Engineers Make Earthquakes Under Hospital
Announcement posted by DesignBuild Source 10 May 2012
Structural Engineering
In early April, engineers in California subjected a five-storey building equipped with a surgery unit, intensive care unit, computer servers and other electrical equipment, stairs and a working lift to identical motions to those recorded during the 1994 Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles, which measured 6.7 on the Richter scale, and the 8.8-magnitude Chile earthquake in 2010.
The structure, which reached 80 feet (24 metres) in height, was also clad in precast concrete and synthetic stucco, two materials which are commonly used in commercial construction projects. A large water tower was installed on the roof, as was a heating and air-conditioning system.
The experiment was designed to simulate the effects of a real earthquake on a live operational hospital.
Why they did it
The tests – the first of their kind in the United States, had two key objectives.
First, they were designed to see how well – if at all – hospitals built on rubber bearings, or “base isolators”, which are used commonly in earthquake-prone Japan, could function after a quake....
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The structure, which reached 80 feet (24 metres) in height, was also clad in precast concrete and synthetic stucco, two materials which are commonly used in commercial construction projects. A large water tower was installed on the roof, as was a heating and air-conditioning system.
The experiment was designed to simulate the effects of a real earthquake on a live operational hospital.
Why they did it
The tests – the first of their kind in the United States, had two key objectives.
First, they were designed to see how well – if at all – hospitals built on rubber bearings, or “base isolators”, which are used commonly in earthquake-prone Japan, could function after a quake....
Continue Reading