems;
Similar notations, terminology and verification format;
Built-in flexibility to account for national traditions,
climate conditions, etc, through the National Annexes;
Links and cross-referencing among different ECs and
their Parts;
Serves as a means to prove compliance of building and
civil engineering works with the essential requirements of
Council Directive 89/106/EEC, mainly with Essential
Requirement N°1 – Mechanical resistance and stability –
and Essential Requirement N°2 – Safety in case of fire.
 Parts of Eurocode 8
EN1998-1: General rules, seismic actions and
rules for buildings
EN1998-2: Bridges
EN1998-3: Assesment and retrofitting of
buildings
EN1998-4: Silos, tanks and pipelines
EN1998-5: Foundations, retaining structures
and geotechnical aspects
EN1998-6: Towers, masts and chimneys
EN 1998, Part 1. General rules, seismic
actions and rules for buildings
1. General
2. Performance Requirements and Compliance Criteria
3. Ground Conditions and Seismic Action
4. Design of Buildings
5. Specific Rules for Concrete Buildings
6. Specific Rules for Steel Buildings
7. Specific Rules for Steel-Concrete Composite Buildings
8. Specific Rules for Timber Buildings
9. Specific Rules for Masonry Buildings
10. Base Isolation
11. Annex A, Annex B and Annex C
 EN 1998, Part 1. / General
Scope
Normative references
Assumptions
Distinction between principles and
application rules
Terms and definitions
Symbols
S.I. units
 EN 1998, Part 1.
General / Terms and definitions
Behaviour factor q: factor used for design purposes to reduce the
forces obtained from a linear analysis, in order to account for the
non-linear response of a structure (similar to R-factor in Turkish
seismic code)
Dissipative structure: structure which is able to dissipate energy
by means of ductile hysteretic behaviour and/or by other
mechanisms
Non-dissipative structure: structure designed for a particular
seismic design situation without taking into account the non-linear
material behaviour
Primary seismic members: members considered as part of the
structural system that resists the seismic action, modelled in the
analysis for the seismic design situation and fully designed and
detailed for earthquake resistance
 EN 1998, Part 1.
General / Terms and definitions
capacity design method: design method in which elements of the
structural system are chosen and suitably designed and detailed for
energy dissipation under severe deformations while all other
structural elements are provided with sufficient overstrength so that
the assumed means of energy dissipation can be maintained

Option 1: Brittle
links weaker

Option 2: Brittle
links stronger
 EN 1998, Part 1.
Performance Requirements and
Compliance Criteria (1)
1. No-collapse requirement (NCR)
Design seismic action: “rare” quake with a reference
probability of exceedance = 10% in 50 years (reference
return period = 475 years)
Avoid local or global collapse, retained structural integrity
and a residual load bearing capacity after the seismic
events
Compliance criteria: ULS checks. Ultimate limit states
are those associated with collapse or with other forms of
structural failure which might endanger the safety of
people
It shall be verified that the structural system has the
resistance and energy dissipation capacity specified in
the relevant Parts of EN 1998
 EN 1998, Part 1.
Performance Requirements and
Compliance Criteria (2)
2. Damage limitation requirement (DLR)
Design seismic action: “frequent” quake with a reference
probability of exceedance = 10% in 10 years (reference
return period = 95 years)
Avoid damage and associated limitations of use, the
costs of which would be disproportionately high in
comparison with the construction cost
Compliance criteria: DLS checks to ensure reliability
against unacceptable damage by satisfying the
deformation limits (typically interstorey drifts)
For critical facilities – provide sufficient resistance and
stiffness to maintain the function of the vital services
during and following a seismic event with an appropriate
return period
 ULS Verification for buildings
Resistance condition (provide strength)
Global and local ductility condition (e.g. prevent soft
storey plastic mechanism, avoid brittle failure modes)
for MRFs: SCWB concept

Equilibrium condition (avoid global overturning and

sliding)
Resistance of horizontal diaphragms (reliable transfer
and distribution of lateral seismic forces)
Resistance of foundations (account for all sources of
overstrength in the supported structure)
Seismic joint condition (avoid pounding of adjacent
bldgs)
Damage limitation criteria for buildings
Seismic action for DLS: Nationally Determined
Parameter (NDP)
For ordinary buildings: recommended intensity ~ 50% of
“design seismic action”
In buildings: Interstorey drifts are calculated using the
“equal displacement rule” (assumed elastic response)
Interstorey drift < 0.005 for brittle nonstructural
elements attached to structure
Interstorey drift < 0.0075 for ductile nonstructural
elements attached to structure;
Interstorey drift < 0.01 for nonstructural elements not
interfering with structural deformations.
In RC, steel or composite frame buildings the DL checks
typically govern the design (very stringent drift limitations
compared to other codes).
Ground Conditions and Seismic Action
Ground types: A, B, C, D and E plus two special types
S1 and S2
The site should be classified according to the value of
the average shear wave velocity, vs,30, if this is available.
Otherwise the value of NSPT should be used
For sites with ground conditions matching the ground
types S1 or S2, site-specific studies for the definition of
the seismic action are required
The Reference Seismic action is described in terms of
the Reference PGA on rock (ground type A), agR.
The design ground acceleration on rock, ag, is the
reference PGA times the importance factor: ag = γIagR
Basic representation of the seismic
action (Elastic response spectra)
Recommended: Two types of horizontal spectra derived
from South-European data:
− Type 1 spectrum: High & moderate seismicity (distant
earthquakes with Ms> 5.5)
− Type 2 spectrum: Low seismicity
(local quakes with Ms< 5.5)
Corner periods TB, TC, TD and
soil factor S: Nationally
Determined Parameters
Comparison of Type 1 and Type 2
elastic response spectra
 Vertical elastic response spectrum

Two types of spectral shapes according to surface-wave

magnitude MS
No dependence on ground types (S = 1,0)
Vertical PGA = 0,9 of horiz. PGA (Type 1 spectrum)
Vertical PGA = 0,45 of horiz. PGA (Type 2 spectrum)
Spectral amplification = 3,0 (compare to 2,5 for horiz.)
Very short plateau (TB = 0,05 s, TC = 0,15 s) and TD =
1,0 s
The recommended values for the vertical PGA and TB,
TC, TD do not apply for soil types S1 and S2
Design spectrum for elastic analysis
Derived from the elastic response spectrum depending
on the assumed q-value
Behaviour factor q – implicitly accounts for the energy
dissipation and global structural ductility
For the vertical component of the seismic action q ≤1,5
should generally be adopted for all materials and
structural systems (low dissipation properties)
Lower bound factor β for the horizontal design spectrum
(recommended β = 0,2)
Despite that the design is based on linear elastic
analysis, this does not mean that the structure will
respond elastically to the strong design earthquake !!!
Definition of the design spectrum

Note: The design spectrum is not appropriate for design of

structures with base-isolation or energy-dissipation systems
Example of elastic and design spectra

Response spectra for ag = 0.25g and soil type C

8.0

7.0
Spectral acceleration (m/s2)

6.0 Elastic response spectrum

5.0 Design response spectrum for q=2

4.0 Design response spectrum for q=4

Lower bound of the design spectra

3.0

2.0

1.0

0.0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0
Period of vibration T (s)
 Section 4. Design of Buildings

4.1 General
4.2 Characteristics of earthquake resistant
buildings
4.3 Structural analysis
4.4 Safety verifications
 Guiding principles for conceptual
design of buildings
structural simplicity
uniformity, symmetry and redundancy
bi-directional resistance and stiffness
torsional resistance and stiffness
diaphragmatic behaviour at storey level
adequate foundation
 Importance of regularity

• The reference values of the behaviour factor are given in Sect. 5 to 9

• For non-regular in elevation buildings the decreased values of the
behaviour factor are the reference values multiplied by 0,8
 Criteria for regularity
Mainly qualitative - could be checked at the early stage
of design
Based on simplified rules
Must be conceived as necessary conditions only. It shall
be verified that the assumed regularity of the building
structure is not impaired by other characteristics, not
included in these criteria
Promote torsionally stiff and torsionally-balanced
structural layouts
Criticized by some experts (see Booth and Bisch, 2008)
“EC8, although it discourages irregularity, does not forbid
it.”
No distinction between ‘moderate’ and ‘high’ levels of
irregularity
Example: buildings with setbacks
 Modelling for structural analysis
Models for linear analysis: shall adequately represent the
distribution of stiffness and mass
Models for non-linear analysis: shall also adequately
represent the distribution of strength
In RC, composite and masonry buildings the stiffness of
the load bearing elements should be evaluated taking
into account the effect of cracking. Such stiffness should
correspond to the onset of yielding of the reinforcement
Infill walls which contribute significantly to the lateral
stiffness and resistance of the building should be taken
into account. See 4.3.6 for masonry infills of RC, steel or
composite frames.
 Methods of analysis
Lateral force method of analysis (limited application)
Modal response spectrum analysis – the preferred and primary
method of Eurocode 8, Part 1
Non-linear methods: non-linear static (pushover) analysis and non-
linear time history (dynamic) analysis
Vertical component of seismic action considered when avg > 0,25g
for the following cases:
- horizontal or nearly horizontal members with L ≥ 20 m
- horizontal or nearly horizontal cantilevers with L ≥ 5 m
- horizontal or nearly horizontal prestressed components
- for beams supporting columns
- base-isolated structures
Section 6: Specific rules for steel
structures
Seismic-resisting systems: MRF
Seismic-resisting systems: CBF
Seismic-resisting systems: EBF
Seismic-resisting systems: Inverted
pendulum structures
Seismic-resisting systems: mixed and dual
Reference values of q for steel structures
Reference values of q for RC structures
 Recommended values for the
redundancy factor (RC buildings)
Thank you for your attention !
Questions?