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What is earthquake resistant design?

Earthquake resistant design is a field or type of structural design that aims to design buildings to resist earthquakes - providing structural systems that will not collapse in an earthquake and therefore save lives and relief money.

Why do we need earthquake resistant buildings?

On average, 20, 000 earthquakes occur every year around the globe, with an average of 16 being major disasters. In 2019, fifty-five people in the Philippines died during earthquakes, over ten of which rocked the country with an over 6.0 magnitude. In just one of them, 1200 homes were destroyed and at least 500 schools and homes damaged, as well as historic churches and even hospitals and temporary treatment centres for those who had been injured in the last quake. An earthquake in October damaged 47,476 homes, leaving 277, 000 people displaced as of March 2020.

Impressive structures and cities can be levelled by a single major earthquake event, unless we incorporate the possibility into our design.

Should all buildings be earthquake proof?

Let's get this out of the way: earthquake-proof buildings don't exist. Yet. We can design earthquake resistant buildings, though exactly how resistant they are can only be tested by the magnitude of earthquake they withstand.

The only downside to building and retrofitting all buildings to be earthquake resistant is money. But that's a pretty big downside, especially in the countries that need it most. Earthquakes rack cities on the Pacific Rim, or Ring of Fire, depleting their money and resources to immediate relief. When the aftershocks ease and the dust settles, there's not enough money left for earthquake resistant design. In April of 2015, Nepal was just beginning to enforce a plan to decrease its vulnerability to earthquakes when the ground shook again. In a perfect world, all buildings - especially buildings along the Ring of Fire - would be earthquake-resistant, but too many of the inhabitants of the Pacific Rim simply don't have the funds to do it or have bigger problems than the occasional earthquake.

How can we prevent earthquakes from destroying buildings?

While earthquake resistant design is becoming the new norm in most earthquake prone cities who can afford it, it's interesting to note University of Brighton researchers are working on an invention called ViBa, which, when installed under the ground, absorbs 40-80% of the seismic waves directed at the building it protects. However, it will not be widely used for a while considering its size, difficulty to mass-produce and thus higher price tag. Back to the current solutions: design.

How do seismic waves affect buildings?

In the event of an earthquake, seismic waves move underground in in short, rapid intervals in all directions from the source of the quake. Buildings are generally made to stand vertical forces such as their weight and gravity, but not the horizontal forces of the ground moving from side to side. Seismic waves vibrate the walls, floors, columns, beams and the connectors that hold buildings together, especially those closer to the ground. Since the bottom of the building is moving differently from the top, the movement causes extreme stress to the foundations of the building until the supporting frame ruptures and the entire structure collapses.

How can you make a building earthquake proof?

The most effective way to build an earthquake resistant building is to counteract the forces of an earthquake. You can do this by reinforcing the building's structure, shielding the building from vibrations, "dampening," or dissipating the kinetic energy of an earthquake with vibrational control or pendulum power, or creating a flexible foundation for the building.

To make an existing building earthquake proof, kiwi engineer Dr. Bill Robinson designed the Lead-Rubber Bearing system (LRBs), which can be incorporated into a building's design or fitted to an existing, at-risk building. An LRB is a flexible, energy-absorbing support structure that separates the building from the land it sits on - so its foundations aren't ripped out by the seismic waves, and it doesn't topple over.

Making an existing building earthquake proof is called retrofitting. Seismic retrofit techniques vary from place to place, depending on the structure, soil, topography and distance to other faults.

What materials are used in earthquake proof buildings?

As with non-earthquake proof buildings, two of the main materials used in earthquake proof buildings are steel and wood. Structural steel comes in a variety of shapes that allow buildings to bend without breaking. This is an example of high ductility - the ability to undergo large deformations and tension (i.e. bend without breaking). Wood is also highly ductile because of its strength-to-weight ratio.

Other materials include shape memory alloys, fibre-reinforced plastic wrap, spider silk, bamboo and 3D-printed materials. Fibre-reinforced plastic wrap is a highly ductile material to wrap around columns. Shape memory alloys can be considered hyper-ductile in that they can be bent and return to their original shape after the need for bending is over. Spider silk, bamboo and 3D-printed materials have a high strength-to-weight ratio, and so are being considered as stand-ins for wood where wood is not the most suitable material.

What is the best shape for an earthquake proof building?

According to the University of British Columbia, the dome is by far the best shape for earthquake resistance. On the "shake table," a test method used to simulate earthquakes' effect on certain building designs, the dome outperformed conventionally-structured houses. However, there are a few caveats to this in practicality: domes are hard to build and take up a lot of space that's hard to use inside the building. For many companies building their office buildings, for example, it's easier to rely on building with resistant materials, flexible foundations and dampening the energy of a quake.

Are short buildings more stable than tall buildings?

In an earthquake: no. Short buildings have shallower foundations than tall buildings, making them easier to rip out or destroy. Short buildings are also considered 'stiffer' than tall buildings; it's harder to incorporate flexibility into their design, which means when the ground moves, they'll crumble rather than sway. Swaying buildings survive longer than crumbling ones.

What is the weakest part of a building?

Each building will be designed to have different weak points, so there's no cut-and-dry weakest part of any building. However, technologies like Scan and Solve from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Florida International University can identify and predict weak spots in a structure before it starts breaking down. Alternatively, the building designers can produce a blueprint with the weak spots highlighted.

What famous buildings are earthquake proof?

Taipei 101

The Taipei 101, formerly the Taipei international tower, was the tallest building in the world from 2004-2010, until the UAE beat it. It set records for the fastest elevator in the world, and the largest "green building" in the world. It is flexible as well as structurally resistant, with even the glass and curtain walls designed to withstand earthquakes.

The Transamerica Pyramid

Although the Transamerica Pyramid no longer belongs to the Transamerica corporation, it is still a testament to their boldness in design. The second-tallest building on the San Francisco skyline, the Pyramid intends to stay there. Its foundations are 52ft deep and flexible, and aboveground precast quartz aggregate covers the building's exterior, protecting each of its floors from collapse.

The Yokohama Landmark Tower

The Yokohama Landmark Tower is famous for it's 5-star hotel, observatory and Sky Garden and its sheer size as the second tallest building in Japan. But the wonder here is the flexible structure to withstand earthquakes based off the ancient Japanese five-tier pagoda design. Principals used for 40ft buildings back in the 8 th century have proven themselves worthy of behemoths in the modern day, evidenced by the Landmark Tower.

What is the most earthquake resistant building?

The Philippine Arena. It is the largest domed area in the world, with a seating capacity of 55, 000. It was designed by Populous, an architecture firm in Australia, and is able to withstand lateral loads of up to 40% of its mass. It has an independent base design, which means the structural body of the arena is separate to its foundation. It uses LRBs to separate these two features. The Philippine Arena uses a combination of shape, structural absorption of shockwaves and a flexible layer between it and its foundation to withstand the highest magnitude earthquakes of any other building in the world.

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Your Guide to Earthquake-Resistant Design

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Earthquake resistant design is a field or type of structural design that aims to design buildings to resist earthquakes - providing structural systems that will not collapse in an earthquake and therefore save lives and relief money. On average, 20, 000 earthquakes occur every year around the globe, with an average of 16 being major disasters.

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It should be flexible but strong structure for the building.   

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It should be flexible but strong structure for the building.   

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Building on top of flexible pads made of steel, rubber, and lead will help create a flexible foundation.

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The dome shape is by far the best for earthquakes.

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The dome shape is by far the best for earthquakes.

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The base should be built on top of flexible pads of steel, rubber and lead.

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It should have a flexible foundation and is built underneath the building.

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The base of a structure should be sturdy and flat. Because the base of a structure is the most important part of the structure. If your base is unstable the building can collapse at any given time.

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The base should be built on top of flexible pads of steel, rubber and lead. It should lift the building foundation for the earth.

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The dome shape for a building is the best one is most commonly seen in certain buildings.

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The dome shape

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The base should be built on flexible materials to help it withstand the power of the earthquake

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The base of the building should have a flexible base, as this would allow the building's base to move with the Earthquake preventing it's collapse.

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According to the University of British Columbia

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The base of the building should be made on top of flexible pads, steel, rubber, and lead which will help make a flexible base.

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The strongest structural shape used in Earthquake-proof homes is a dome shape.

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The best shape to help a building withstand earthquakes is the dome shape.

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A dome shape is the better one from what I've seen.

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the dome shape is the best fro earthquakes

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the dome shape is the best fro earthquakes

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The base of the building should be made out of a bendable and flexible material as well as be stable so only the base moves but the building stays standing.

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The base of the building should be built on top of flexible pads made of steel, rubber, and lead.

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According to the University of British Columbia, a dome shape is the strongest against earthquakes.

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According to the University of British Columbia, a dome shape is the strongest against earthquakes.

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The base should be a flexible base and be constructed of steel for earthquake resistance.

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The best shape for an earthquake-proof building would be the dome shape.

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A flexible way is better from what i saw

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The building should be taller since shorter building seems to fall down more easily.

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The building should be taller since shorter building seems to fall down more easily.

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The base has to be flexible but sturdy. It should be built on a flexible pad of rubber, steal, and lead.

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A Dome shape

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the base could be built on top of flexible pads of steel, it would help it withstand the power of the earthquake

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the base could be built on top of flexible pads of steel, it would help it withstand the power of the earthquake

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The building should be made on a flexible structure. This is so if the Earthquakes come it can be moved with a lower chance of it falling.

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Dome shape

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The best shape for an Earthquake Proof home is a dome shape

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The strongest structural shape used in Earthquake-proof homes is the dome shape that has outperformed every other structure on a similar test that we are doing now with the shake table.

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The dome shape is most likely the best solution to the top of a home according to the University of British Columbia.

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The strongest structure shape that is earthquake proof is the dome-shape.

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The base of the building should be  a flexible foundation.

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You would want to make the building in a dome shape.

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I don't know weather the building should be taller or shorter just because with taller buildings more things fall down at once but shorter buildings they fall down faster.

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The base of a building should be flat and flex able so the building has less chance on collapising

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Engineers suspend a large ball with steel cables on the top of skyscrapers. This prevents them from falling over.

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Taller buildings are proven to be way more stable than shorter buildings so the building should be tall and lengthy

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Large heavy weight like hydraulics move the opposite of the earthquakes movement

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The dome shape is the best structural shape used in earthquake proof homes.

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The best shape of a house for earthquakes would be the dome shape.

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the top of the building should be taller  because they are most likely to stay up during an earthquake than a short building

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the top of the building should be taller  because they are most likely to stay up during an earthquake than a short building

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The building should be suspened with some type of cable to keep the building from colasping.

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Engineers install a large ball with steel cables which acts as a stabilizer for the building.