Question

Seismic resonance is responsible for the damage caused to building by earthquakes. Apply the concepts of wave energy and resonance to explain how earthquakes damage the man-made structures.

*NEED THE ANSWER TYPED IF POSSIBLE!

Answer 1

First of all , Let's understand what is resonance in terms of Seismology.

All the man made structures have some frequency means the number of time they vibrate back and forth when disturbed. Ground ( earth) also has its own resonance. The hard, solid ground has more resonance than softer ground. However, the building made on firm base have strong chance to resist damage. This is the reason engineers always check for underground water when laying foundation of any structure.

Now, the main reason earthequakes incur damage is because of large horizontal acceleration. When the natural frequency of ground matches somewhat with the frequency of buildings and other structures , we feel little shocks of earthquakes.

However, when the frequency matches exactly and buildings are in complete resonance with the earth, very large oscillations occur with maximum energy transfer between ground and building. A large, unavoidable destruction of life and property will occur as a result.

The only way to avoid this is to make our structures more stronger and sturdy to eradicate as much vibrations as possible , main focus should be to avoid horizontal disturbances.