What type of seismic waves cause the most damage?

What type of seismic waves cause the most damage?

Of the two types of surface waves, the L-waves are the most destructive. They can literally move the ground beneath a building faster than the building itself can respond, effectively shearing the base off of the rest of the building.

Which wave type produces the greatest damage to the ground?

Surface waves
Surface waves, in contrast to body waves can only move along the surface. They arrive after the main P and S waves and are confined to the outer layers of the Earth. They cause the most surface destruction.

Which seismic wave is causing the most ground shaking?

Rayleigh waves, also called ground roll, travel like ocean waves over the surface of the Earth, moving the ground surface up and down. They cause most of the shaking at the ground surface during an earthquake.

Which is more destructive love waves or Rayleigh waves?

While both types of surface waves are dangerous, Love waves cause more damage than Rayleigh waves. This is due to the nature of the wave motion as it…

Why do seismic waves in general caused a lot of damaged?

An earthquake generates a series of seismic waves that travel through the interior or near the surface of the Earth. S waves are more dangerous than P waves because they have greater amplitude and produce vertical and horizontal motion of the ground surface. The slowest waves, surface waves, arrive last.

What types of waves are most responsible for the destruction of buildings?

Rayleigh waves churn over and under like rolling ocean waves; Love waves shake the earth from side to side. Love and Rayleigh waves, named after their discovers, are the ones often responsible for making buildings collapse.

What are the 2 subtypes of body waves?

Body waves are of two types: Primary waves (also called P-waves, or pressure waves) and Secondary waves (S-waves, or shear waves). P-waves are compression waves. They can propagate in solid or liquid material.

What type of seismic waves will cause the most damage to buildings a short distance from the epicenter?

Surface waves travel along the surface. There are two types of body waves: P-waves travel fastest and through solids, liquids, and gases; S-waves only travel through solids. Surface waves are the slowest, but they do the most damage in an earthquake.

What are 4 types of seismic waves?

Love Waves—surface waves that move parallel to the Earth’s surface and perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation..

• P-wave Motion. P-wave:the primary body wave; the first seismic wave detected by seismographs; able to move through both liquid and solid rock.
• S-wave Motion.
• Rayleigh-wave Motion.
• Love-wave Motion.

What is the movement of Rayleigh waves?

A Rayleigh wave is a seismic surface wave causing the ground to shake in an elliptical motion, with no transverse, or perpendicular, motion.

What types of buildings are very susceptible to collapsing due to earthquake waves?

Some of the most susceptible structures to shaking damage are soft-story apartments and condominiums. A soft-story residential building is one that has large openings on the first floor for garage doors and windows to accommodate parking or commercial space, and housing on upper floors, built prior to recent codes.

What are 2 properties of water waves that can cause damage to buildings?

There are two types of surface waves: Love and Rayleigh waves. Love waves move back and forth horizontally. Rayleigh waves cause both vertical and horizontal ground motion. These can be the most destructive waves as they roll along lifting and dropping the ground as they pass.