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oq-gem

Glossary for gem taxonomy

Authors: Luke Allen, Andrew Charleson, Svetlana Brzev, and Charles Scawthorn

This online Glossary explains around 400 terms contained in the GEM Building Taxonomy v 2.0 and nearly 700 images.

The terms have been listed in alphabetical and numerical order. Text description of each term is accompanied by illustrations (photos and/or drawings) where possible.

We welcome contributions in the form of photographs or images, illustrating glossary terms. If you have any questions you can also contact us at buildingtaxonomy@globalquakemodel.org


A column of short length that will fail in shear rather than bend under lateral deformation when the column is overloaded during an earthquake. Includes captive columns, where wall elements (usually non-structural walls that are part of the enclosure system) effectively shorten some columns to less than the floor to beam height.

As a rule of thumb, a building has short columns if there are captive columns where the capturing non-structural walls reduce the height of unsupported length of the column by at least half, or where the capturing non-structural walls reduce the aspect ratio (height to depth ratio, where the depth of the column is measured parallel to the wall) of the column to less than 2:1.

SHC_diagram_Charleson_1

Examples of short columns (A. Charleson, Seismic Design for Architects, Architectural Press 2008, p148 fig. 9.8).

SHC_diagram_Charleson_2

Example of short columns caused by part-height masonry infill (A. Charleson, Seismic Design for Architects, Architectural Press 2008, p150 fig. 9.14).

Short Column 1.JPG

Short Column in reinforced concrete construction, New Zealand (A. Charleson)

Captive columns in a reinforced concrete building damaged in the 2003 Boumerdes, Algeria earthquake (M. Farsi)

Captive columns in a reinforced concrete building damaged in the 2003 Boumerdes, Algeria earthquake (M. Farsi)

SHC_India_NICEE_1

A building with captive columns suffered damage in the 2001 Bhuj, India earthquake (NICEE and IIT Kanpur)

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