The earthquake that shook Hispaniola on 12 January 2010 devastated Haiti. The damage was widespread due to uncontrolled construction, poor material quality, and lack of rigorous engineering design. Post-event reconnaissance has brought to light serious deficiencies in these areas. Residential buildings in Haiti are typically constructed by their owners, who may or may not have the skills or resources to build a structure that is earthquake-safe. Few structures are designed by engineering professionals or are inspected for quality of construction. The two most common construction materials are masonry block and reinforced concrete. Masonry blocks, concrete cylinders, and reinforcing steel were taken from Haiti and tested in the United States. The concrete and masonry were shown to be of low strength and quality. The steel samples show expected strength properties with some specimens having reduced ductility due to bending. Building performance is demonstrated by reconnaissance photographs and case studies of the structures inspected by reconnaissance team members.
The Mw 7.0 earthquake that struck Haiti on 12 January 2010 exposed deeply rooted weaknesses of the built environment. Numerous factors contributed to the severity of this disaster, including building materials, design, construction, and oversight, all of which were deficient and represent a lower bound condition. Yet despite poor quality, some structures were undamaged. A minor change in construction sequence resulted in an altered load path and a drastically different outcome for some buildings. Infilled frame systems performed poorly and account for the majority of structural collapses. Buildings assembled in a manner similar to confined masonry, however, performed well and experienced little damage. Damage assessments conducted around Port-au-Prince reveal that 20% of the housing stock was completely destroyed and 27% was significantly damaged. These assessments illuminate Haiti's vulnerability to future and repeated devastation, since the remaining damaged and brittle structures could likely not sustain additional excitation.
This paper examines the influence of two reversed cyclic loading protocols on the response of gypsum light-gauge metal-stud partition walls, which are common in office, hotel, and laboratory buildings. Two identical full-scale three-dimensional specimens were constructed to represent a typical room in an office building. The specimens were tested quasi-statically along two axes using different loading protocols. The loading protocols were applied to observe the sensitivity of loading protocol on damage progression. The loading protocols were developed for the Applied Technology Council ATC-58 project published in FEMA 461, which, among others, addresses the racking protocol of nonstructural building components for use within a performance-based earthquake engineering framework. Details are given about the damage progression of the specimens to the loading protocols and their lateral force-displacement response characteristics.
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