Degenkolb Engineer Takes Part in EERI Chile Recon Trip
The morning of February the 27th (Saturday) I was at home browsing the internet. It is difficult to describe a train of thought when you first find out these types of facts: An 8.8 earthquake hits south of Santiago; Concepcion, Chile’s second largest city, is most damaged; strong shaking lasts almost a minute; inaccurate information leads the president to disregard a tsunami threat, and the consequences are devastating.
My first reaction was to contact family and friends in Santiago de Chile, warn them about aftershocks and remind them that Chilean construction is probably one of the safest in the world. I remembered old papers talking about how well buildings fared in Viña del Mar after the 1985 Valparaiso earthquake. Plus, I kept telling myself, Chile and its population have a great deal of experience with earthquakes. (As Professor Saragoni of the University of Chile told us later, “the US 475-year design earthquake convention doesn’t really make sense in Chile; we have a major earthquake every 25 to 40 years”)
Continuing a long tradition of cooperation between Degenkolb Engineers and EERI, I was lucky enough to be part of the EERI reconnaissance team to Chile. This multi-task group of almost 40 engineers, researchers and students covers the following specialties: Social Sciences, Bridges, Nonstructural, Steel Buildings, Tsunami, Masonry Buildings, Geotechnical Sciences, Instrumentation and Concrete Buildings. I was a member of one of two concrete buildings teams. Our members included: John Wallace (UCLA), Joe Maffei (R&C), Juan Pablo Herranz (Catholic University of Chile, UC), Claudio Frings (UC) and Arturo Millan (Santa Maria University, Valparaiso). More detailed information on this reconnaissance trip can be found here (EERI Chile earthquake clearinghouse).
To me, the most important part of our trip was our first days in Viña del Mar. We visited buildings that had survived the 1985 earthquake and sustained different levels of damage at the time (click here for a report on those buildings). It was fascinating to see how those buildings fared after the most recent earthquake, some better than others. Taking into account buildings in other regions of the country as well, I noticed that damage to pre-1985 concrete shear wall buildings was sporadic, whereas damage to new buildings was more recurrent. In general, however, reinforced concrete buildings did pretty well… again. Of course, there are specific cases that need to be studied more closely (link in Spanish) like the cases of the much publicized Edificio Alto Rio (link in Spanish, pics included) and Torre O’Higgins (link in Spanish, includes pics of the construction) in the city of Concepion.
At the beginning of the trip Professor Riddell from the Catholic University of Chile and EERI reconnaissance team co-leader, accurately stated that “the information we will collect from this earthquake will be vast and the tasks ahead will be overwhelming”. Taking part in this learning process will require extensive cooperation and communication between the US and Chilean engineering and research communities.
The next task of the EERI team is to create and publish reconnaissance reports. With the permission of the EERI team leadership, I’ll keep you posted on these documents as they develop.
Below are some photos from my experience in Chile.
Concepcion. Edificio Bosque Mar (post 1996). 20 stories. Longitudinal wall at 1st floor.
Concepcion. Edificio Olas (post 1996). 14 stories. Transverse side wall at base.
Viña del Mar. Edificio Toledo (post 1996). 11 Stories. Transverse basement walls.
Viña del Mar. Edificio Antigona (post 1996). 16 stories. Transverse side wall.
V
iña del Mar. Edificio Festival (pre 1985). 14 stories. Longitudinal wall at 1st floor.
Jack Moehle addressing the EERI recon team in Santiago. Rafael Riddell to his left, Rodolfo Saragoni to his right (smiling). (Picture by Carlos Sempere)
Concepcion. Edificio Centro Mayor (post 1996). 17 stories. Transverse wall at second floor.
