Can Concrete Homes be built in locations that are prone to earthquakes?
Add resistance to seismic activity to the long list of benefits when building homes with concrete. When an earthquake occurs, the rolling motion of the earth creates excessive forces that act side to side on a structure. A home’s having adequate strength to resist this push and pull is the key to successful seismic performance. Reinforced concrete walls are a composite system; concrete resists the compression or pushing forces, and reinforcing steel resists the tensile or pulling forces. This combination provides all three of the most important earthquake resistance properties: stiffness, strength, and ductility. Studies have shown even lightly reinforced concrete shear walls have more than six times the racking load resistance of framed wall construction. The key to successful seismic performance in reinforced concrete is following good design practice. Fortunately for the homebuilder, PCA publication EB560: PCA 100-2007, Prescriptive Design of Exterior Concrete Walls for One- and Two
