Day 4 - Chile Earthquake 2010 - Video footage of Alto Rio Apartment Building
Bldg ID 3-10.2
Alto Rio Bldg (36⁰ 49′ 41″, 73⁰ 03′ 41″)
This concrete apartment building built in 2009 (currently not shown on Google Earth) has been strewn across all media channels. When we arrived, we were shocked and in awe of the devastating force this earthquake produced. Survivors were giving testimonials of their earthquake and survival experience. Our tour guide was very sad and on the verge of tears after seeing the site in person. The 16-story structure, with 2 levels below for parking housed approximately 80 tenants. There were approximately 8 fatalities. The search and rescue effort ended yesterday with the last victim found. The lateral system consisted of shear walls in both directions. It is not immediately clear how the building failed due to significant search and rescue efforts that may have increased the amount of damage to the structure (holes cut into slabs, adjacent soil excavated, various elements leaning on the wall, etc.). It appears that the building failed in shear at the base. The structure toppled over and broke in half and went through the basement slab of the adjacent building site (the foundations and 1st floor slab were completed for another apartment building of the same design on the adjacent site). We observed the 8″ thick shearwalls had #3 bars at 8″o.c. with 4 #7 boundary bars typically. A neighboring building of similar construction was still standing.

Talca, Chile
photos by James Liu

We apparently ended up in a hostel….yes a hostel by the name “Casa Chueca” which in Spanish means “Crooked House”. There may have been a little miscommunication from the tour guide (”hotel” I guess sounds close to “hostel”). Apparently, there were not too many places available for stay. The amenities were adequate and the owners/staff were very warm and friendly. We made it through the night in the adobe structures, got up at 7am and began our trek to see another hospital building we heard that was damaged severely.

Bldg ID 3-10.1 Talca Regional Hospital (35⁰ 25′ 35″, 71⁰ 38′ 47″)
Not unlike our medical centers, the hospital we visited was a collection of various buildings of different vintages. Some of the hospital functions were relocated to the adjacent medical clinic. Roger and David once again convinced the medical director to allow access for us to observe the damage. The damage observed was severe, but did not appear as bad as the hospital we observed yesterday in Curico.

1937 and 1950 Building
The oldest structure (started as a 40 bed hospital) was 4 stories, rectangular in shape with a concrete frame and infill hollow brick. There was a pitched roof supported by steel trusses. Concrete slabs supported by concrete beams were typical floor systems for the lower levels. The roof diaphragm did not appear to be connected to the transverse walls. The worst damage occurred at the 3rd story where the masonry partitions were falling into patient rooms. There was no out-of-plane support at the top of the walls. Surprisingly, there was little or no structural damage at the lower stories. Throughout the hospital, heavy lath and plaster ceilings fell from the ceiling and created hazards to walk through. Electricity was out. The OR’s were on the upper floors…exam lights and gas columns performed relatively well. These two structures were planned for demolition to make room for a replacement hospital, but the earthquake helped accelerate the schedule.

1990 structure (620 bed hospital inclusive of original bldgs)
The newest hospital structure, a 4-story concrete shear wall building was rectangular in shape with a lightwell in the middle. From our observation, it appeared to have sustained very minor superficial damage. However, there was a small portion of the hospital that suffered damage and was not in use. There were two seismic joints in the structure with MEP lines designed to accommodate movement at the joints. The lights were all anchored with vertical safety wires. However, we noted a large pile of lights sitting on the corner of the stair. It appeared that some of the support wires broke. Ceiling tiles were down, but the ceiling tile support systems were braced with wires, but no compression struts could be seen.

Clinic
The Clinic was a steel structure, 3-story in height with a steel braced frame lateral system. Quite a number of brace connections showed signs of distress. Gusset plates warped, bolts slipped. Some of the tube steel braces bowed out of plane, but no buckling occurred. The brace frames discontinued at the upper floor suggesting a cantilevered column lateral system. The floors are constructed of concrete slab over metal deck. The roof appeared to be OSB over light gage steel framing. In addition, horizontal X bracing was observed at the roof diaphragm.

In general, the older portion of the hospital performed well. The behavior would be categorized as what the expected performance of an SPC 2 hospital building. Irreparable damage, but life preserved. No patient was killed during the earthquake. The newer structure definitely fit the immediate occupancy characteristics, with exception of the one area that was damaged.

Other Buildings
In addition to the hospital, we noted some silos that had damage. Many roads had been damaged.

Concepcion

On the way to Concepcion, our van ran into technical difficulties. The engine overheated and we pulled over. James and David were trying to be mechanics, but no luck. The drivers flagged down a passing bus from the same tour company and we were on our way again.

We made to Concepcion around 2:15pm. After lunch at 3pm, we began our trek to observe the apartment building that received the most media attention. Walking around the site, we met the 3-star general appointed by the Chile president to investigate the building collapse as well as maintaining the curfew in the city. We continued investigating neighboring buildings that actually performed quite well from the earthquake. Since a military curfew was in place, we returned to our hotel at 8:00pm (our hotel only has water for 1 hour between 7:30pm to 8:30pm).

Bldg ID 3-10.2
Alto Rio Bldg (36⁰ 49′ 41″, 73⁰ 03′ 41″)
This concrete apartment building built in 2009 (currently not shown on Google Earth) has been strewn across all media channels. When we arrived, we were shocked and in awe of the devastating force this earthquake produced. Survivors were giving testimonials of their earthquake and survival experience. Our tour guide was very sad and on the verge of tears after seeing the site in person. The 16-story structure, with 2 levels below for parking housed approximately 80 tenants. There were approximately 8 fatalities. The search and rescue effort ended yesterday with the last victim found. The lateral system consisted of shear walls in both directions. It is not immediately clear how the building failed due to significant search and rescue efforts that may have increased the amount of damage to the structure (holes cut into slabs, adjacent soil excavated, various elements leaning on the wall, etc.). It appears that the building failed in shear at the base. The structure toppled over and broke in half and went through the basement slab of the adjacent building site (the foundations and 1st floor slab were completed for another apartment building of the same design on the adjacent site). We observed the 8″ thick shearwalls had #3 bars at 8″o.c. with 4 #7 boundary bars typically. A neighboring building of similar construction was still standing. Click here to view video footage of the site.

Bldg ID 3-10.3
Metro Control Station (36⁰ 49′ 47″, 73⁰ 03′ 37″)
This structure was located southeast from the Alta Rio Bldg, approximately 1 block away. Unlike the Alta Rio, the structure performed very well for this earthquake. The building function is to provide support for all metro transportation routes. This station was very interesting with multiple types of construction. The overall exterior “shell” consisted of steel roof trusses supported by steel brace frames. Underneath the “shell”, the structure consisted of a two-way concrete frame system with columns extending up and to provide gravity support for the trusses. A third steel brace frame structure is interconnected, but seismically separated, to the concrete portion and also extends up to support the overhead trusses in the “shell”. This building did not have an observable structural damage. There was a lot of nonstructural ceiling damage that was typical on all floors. The data control equipment, the critical element for operation of the metro, was damaged from the shaking. This building is shut down and currently not in operation. As a result, the metro system is still down. They plan to be back up and running in April. Coincidentally, the last victim in the Alta Rio bldg actually worked in this building.

Bldg ID 3-10.4
Ministry of Public Works Bldg (36⁰ 49′ 47″, 73⁰ 03′ 37″)
Two buildings down, we found another very interesting structure. From a distance, the structure was very prominent and definitely caught our attention. The building was approximately 6-stories tall with brace frames and bolted moment frames at the lower level. The brace frames only occurred at exposed lower levels and the bolted moment frame continued as the lateral system for the remainder of the structure. There is a basement where the brace frames and moment frames continue down into. Between the two buildings, a seismically isolated steel frame structure exists providing the interconnection and access to the all floors (stairs and elevators). We met the chief of public works who gave us a tour of the entire building. He gave us an overview of how they design and construct public buildings, which also includes school structures. The building performed very well with very minor damage (ceiling tiles falling, partition walls leaning, pounding between the structures).

We are now staying at the Holiday Inn in Concepcion. We will be here for a number of days and continue our reconnaissance. Until the next blog….

David Gonzalez and James Liu finally arrived on Tuesday morning. We were anxiously waiting for their arrival to head south to the epicenter. We gave them time for a quick shower and breakfast before we hit the road. Our plan is to go to Talca (about 250km from Santiago) and 100km due west from the epicenter. We had heard there was significant damage in Talca and was also a convenient halfway point to Concepcion. We first head to the Enea area of Santiago, which is the industrial area just south of the airport where we had seen a lot of damage the day before. We wanted to give David and James a quick flavor so they could feel they hit the ground running before the long drive.

Bldg ID 3-8.5 Precast Concrete Warehouse (33⁰ 25′ 57″, 70⁰ 46′ 40″) Trial Clothing Warehouse
This is the same warehouse Roger & Anuj visited yesterday. We took a closer look at the wall panels, all stacked neatly on the ground. We noticed the wall panels were approximately 9″ thick with approx. 4″ of Styrofoam in the middle, except at the edges which had a 9″ flush pilaster element with 4 bars. Nice way to reduce weight, the wall spans horizontally to the edges and then up &down at the edge pilasters. Our conclusion is that this building has no real lateral system. The precast beam column connections are gravity only. The wall panels had no shear transfer mechanism. Possibly some cantilevered action in the columns may have saved the building.

Bldg ID 3-9.1 Confined Masonry Warehouse, Ceva (33⁰ 25′ 39″, 70⁰ 46′ 28″)
This is a confined masonry structure. We had seen parapet collapse on the back and front and wanted to get a closer look. After much negotiation with the owner/supervisor and turning down a request for a report, we were let into the building. The warehouse was not in use but still had empty racks that were tied together, braced and bolted and did not move an inch. The walls are 40 ft tall with 16″x 40″ concrete pilasters at 16 feet on center. Smaller concrete beams run horizontally between the pilasters at every 8 ft up. URM brick fills in the space between the concrete members. Long steel trusses spanned from pilaster to pilaster across the width of the building. They had a bearing seat on the pilaster and looked like 4 long bolts thru a base plate into the pilaster. Smaller trusses supported the front and back walls but not at the pilasters, rather in between. They had a end plate with bolts into a small concrete element in the walls. These bolts were short and had pulled out separating the wall from the roof leading to collapse. The rest of the system held together fairly well. The roof diaphragm had cross bracing comprised of double angles. Most of it held up well except some distress in a couple of spots. Every single light fell down.

Bldg ID 3-9.2 Curico Hospital (34⁰ 59′ 24″, 71⁰ 14′ 09″)
We had been wanting to see a hospital and finally we found one. The only hospital in a town of 100,000 and shut down after the earthquake. We could see a concrete frame structure with brick infill, 4 story tall, rectangular shape with center courtyard opening. The hospital had been moved into an adjacent newer clinic building. We were allowed to go in and greeted by the hospital director. We sat in his office and talked for about 15 minutes. Roger turned on his charm but the director seemed only too glad to see us. However, he said that the hospital had been evacuated and closed off by the military. The military had a field hospital set up in an empty lot next door and we were granted an audience with a 3 star lady lieutenant. After more sweet talking we were provided a sergeant escort to take us inside the hospital.The outside certainly showed damage but the inside was another story. A complete disaster. A number of the concrete columns had shear failure to the point that all the concrete had spalled off. They were 24 in x 24 in with 16 #8 bars and #3 ties w/ 90 degree hooks at 8″ oc, that opened up. Not bad compared to what else we had seen before but not enough. The concrete aggregate was large and river rock, not ideal. The stairs were near collapse, debris blocked egress paths and all the patient rooms and pre and post op rooms were completely trashed. The cabinet contents were all on the floors. We were taken up to the 4th floor which had the op rooms. The gas columns were still there, but the surgery lights had been removed. Although we could not see above the ceilings, we could see the ceiling suspension plates similar to what we would spec. Lights in the egress path appear to be intact. In an adjacent room the exam lights were still there and did not show signs of damage. Obviously someone paid attention to this aspect. There were also broken fire lines and water damage in some areas. Due to the amount of damage to the hospital structure we did not make a trip to the roof to observe the conditions of the MEP units. The vertical LOX tank outside at the ground level appeared to be anchored adequately. We were told that it was a 200 bed hospital built in the 1970’s that sustained some damage in 1985 which was patched up. The Univ of Chile had done a study indicating that the hospital was at high risk of significant seismic damage. The director told us that they were planning a replacement hospital but had not gotten it started yet. They have been promised a temporary 200 bed hospital by the govt. of Chile in 6 months to provide badly needed services to this town. As we had walked through the clinic first floor earlier, we could see that they had beds set up and every bed was taken. Apparently, nobody died or got seriously injured, the 40 critical patients were moved next door to the clinic and have since gotten another 60 patients from earthquake related injuries.

Bldg ID 3-9.3 Plaza de Armas in Curico(34⁰ 59′ 06″, 71⁰ 14′ 20″)
The plaza contained several different buildings closely spaced together, some with significant historic facades. Most of the façade elements were adobe and URM, tied back to the structure and had dramatic failures. A church built in 1743, was damaged previously, subsequently repaired and now damaged again. The tower portion was damaged and numerous cracks appeared throughout the structure. Brick elements peeled away from the structure and fell to the ground. The entire plaza had been barricaded off.

Bldg ID 3-9.4 Rio Claro Bridge structure(35⁰ 20′ 33″, 71⁰ 34′ 26″)
On our drive down to Talca, we noted many bridge structures with damage to the abutments. Most were still in operation. However, there was one with a dramatic collapse. The construction of this specific bridge appear to be a masonry arch structure.

We arrived in Talca late in the day, almost a 5 hour drive. Tonight we are staying at a bed and breakfast outside town and owned and operated by a migrated Austrian Family. They tell us that the new hospital in Talca (built a couple of years ago), had a major collapse and is going to be demolished. We hope to visit the hospital tomorrow morning. For now, as they say in Chilean, Ciao Ciao or Chao Chao (Bye Bye).

Valparaiso
photos by Roger Parra

Bldg ID 3-8.1
Port Customs Buildings (33⁰ 02′ 16″, 71⁰ 37′ 40″)
Two L-Shaped URM buildings with towers at opposite sides of the street. The low rise portion is four stories and towers are 9 stories tall. One building has a seismic joint at the tower portion the other does not and thus suffered damage at the tower junction. Use Seismic Joints! The damage in Valparaiso is very light and limited to URM and Adobe buildings. However, most URM and Adobe buildings fared well. We did not see any collapsed buildings in Valparaiso. The average age of the buildings we looked at was probably 100 years.

Bldg ID 3-8.2
Metro Station (33⁰ 02′ 20″, 71⁰ 37′ 36″)
Modern one story concrete braced framed building at the edge of the port. No damage to the structure.

Bldg ID 3-8.3
Adobe Church (33⁰ 02′ 11″, 71⁰ 37′ 56″) Iglesia de la Matriz
Adobe building with little damage to the structure. Wood framed tower is leaning. Adjacent to church also noticed a three story URM unbraced façade that suffered no damage. Made us wonder if the ground shook much in this area.

Santiago – Enea Industrial Park Area (1 KM South of Airport)
Bldg ID 3-8.4
Precast Concrete Warehouse (33⁰ 25′ 49″, 70⁰ 46′ 40″) Cosmoplas
Building built in 2007. One story warehouse with precast girders supporting precast tees with exterior tilt-up concrete walls. Roof consists of light gauge decking panel alternating with translucent skylight panel. Diaphragm consisted of ¾ inch diameter rod X-bracing. Rods in longitudinal direction have fractured and have fallen. All the concrete wall panels on west side(longitudinal direction) fell out-of-plane. Panels are 30 feet tall with short rebar dowels into footing at base and concrete inserts at top. The concrete inserts consist of a single expansion anchor into the panel with a bent plate hooked over the concrete beam at the roof. The concrete panels have damaged the adjacent DHL warehouse building. Storage racks in building performed well. All the racks were tied together in the long direction, braced in the short direction back-to back and anchored to the floor.

Bldg ID 3-8.5
Precast Concrete Warehouse (33⁰ 25′ 57″, 70⁰ 46′ 40″) Trial Clothing Warehouse
Building built in 2008. One story warehouse with precast girders supporting precast tees with exterior tilt-up concrete walls. Roof consists of canvas. Diaphragm consisted of 4 inch square tubing X-bracing. Tubing has fractured as some locations and connection of bracing to beams has failed in some locations.All the wall panels on three of the four sides of the building have fallen out of plane. Wall panel connection to base consisted of rod insets into slab with no adhesive. Connection at top consisted of similar connection to previous building.

Degenkolb’s Reconn team arrives in Chile.
photos by Roger Parra

Building in the Cuidad Empresarial Area (33⁰ 23′ 32″, 70⁰ 37′ 09″) (below)
Irregular shaped building with torsional response. Walls on southeast end heavily damaged. Shear and compression failures of the walls. Shoring being put in place. Walls are 8 inches thick with #2 horizontal bars at about 8 inches on center. Horizontal wall bars hook outside of the boundary element with 90⁰ hooks.

Click on thumbnails below to view photos.

Building in the Cuidad Empresarial Area (33⁰ 23′ 18″, 70⁰ 37′ 06″) Patio Mayor (below)
Irregular shaped building with torsional response. Stair tower portion connected to two buildings. Buildings had different response and caused collapse of portion of the building. Notice the water towers near collapse. Steel girder fell and caused out of plane failure of wall.

Click on thumbnails below to view photos.

Building in Providencia Santiago (33⁰ 25′ 39″, 70⁰ 36′ 59″) Iglesia de la Divina Providencia (below)
URM church built in 1910. Wood framed tower in church collapsed. Building had been retrofitted with tie rods at arches. Some cracking of ceiling due to collapse of tower roof framing on to main roof.

Click on thumbnails below to view photos.

Building in Santiago (33⁰ 25′ 49″, 70⁰ 40′ 00″) Central Park (below)
Sixteen story concrete shear wall condo. Built in 2003. Shear and compression failure of walls. Building essentially yellow tagged. People retrieving their possessions today. Walls are thin, short and lightly reinforced. 8 inch walls with #2 EW EF bars at 8 inches on center.

Click on thumbnails below to view photos.

Building in Maipu (33⁰ 30′ 11″, 70⁰ 45′ 11″) (below)
Five story concrete shear wall condo. Built in 2005. Soft story building with parking below apartments. Wall are thin, and not very long. Partial collapse of northern portion of the building. Floor slabs also collapsed in building. Southern portion of building had more walls. Entrance to underground parking was on south side. Walls are thin, short and lightly reinforced. Eight inch walls with #2 EW EF bars at 8 inches on center.

Click on thumbnails below to view photos.

Building in Maipu (33⁰ 30’ 19”, 70⁰ 45’ 19”)
Five story concrete shear wall condo. Built in 2005 by the same developer and builder. Soft story building with parking below apartments. Similar features with full collapse of soft story. Floor slabs also collapsed in building.

Click on thumbnails below to view photos.

Building in Maipu (33⁰ 30′ 21″, 70⁰ 45′ 14″) (below)
Five story concrete shear wall condo. Built in 2005 by a different developer and builder. Soft story building with parking below apartments. Similar features with the other two buildings. Building has an interior courtyard, with interior walls around courtyard. Exterior walls at base around perimeter are very short with L and T shape configuration. Walls/piers have ties with 135 hooks and some 90 hooks at 3 inch spacing.

Click on thumbnails below to view photos.

What can we learn from the Chilean Earthquake?

We are just beginning the process of obtaining detailed information on the impacts of the Chilean Earthquake and we expect to learn many lessons that will be applicable to construction in the United States. We are particularly interested in what similarities we will find with the Pacific Northwest where we have our own version of the Chilean Earthquake waiting to happen on the Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ). Much like Chile, where the Nazca Plate is subducting below the South American Plate, in the Northwest we have the Jaun De Fuca Plate subducting below the North American Plate. These types of subduction zone earthquakes have unique characteristics including long duration and long period ground motions.

Reports on the ground motions from the Chilean earthquake are just starting to come out but preliminary reports indicate between 1 and 2 minutes of strong ground shaking with long period motion in the 1 to 2 second range. Most earthquakes that we experience in the United states have less than 30 seconds of strong ground motions and it is predicted that the large 9.2 on the Cascadia Subduction Zone will result in 3 to 4 minutes of strong shaking. We currently to do not address duration of the shaking directly in our structural design and this may need to change. The impacts of long period motions will be most observable in taller buildings, longer span bridges, and some dams. It is expected that the results of Chile will provide very valuable data to help us start to understand the impact of duration. It is also expected that it may take time to discover some of the damage in taller structures just like much of the moment frame damage from the 1994 Northridge Earthquake was not readily apparent. We understand how the long period ground motions impact our structures but they are not always fully considered in design.

We must collaborate with our Chilean counterparts to gather data from this great earthquake so we can learn and improve our own practices. It is incumbent upon all of us in the profession to do our part and advance our knowledge of how structures respond to earthquakes when we have a tragic event such as this one.

KPLU interviewed Stacy Bartoletti about how Portland and Seattle would be affected if an earthquake similar to the one that struck Chile hit this region.

To read the full story, click here

Degenkolb will be sending a team of engineers to Chile as part of the company’s tradition of earthquake reconnaissance. Roger Parra will be leading the team. Anuj Bansal, David Gonzalez, and James Liu will be joining Roger as they investigate the impacts of the seventh largest recorded earthquake in the world. Stay tuned for more information about the earthquake’s impacts to lifelines and structures.

It depends on where it occurs in the U.S., and how “ready” we need to be.

Since the mid-1800s, earthquakes in California have led to the development of advanced design and construction standards, effective emergency response procedures, and a clear understanding of the region’s seismology. The latest refinements in design and construction, coming after the 1971 San Fernando, 1989 Loma Prieta and 1994 Northridge earthquakes, direct the construction of buildings that will protect their occupants and allow emergency response facilities (such as hospitals, police and fire stations) to remain usable. Modern buildings will meet these goals as long as they are properly designed and constructed. Recent earthquakes worldwide, including this most recent earthquake in Chile, show us that these new policies and procedures are achieving their goals.

Click here to read the full New York Times blog.

To say it was raining on Tuesday night would be a massive understatement. It was pouring buckets as the Degenkolb FC team took the field for its final game of the season. And to add to the damp conditions, a gale force wind was blowing through Telegraph Field throughout the game, directing the rain sideways such that it hit you right in the face. The poorly drained field was a mess of puddles that caused the ball to stop dead upon impact. If the field were a school yard, the teachers would have been yelling at the students to knock off their shenanigans and get indoors before they caught pneumonia. Remember that epic scene from The Perfect Storm? Yeah, it was like that… without the rain slickers.
Degenkolb’s opponent during this miserable weather was BGI Red (as usual, no idea what they do). It was refreshing to see that ours was not the only company with a few lunatic soccer players willing to run around in the rain for an hour. Although to be quite honest, I think the Degenkolb players would have been just as happy if their opponent had not shown up so that they could take the forfeit and get the heck outta there. The tenacious bunch consisted of Taka “Puddle Jumper” Yokoyama, Gordy “Equipment Malfunction” Wray, Henry “Sweatpants Were a Bad Decision” Burton, Shane “I ALWAYS Wear Sweatpants” Gross, Erik “Cold Keeper” Kneer, Chris “No Brakes” Davis, John “Foggy Glasses” Sticklen, and Allison “Hold My Umbrella” Hellner. Team manager Adam Azofeifa was reduced to watching the game from the sidelines (and holding Allison’s umbrella) with a bad cold. BGI was tied for first in the league standings and looking to beat Degenkolb to solidify their position as the #1 seed for the upcoming playoffs. And they brought their A-game. It helped them that Degenkolb was outnumbered for the entire game, having to play a player down with Allison being the lone woman out on the field. Throughout the game, BGI was able to maneuver the soggy turf a bit better than Degenkolb, and in the end it was BGI who won by quite a large margin.

Thus, Degenkolb closes out its first soccer season with a 3-6-1 record – not too shabby for a bunch of engineers who had never played together before. Here are the offensive stats for the season:

• Taka Yokoyama: 5 Goals, 2 Assists
• Adam Azofeifa: 4 Goals, 2 Assists
• Gordy Wray: 4 Goals, 1 Assist
• Chris Davis: 2 Goals
• Henry Burton: 2 Goals
• Melissa Vickery: 2 Goals
• John Sticklen: 1 Goal, 1 Assist
• Allison Hellner: 1 Goal
• Roger Parra: 1 Assist

Much credit also goes to Erik and Shane for some stellar goal keeping throughout the season.

Congratulations to the entire team on a well played inaugural season!