Current Issue

IDENTIFICATION OF SHEAR BANDS USING MICROTREMOR MEASUREMENT RESULTS

Tse-Shan Hsu

President, Institute of Mitigation for Earthquake Shear Banding Disasters

Professor, Feng-Chia University, Taiwan, R.O.C., This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Hsin-Mao Wang

Ph.D. Student, Ph.D. Program for Infrastructure Planning and Engineering

Feng-Chia University, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Tsai-Fu Chuang

Associate Professors, Feng-Chia University, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Abstract

Shear bands pose a significant threat to structural safety; therefore, their early detection is crucial when selecting sites for building construction. Existing literature primarily describes qualitative approaches to shear band identification, utilizing satellite imagery and field photographs in conjunction with topographic features indicative of displacement along shear bands. To address the need for a quantitative identification method, this study conducted in-situ micro-vibration measurements at sites of building collapse during the 1999 Jiji earthquake. Based on the micro-vibration analysis results, a novel quantitative approach for identification shear bands is proposed. The effectiveness and accuracy of this method are further validated by comparing its results with the actual locations of shear bands in the field.

Keywords: shear bands, identification, micro-vibration, structural safety.