Seismic load

Main article: Earthquake engineering

Seismic load is one of the basic concepts of earthquake engineering which means application of an earthquake-generated agitation^[1] to a building structure or its model. It happens at contact surfaces of a structure either with the ground,^[2] or with adjacent structures,^[3] or with gravity waves from tsunami.

Presidential Palace in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, heavily damaged at 2010 Haiti earthquake.

Seismic loading depends, primarily, on:

• Anticipated earthquake’s parameters at the site
• Geotechnical parameters of the site
• Building structure’s parameters
• Characteristics of the anticipated gravity waves from tsunami (if applicable).

Sometimes, seismic load exceeds ability of a structure to resist it without being broken, partially or completely. Due to their mutual interaction, seismic loading and seismic performance of a structure are intimately related.

Other websites

• Earthquake Performance Evaluation Tool Online^{[permanent dead link]}