what are the properties that can strengthen the steel to withstand earhquake?
Some buildings are built on giant springs so they wobble when there's an earthquake but don't try to ride it out.
okorder can give you helps.
Earth quakes are due to the result of the earth underneath moving. The earth has so many layers of earths called plates placed one over the other for so many millions of years. When these plates move because of stress and strain on the crust of the earth then the structures built over them collapses. So it need not to be steel or concrete which can withstand these stress and strains. Actually strength is not going to help. In Japan originally they built buildings with wood and made them light so that when earth quake strikes the impact is very less. A building has to withstand the shocks by having a spring action and should be spreading out the stress away from the building and act as a shock absorber.
Well, its not necessary how strong steel is but how buildings are designed that withstands earthquakes. Steel as a property has to elastic qualities and when earthquakes are initiated but moving of the plates, the building has to absorbed the effects of the earth movements while remain standing. This does not necessary mean that the building will be usable afterward but it has to remain standing. Now, how does a building remain standing? All building have within its design a VLLRS (vertical lateral load resisting system). This system is basically designed to resist earthquake loads as well as wind loads. In steel buildings, this system is usual made of OMF (Ordinary moment frames) or braced frames. These frames act to absorb the lateral loads and transmit them into the foundation below. If the structure was concrete, there would still be moment frames made of concrete and steel but you know that concrete has a elasticity that is less than steel. ALthough there elasticity is less, they are stiffer and concrete structure tend to resist more lateral load because of it. In concrete, we can create shear walls which are basically walls that are thick and wide to resist lateral load from earthquake and wind. Masonry has even a lesser strength than steel or concrete and wood even less than above. What makes them usful is how they are used to resist earthquake loads or lateral loads from earthquake and wind. So, to answer your question, its not nessary how strong the steel is but how the material is used to resist earthquake is what is important.
