Question

Survey of India locality including your own house and indicate the building that are old structurally weak and unsafe to leave make three list very unsafe partially and save and save

Answer 1

The dead loads are nothing but the self-weight of the buildings and the weight of the other immovable objects that may be kept inside the building. The live loads are the movable loads that are imposed for a short duration at a particular position. For example, weight of the moving cars on a bridge is the live load applied on a bridge.

Similarly, in buildings, people and various other objects which are not stationary constitute live loads.

A margin of safety called “factor of safety” is taken into consideration during the design of any building so that a building is designed to resist a higher range of loads than what it is going to be exposed to in practice.

Therefore, a properly designed structure which is executed according to those designs should not collapse or show deep structural faults until its design life ends. But, many of the modern day buildings are undergoing failure on both the counts of durability and serviceability.

Stability of a building

The stability of a building is understood with respect to its ability to resist various stresses, displacement, and deflections that may lead to the collapse of the buildings.

THE STABILITY DEPENDS ON VARIOUS FACTORS LIKE, TYPE AND DISTRIBUTION OF LOADS ON THE BUILDING; THE SHAPE, SIZE AND MATERIALS USED IN THE BUILDING ETC. A BUILDING MAY COLLAPSE WHEN A LOCAL FAILURE AT ONE STRUCTURAL MEMBER LEADS TO FAILURE AT ADJACENT MEMBERS WHICH WILL IN-TURN LEAD TO FAILURE OF THE WHOLE BUILDING.

Sometimes, a shear wall may fail causing a side-sway failure. An overstressing of the sub-soil below the foundation may result in settlement of sub soil which in-turn will lead to overturning failure of the building.

Causes of building collapse

According to “Study of Recent Building Failures in the United States” report:

“The principal causes of building failures are categorized as deficiencies in design,detailing, construction, maintenance, use of materials, and  inadequate consideration of external events. Deficiency in design constitutes errors, mistakes, oversight, omission, or conceptual flaw that could have taken place during the design process of the building. Detailing is a ‘‘transition’’ process between design and construction periods, in which the details of the structural design are prepared for their implementation through shop drawings. Detailing deficiency includes errors, mistakes,omissions, and discontinuity/loss of design concept. Construction deficiency occurs as problems with workmanship and deviation of results from the specifications.”

The India Disaster Report 2013 points out the following causes of building collapse:

1. The structure is not strong enough to support the load and hence it fails when it reaches a critical stress level. The structure may be weak due to its shape, size, or choice of its material.

2. The instability due to geometry, design, or material choice, will cause the structure to fail from fatigue or corrosion.

3. Failure may also occur due to improper selection of materials, incorrect sizing, improper heat treating, or shoddy workmanship.

4. Failure may also occur from use of defective materials. The material may have been improperly manufactured, or may have been damaged from prior use.

5. Vandalism, sabotage, and natural disasters can overstress a structure to the point of failure. Improper training of those who use and maintain the construction can also overstress it, leading to potential failures.

Remedies against building collapse:

First and foremost remedy will be to curb illegal constructions.

THE MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS SHOULD ALSO CARRY OUT A SURVEY OF THE HEALTH OF THE VARIOUS BUILDINGS TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF ITS RESIDENTS. STRICT ACTION SHOULD BE IMPLEMENTED AGAINST THOSE WHO SUBVERT THE LAW AND BUILD ILLEGAL BUILDINGS OR ADD EXTRA FLOORS THAN PERMISSIBLE ACCORDING TO LOCAL BUILDING CODES.

At a technical level, no construction should ever be started without a proper structural design by a structural engineer.

THE BUILDERS MUST EMPLOY QUALITY MATERIALS AND GOOD WORKMANSHIP IN THE EXECUTION OF A STRUCTURE. SOIL TESTS MUST BE COMPULSORILY CONDUCTED BEFORE THE CONSTRUCTION OF ANY BUILDING. STRICT SUPERVISION AS WELL AS THIRD PARTY ASSESSMENT MUST BE IMPLEMENTED TO ASSESS THE QUALITY OF WORK AT A CONSTRUCTIO

Answer 2

Answer:

There are approximately 50 houses in my locality.  

Out of them 10 houses are extremely unsafe as they were constructed over 35 years ago and are very old and worn- out.

25 houses are partially unsafe as they are constructed at least 20 years ago and have started showing signs of damage

15 houses are absolutely safe as they are constructed at least 5 years and are absolutely new.    

Explanation:

hope it helps.