Earthquake Resistant Buildings

Introduction

Problem Statement: I will be trying to find a way to make all buildings withstand earthquakes. This project will help people in areas where earthquakes happen, because when an earthquake happens, the houses and other buildings will not be damaged. Most of the deaths in an earthquake come from building damage and that is also where the recovery costs come from. If you can keep the buildings from being damaged, then you can solve two problems.

Purpose: The purpose of my experiment is to build buildings that can withstand a big earthquake at close proximity with little to no damage occurring.

Research Question: Can a building be made that will withstand an earthquake?

Hypothesis: Buildings can be constructed that will withstand big earthquakes at close proximity.

Methods

Variables

Independent: The types of building built, the way they are built, and the intensity of the earthquake.

Dependent: The Richter scale, centimeters, seconds

Controls: the materials used.

Tower Building

Materials:

• • Balsa wood

  • Balsa glue

  • Exact o knife

  • Foam

  • Wire

  • Furniture movers

Procedures:

1. Gather materials.

2. You will glue foam boards together. Now you will cut out a rectangle from this and you will put two furniture moving strips inside of it.

3. Now you will make the basic shape of the building. You will do this by cutting out seven rectangles of balsa wood. One will be connected to the furniture sliders.

4. Now you will make the connecting pieces. This is done by using long skinny pieces of balsa wood and cutting them to the desired height of your building. You will need ten of these. Now you will put these with two on each corner and one in the middle of each side on the long sides.

5. Now you will put the remaining rectangles in place spaced evenly. You will also need to cut pieces of wire that fit criss cross between the levels and put them on both sides of the building in the shorter sides. You will also cut out pieces of foam that fit in the middle of the levels that will represent the shear cores. You will need to make sure that they fit tight.

6. Now you will super glue everything in place.

7. Lastly you can add labels to your project to show what everything is.

House base

Materials:

• • Balsa wood

  • Balsa glue

  • Magnets

  • Foam

  • Furniture movers

Procedures:

1. Gather materials.

2. You will cut out a piece of foam to put your base on. You will then glue two strip magnets on the bottom of it and two strip furniture movers to keep it flat. You will also put a sheet of balsa wood that covers the foam on top.

3. You will now start on your house. You will make a rectangular prism out of balsa wood and glue it together for the house.

4. You will take round furniture movers and remove the foam part of them and glue magnets on them so that the magnets attract the magnets on the bottom of the base. You will glue the furniture movers to the bottom of the house.

5. You can add a door, windows, and a garage door to the house to make it look more like a house if you would like.

Safety: You will use and exacto knife or scissors to cut the balsa wood, so you should be careful not harm yourself. You should also use caution with the glue, and make sure you do not consume or breath in the glue. You also should try not to glue your skin as it could stick your skin together or to other objects. Also do not build this with young children around as there will be small parts that could be hazardous to them.

Results

Pictures:

Tables and Graphs:

Conclusion: These buildings will work to protect from earthquakes. The tower building has the cross bracings, counter weight, sheer wall, sheer core, shock absorbers, and moat. These allow the building to sway in an earthquake and to not crumble from the pressure, because of the earthquake. The house has the isolators that will allow it to skate in an earthquake on its base it was built on instead of shake and crumble from the earthquake. Both of these building have the measures in place to not be completely destroyed in an earthquake. These buildings would be able to stay up with minimal damage after an earthquake.

Application and Further Research: This can be used to help people who live in areas that are prone to earthquakes. This can help them find a way to make their buildings safe. It could also help people in areas that are poor. You could find ways ways that are cheaper but still work to help these people. If these types of buildings were implemented everywhere there are earthquakes, then I think that the casualties in earthquakes would go down greatly. The majority of people killed in earthquakes are killed in building collapses. Using these methods in more places would help people. If you were able to find cheaper materials, then more people could afford them and less people would be hurt in earthquakes in the future.

Post Investigation Questions:

1- How does swinging construction help buildings to be earthquake resistant?

Buildings decrease the stress/applied force on them during an earthquake by moving to the sides. This system works like the suspension system of a car. When a car goes in pot hole or a bump, an enormous force is applied to the car. Car reduces this force by using a spring or suspension which will oscillate the car body and decrease sudden changes which will eliminate breakage of parts.

2- Would having horizontal or vertical sliding system help more?

Since we never know the direction of an earthquake we need to prepare for all directions. Therefore a building should have both horizontal, vertical and cross swinging system.

3- Is there a height or area limit for buildings to be earthquake resistant?

Safest ratio can be maximum 5 to 1, height to area. If this ratio increases, it will be harder and risky to keep the building in one piece. If surface area larger and height short then building is more earthquake resistant.

4- What type of material should be used to suspend buildings?

To have the best flexible and durable connections to restrain a building to swing on its surface, carbon fiber added steel wires will give the best results. A better flexible materials can be used, such as rubber bands but they will not be as durable as a steel wire.

References:

https://www.quora.com/How-do-earthquake-resistant-buildings-work

http://dancingdonkeys.weebly.com/science-and-design.html

http://www.buildingresearch.com.np/services/erd/erd7.php

http://www.sms-tsunami-warning.com/pages/seismology-measurement#.WE3oaPkrLcs

http://slideplayer.com/slide/5742137/

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160705203145.htm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/11/AR2011031104541.html

https://www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/documents/8669

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/october/shakehouse-quake-engineering-101614.html

https://www.exploratorium.edu/faultline/damage/building.html

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2015/04/economist-explains-31

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/publications/saferstructures/

http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/science/earthquake-damage-caused-earthquakes.html

http://www.stfrancis.edu/content/ns/bromer/earthsci/student2/damage.htm

http://www.geo.mtu.edu/UPSeis/hazards.html

http://eqseis.geosc.psu.edu/~cammon/HTML/Classes/IntroQuakes/Notes/earthquake_effects.html