The Behavior of Special Structures During the Bam Earthquake of ۲۶ December ۲۰۰۳

On ۲۶ December ۲۰۰۳ an earthquake of magnitude Ms= ۶.۵ with a focal depth of about ۸km occurred in southeastern Iran. The earthquake caused intense ground shaking throughout the affected area. Special structures such as on-grade steel oil tanks, elevated tanks, and industrial equipment were damaged during the earthquake. This paper presents the results of an investigation of the behavior of these special structures in Bam. Strong motion characteristics as recorded by accelerograms are discussed, as well as the failure modes of structures and components located within the affected area. An investigation into the response of an electrical transformer was carried out as a case study of a simple system.