Abstract: The influence of active faults on urban construction has long been emphasized by researchers and urban builders, such that the determination of avoidance distance directly affects the selection of building locations in regions of buried active normal faults. With the rapid development of underground space in China, the challenges of underground building selection have emerged. In view of the situation and taking buried active normal faults as an example, we analyzed the influence of earthquake damage in underground buildings, the geological background, fracture activity, and the characteristics of earthquake damage in active fault regions. We then determined the setback distance of underground buildings in these regions. We concluded as follows: Firstly, the impact of seismicity of underground buildings from active faults is smaller than that of the ground construction, but the impact of earthquakes should still be considered carefully. Secondly, the failure range of buried normal faults is influenced by many factors, and the delimitation of the avoidance distance of underground structures should be based on the boundary of the fault deformation zone. Lastly, based on the geological background and fracture activity characteristics of the Weihe fault in the Xianyang Region, the setback distances of the upper and lower walls are 30 and 15 m, respectively. Therefore, the limited construction belt is 140 m wide within 30 m depth.

Key words: underground buildings, buried active normal faults, setback distance, deformation band, Weihe fault