Evaluation of seismic performance of buildings constructed on hillside slope of Dronka village – Egypt

Abstract

Construction on hillside slopes poses more challenges to the structural engineer, especially under seismic load due to a powerful earthquake in addition to the forces of sliding slope itself. Regarding to the population growth and narrowness of available lands, people build their houses on hillside slopes. One of the main sources of seismic vulnerability in Egypt is represented by the instability of slopes; therefore, this is a subject of great significance, particularly in view of the growing attention that has been recently dedicated to the reduction of seismic hazard. This paper evaluates the seismic performance of Dronka city buildings constructed on rocky hillside slopes and its foundations system by studying base shear, acceleration, and displacements. The stability of the slope was first evaluated under seismic loads and then the stability of constructed buildings was checked on the hillside slope. The results of the study show that these buildings will collapse if subjected to earthquake even if the pick ground acceleration (PGA) magnitude is less than 0·25g with the hillside slope remaining stable within a high earthquake magnitude.