Understanding the Value of (Shapes) in Earthquake Resistant Construction

There is a tv program running in the UK at the moment called "Strip the City" where they look at the problems, and solutions of building various cities on problematic sites, stripping back to the sub structure of terrain and the problems associated with the site . Tokyo is built on 3 geographic fault lines and requires "Earthquake Resistant" buildings.

They give and show examples of pendulums and dampers and other solutions in a very simple and easy to understand format. Being a Brit I'm not sure how old a 4th grader is but it is very easy to understand and not too technical.

I'm sure you could probably find a link to this program if you do a search, or it might even be showing in the States. Good luck

merlin

http://housingrevolution.org/614/elizabeth-hausler-quake-safe-housing/

Diagonal bracing (triangles) would be most pertinent.

Would that not make it to stiff?

Read an interesting article , in the LA TImes, a few years back, about a Middle Eastern engineer, who had bought a few acres east of LA, and wanted to build Yurt type structures. He was from Iran, and had data that showed the basic structure of a yurt, would pass any Geologic stress, and earthquake test. They stonewalled him for a long period, but he showed that his structures , in Iran, after the devastating 7.2 quake, that all was well.. Never heard any more after this…Maybe a Bucky Ball, in Earth's Clothing??

The American embassy building in Accra Ghana was an interesting example of an earthquake resistant building. Accra has a fault line running through it so the building was designed as a single story large floor area construction. The foundation was cement piers about 2 foot high with scooped out tops. six inch iron balls rested in these hollows and then a mirror image pier supported sections of the floor above. In an earthquake the structure could move in any direction with floors sliding over each other. It was effective. As an aside, a bank was built over the fault line. The fault ran diagonally under the strong room floor. I always wondered how that worked out.

I suggest a small DIY shake table. A piece of 3/4" ply with a battery powered motor and a small weight with a cranked shaft would do the shaking and they could build with popsicle sticks and wood blocks fixed to some anchor points on the board.

After the large Northridge earthquake, I spoke with one of the State Engineers, who mentioned to me, that one of his engineers, after assessing the damage and working up a long list of calculations, had actually submitted plans for his new house. The foundation was to be connected to 6 pairs of railroad car springs mounted into a large concrete foundation. (The extra big ones, used for hauling steel sheet and raw ore stock.) Now, that is a project I would have liked to see. Also, I understand the Malaysian Towers and some of the other planned structures in Southeast Asia have very sophisticated earthquake engineering, with elaborate fire suppression systems...

Then there's this:

Taipei 101 tuned mass damper moving during earthquakes ...

Many of the suggestions are good but hardly appropriate for fourth graders. with a shaker table, it should be possible to fix a yardstick vertically and then shake it at various rates and perhaps find its lower natural frequencies and the effects when you continue to excite them at a natural. The experiments could continue with simple fixed frame and simple braced frames with thin flexible members and weights added to the floors, and then simple structures made with blocks.