Our country is located on a serious earthquake zone in the world. Nearly 92 percent of our land is in the earthquake zone. In addition, 66 is the first and second degree earthquake zone of these soils. These regions contain 70 percent of our population and 75 percent of large industrial plants. These rates really reveal how big the risk is. Since the earthquake cannot be prevented, it is necessary to learn how to live and fight against earthquake conditions.

Many cystmic strength tests are performed in advanced laboratories to determine whether the buildings and the equipment inside are earthquake resistant. Numerous test methods and standards have been published by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). In Turkey, these standards have been published by Turkish Standards Institute (TSE) with the following headings:

• TS EN 60068-3-3 Environmental resistance test - Part 3: Seismic test methods for guidance devices
• TS EN 60068-2-6 Environmental resistance tests - Part 2-6: Tests - Test Fc: Vibration (sinusoidal)
• TS EN 60068-2-57 Environmental resistance tests - Part 2-57: Tests - Test Ff: Vibration - time history and sinus beat method
• TS EN 60068-2-47 Environmental resistance tests - Section 2-47: Tests - Mounting of samples for dynamic tests such as vibration, impact and similar

The TS EN 60068-3-3 standard provides general information on how to perform seismic testing and describes methods. TS EN 60068-2-6 standard describes the sinusoidal vibration. In addition, there are other standards in practice.

In addition, the Ministry of Public Works and Settlement is also making legal arrangements on earthquakes. To date, eight earthquake regulations have been published since 1940. Reinforced concrete buildings and earthquake calculations were first included in the 1949 Earthquake Code. This is important.

The main factors affecting the design of buildings are as follows. These factors are taken into account in seismic strength tests:

• Torsion: Buildings have a center of mass, which is a point where the building is balanced without rotation. If the mass is evenly distributed in the building design, the center of mass and the geometric center of the ground are in balance. However, if the mass distribution is out of order, the center of mass moves out of the geometric center and causes torsion.
• Damping: Buildings are generally weak resonators in terms of eliminating dynamic shock and absorbing vibrations. Damping refers to a rate at which natural vibration is absorbed.
• Ductility: The ability of a material to stretch without losing its carrying capacity except for large deformations is called ductility. The ductility of a structural element is characteristic such as bending or moving. Non-ductile materials suddenly crumble and are not durable.
• Strength and stiffness: Strong building materials have the ability to resist within a safe limit against any force applied. The hardness of a building material is its degree of resistance to deflection or slip.
• Building configuration: This definition describes the shape, size and structural and non-structural elements of a building. With the building configuration, the shape of the seismic forces in the structure, their relative magnitude and the design problems of concern are determined. A correctly constructed configuration includes equal floor heights, symmetrical plans, smooth sections and heights, maximum torsional strength, short spans and load paths.

Today, engineers have the knowledge and experience to build earthquake-resistant buildings. However, in all projects, seismic protection of the building is required. Seismic strength tests are extremely important for this.

EUROLAB also performs seismic strength tests within the scope of numerous laboratory services. Thanks to these tests, enterprises receive more efficient, high performance and quality testing services and provide safe, fast and uninterrupted service to their customers.

In addition to the seismic strength tests provided within the scope of laboratory services, EUROLAB also provides other testing services.