US Engineers Test the Latest Earthquake Protection Technology Using Shake Table In 10 seconds of violent shaking, a 1,800-square-foot townhouse

at the University at Buffalo withstood a simulated 6 ! magnitude quake "hursday as students, #rofessors and media watched $or the #rofessors at UB%s &tructural 'ngineering and 'arthquake &imulation (a)oratory, the event marked another ste# in a four-year international research #ro*ect aimed at understanding how wooden structures react to earthquakes "he goal is to )uild safer structures $or +ouglas "aylor, #resident of "aylor +evices Inc , the undamaged house re#resented a )usiness o##ortunity "he ,orth "onawanda maker of seismic dam#ers for commercial )uildings -technology im#lemented in over .00 #ro*ects world wide/ and the aeros#ace and automotive industries is #re#aring to enter a #otentially lucrative field - the 0alifornia residential market of wooden frame housing, with its #ro1imity to the quake-#rone &an 2ndreas fault "he move could dou)le the firm%s annual revenues, the com#any said But "aylor +evices has already come a long way $or nearly two decades, the com#any has )een funding research at UB to )etter understand how to #rotect )uildings from seismic activity +uring the 0old 3ar, the #u)licly traded com#any%s seismic dam#ers #rotected )allistic missiles 3hen its technology was declassified, the com#any #artnered with UB, one of the nation%s #remier earthquake research centers, to transition into the commercial arena &ince then, "aylor +evices% dam#ers have )een installed in over .00 commercial #ro*ects, including the 4etronas "win "owers in 5alaysia and 0alifornia%s &an $rancisco-6akland Bay Bridge "aylor +evices has recently commenced o#erations in India through "aylor +evices -India/ ,2&2%s +iscovery shuttle, which launched "uesday, had a)out 7. million worth of the com#any%s equi#ment on it, "aylor said ,ow the com#any is readying to transition into wooden frame residential homes, which "aylor said are notoriously ill-equi##ed to deal with earthquakes 8"he design of a wood house isn%t earthquake friendly,8 "aylor said 8"he contractor%s idea of throwing together a few nails and some )oards isn%t going to work 8 "he com#any said it will cost around 719,000 to install its technology in the framing of a new house "aylor )elieves the com#any can handle 1,000 homes a year - an influ1 of 719 million in revenues annually, or dou)le the revenue the com#any currently sees

"he unharmed townhouse in UB%s earthquake simulation la) showed that the #roduct was nearly ready ,ow, it%s *ust a matter of fine-tuning the #rocess, "aylor said "he dam#ers, triangular steel frames that sit )etween the housing frame%s two-)y-fours, a)sor) the kinetic energy of the moving house and convert it to heat, which then dissi#ates "he dam#ers can heat u# to .00 degrees during a quake, )ut cool within 19 minutes, research has shown 6ne dam#er is installed into each e1terior wall of a house to a)sor) the energy from the movement, said 5ichael &ymans, associate #rofessor of civil and environmental engineering at :ensselaer 4olytech Institute in "roy "he four-year ,''&3ood #ro*ect is )eing conducted )y a consortium of university researchers su##orted )y the ,ational &cience $oundation "aylor +evices% dam#ers are )eing used in the second of a si1-#hase research #ro*ect :esearchers #lan to travel to ;a#an to study a si1-story )uilding during the #ro*ect%s final #hase www taylordevicesindia com www taylordesign in