As you know, earthquake is the most dangerous natural disaster. Due to this, there are many types of damage in human life such as life, goods, houses and many other things. According to the National Earthquake Information Centre, about 20,000 earthquakes occur every year, out of which there are natural disasters. If you would remember on 20 September 2017 in Mexico City seven point one earthquake struck, in which 230 people lost their lives, it also destroyed buildings.
Earthquake’s impact on buildings
- Earthquakes make a horizontal force on buildings by causing them to compress.
- Compressing building reasons $2.1 billion in destroys and minimum 10,000 deaths per years.
But now engineers have found ways to withstand earthquakes and make buildings in a new design. So here you can read how earthquake- proof buildings are designed.
- Make a flexible basis
To protect buildings from earthquakes, the Engineers put lift the foundation of the building above the earth. They make Base isolation which involves building on top of flexible pads made of steel, rubber and lead. When the earthquake shakes the base of the buildings, the isolation structure also vibrates. It is support to impressively absorb seishin system waves and prevent them from destroying a building.
- Counter pressure with damping
Do you know cars have shock absorbers however you may not even know that engineers use it to withstand earthquakes? Similar to their use in cars, shock absorbers reduce the magnitude of shockwaves and help slow buildings. This are divided into two parts first is vibrational control device VCD and pendulum dampers. The VCD turns dampers joined to beams use piston and oil to convert the motion. The pendulum dampers are huge weight and hydraulics moves to opposite the earthquake.
- Slope buildings from vibrations
Instead of just retaliatory action, Engineers are experimenting with paths that buildings can completely dissipate and regenerate energy from earthquakes. The “seismic invisibility cloak” was remodelled, creating a cloak of 100 thick plastic and concrete rings and buried three feet below the foundation of the building. With the help of all these things, today we saved our buildings from earthquake.
