3 Insights on Earthquake-Resistant Buildings You Should Know

Natural disasters are very unfortunate incidents to happen and the pain of the loss is felt by not only those who are directly affected by the disaster, but everyone as a whole.
Earthquakes, in the past and in recent history, have always brought along disconsolate fatalities.

 
According to several types of research, the majority of deaths usually take place in developing countries, especially when buildings and other such structures are poorly constructed.
Although there are engineering solutions which can totally eliminate the risk of such deaths, most developing countries don’t favour the benefit-cost ratio as earthquake engineering (or earthquake proofing) is technically demanding and expensive as well.
In other words, earthquakes don’t kill; it’s the poorly constructed structures that do.
There are three main engineering techniques and one more type of other quake-proofing techniques to make structures earthquake-proof:
-    Reinforcement
-    Base isolation
-    Bracing

REINFORCEMENT

Cantilever Beam Reinforcement

Reinforcement is a modern technique which involves the use of steel grids or lattice within reinforced concrete to increase the stiffness of a structure.
This, in turn, helps in reducing the displacement of the structure during excitation.
There are two types of steel reinforcement
-     in columns (vertical members) of RC buildings;
-    transverse ties and longitudinal bars.
These columns can sustain two types of damage – shear failure and axial-flexural failure.
Engineers in India favour the use of TMT bars to ensure safety and also to abide by the National Building Code of India.

BASE ISOLATION

Base Isolation is a modern engineering technique for making a building resilient to horizontal motion by separating the building’s superstructure from its base (substructure).
The William Clayton building in Wellington is one of the world’s first structures to incorporate base isolation.

BRACING

Bracing or braced frame is one of the most common types of construction preferred by engineers.
The main objective of bracing is to increase the overall strength of a structure by creating intersections of diagonal support.
Bracing helps buildings withstand seismic activity by supporting tension and compressing forces.

Other Earthquake-Proofing Techniques

Tuned mass dampers

 
Designed to work for skyscrapers, tuned mass dampers are large blocks of concrete which use a spring mechanism to oppose the structure’s resonance frequency oscillation.

Hysteretic Dampers

Inclusion of hysteric dampers in buildings can dramatically reduce structural deformation even during severe earthquakes.