Abstract
There exists in Spain a body of literature on the subject of historic earthquakes which, due to the lack of adequate analysis of the information available, turns out to be practically worthless. This article investigates the Andalusian Earthquake (25/12/1884). Ground liquefaction is analyzed at five sites within the province of Granada and Malaga, as well as in the damage caused to the Restabal Church. The final conclusions show the minimum acceleration value, which causes both the ground liquefaction as well as damage to the building itself. This research's starting point is taken from historic data found in reports carried out by Official Spanish, Italian and French Commissions sent to study the earthquake. Those documents provide us with information about the damage caused both to the buildings themselves, as well as to the effects on the ground. The geotechnical data needed to check ground liquefaction was obtained by penetration tests. The mechanical characteristics and resistance of the materials of the building, essential for the analysis of their seismic resistance, were taken from samples carried out in the laboratory on the same materials or from already existing data from similar materials.
Highlights
The research was carried out by an Official Spanish Commission headed by Fernandez de Castro [6], together with both an Italian and French Commission headed by Tarramelli and Mercalli [17]
The Spanish Commission reports describe phenomena interpreted by Ll>pez et al [10] as ground liquefaction in the following sites: (1) "Rio Marchan", (2) "Cortijo de los Alamos", (3) "Santa Cruz del Comercio", (4) "Llano de las Donas",(5)" Pago de las Ventas", (6) "Rio Bermuza", and (7) "Velez Malaga"
The Spanish Commission refers to the damage caused to churches and the principal buildings of the area, special mention being made of the Restabal Church
Summary
The Andalusian Earthquake (Figure 1), took place at 21:08 on the 25th of December 1884, its effects extending throughout a large area of the provinces of Granada and Malaga [10, 11]. The cyclic stress ratio leading to the liquefaction in a ground layer can be calculated from Figure 4 From the calculations carried out, shear, compression and torsion stress in the bell tower walls were found to be negligible This was true for any direction of the ~ismic waves contained within the tangents drawn from the building to the isoseismal line of maximum intensity (Figure 9). The final result obtained was a peak acceleration in the range 0.10g - 0.13g, to cause cracking of the lower wall (Figure 7, view 1), in the Restabal Church bell tower (Figure 10). Curve 2 represents Campbell's curve [4]. and curve 3 represents the Fukushima and Tanaka curve [8]; they indicate a possible upper limit to the peak acceleration
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