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Earthquakes vs. Buildings

Earthquakes vs. Buildings. Earthquakes vs. Buildings. Why are earthquakes a threat to buildings? Earthquakes move the ground violently, shifting a building’s foundation. Earthquakes produce several different types of ground waves, each of which moves the building in different ways

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Earthquakes vs. Buildings

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  1. Earthquakes vs. Buildings

  2. Earthquakes vs. Buildings • Why are earthquakes a threat to buildings? • Earthquakes move the ground violently, shifting a building’s foundation. • Earthquakes produce several different types of ground waves, each of which moves the building in different ways • This can cause the building to collapse

  3. Is this a big deal? • Many major cities are located right around the Ring of Fire San Francisco, USA Tokyo, Japan

  4. How can we protect buildings from earthquakes? • What is the simplest thing that you can think of that would help prevent a building from falling over? • A wide base! "El Castillo", ChichenItzu, Mexico

  5. New Materials Lead to New Technologies • Internal bracing • Base isolation • The earthquake shakes the ground, so if you isolate the building from the ground, the building won’t shake • This is like putting the building on really big springs • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqlXp3czrrM

  6. New Materials Lead to New Technologies • Taipei 101 Mass Damper

  7. Future Research • A seismic invisibility cloak • Steer the waves of the earthquake around the building using special structures buried in the ground

  8. How do engineers know these things work? • Engineers test their building ideas on a shake table Model of seven-story building on a shake table, Japan

  9. That’s what we’ll do now! • In your teams you will design a Lego building • Your goal is to make the building as tall as possible, but also stable • Your building will be placed on an improvised shake table, and compared to others • The last building standing wins!

  10. References • Images and information • Wikipedia.com • Howstuffworks.com

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