Dynamic failure of structures due to the great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake

The Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake, which occurred in Japan on January 17, 1995, was one of the near-source earthquakes and caused violent simultaneous horizontal and vertical ground motion, at the beginning of the seismic oscillation. Based on the numerical simulation for two types of bridge pier, one in concrete and the other in steel, it is pointed out that, in the case of a very strong near-source earthquake the study of the initial transient behavior under the initial violent impact is very important in determining the dynamic failure and fracture of structures, especially, for high-rise buildings and/or large-scale structures. The initial behavior, especially, in the transient state is strongly dependent on the size of the structure and the velocity profile of the initial stage as well as on the boundary conditions that describe the form of the structures in the region hit by the earthquake.