Research hopes to improve the resilience of buildings

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Research to improve the resilience of buildings against earthquakes has been tested in Japan on the tallest building to date…

Researchers from the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED) are investigating the impact of earthquakes on reinforced concrete.

Japan suffers numerous earthquakes due to its proximity to the ring of fire, an area in the pacific basin with significant plate movement. Buildings, therefore, must be able to withstand pressure as the ground moves.

Researchers conducted an earthquake simulation with a 10-storey, 27.45m high building. It is the tallest concrete building to undergo a simulation of this type—the equivalent of a 7.3 magnitude earthquake.

NIED researcher Yusuke Tosauchi said: “There are many mid- and small-sized buildings built with reinforced concrete in Japanese urban areas and we wanted this experiment to help improve the earthquake resistance of those types of buildings.”

The structure, which weighed some 1,000 tonnes, shook violently but remained upright. The researchers found the fourth floor sustained the most amount of damage, with fallen debris and several cracks. The major areas of weakness were concentrated around where the pillars met the girders supporting the floors. Finding ways of strengthening these areas will undoubtedly be a focus of research going forward.

Kunio Fukuyama, who also worked on the project, said: “We experimented with the strongest shake that was felt during the Kobe earthquake and the fact that we received this little damage to the building means that the current building regulations provide a high level of safety.

“At the same time, we need to recognise that damage did occur,” he added.

The findings of the research will be used to strengthen buildings in future and ensure concrete structures are able to withstand substantial pressure on weaker parts of the structure. This could be used in other regions across the world that have significant earthquake activity.

“We will investigate the damage caused by the earthquake so that the data can be used to improve construction technology of earthquake-resistant buildings,” Tosauchi said.

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