When skyscrapers shake

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When skyscrapers shake

Indian builders are now looking to dampers to quake proof skyscrapers
MONALISA SEN
Posted online: Monday, February 12, 2007 at 0000 hours IST

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How do you keep a building from falling down when an earthquake strikes? As buildings gets taller and taller, quake proofing them for immediate occupancy is moving up the priority charts for builders as well as buyers. While most Indian builders are still looking at traditional piling technologies and securing bolts to foundations, rocket science could be on its way to protect Indian buildings. Seismic dampers, latest kids on the block, are based on a technology first used during the Cold War to isolate ballistic missile silos from vibration. Though we are yet to see Indian builidings standing on dampers, interest levels are rising. Having made waves in US, Japan, Taiwan and Korea, dampers have also reached China. Chinas tallest building Silverite Centre in Beijing has dampers installed to counter the adverse earthquake and wind effects to preserve structural integrity of its 63 storeys. For starters, seismic dampers are special devices introduced in the building to absorb the energy provided by the ground motion to the building (much like the way shock absorbers in motor vehicles absorb the impact due to undulations of the road). Just like

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the hydraulic shock absorbers in cars, much of the sudden jerks are absorbed in the hydraulic fluids and only little is transmitted above to the chassis of the car. Along with based isolation to detach (isolate) the building from the ground in such a way that earthquake motions are not transmitted up through the building, or at least greatly reduced dampers are the today the most popular ways of protecting buildings. Seismic dampers have been used in all earthquake prone regions of the world. Aerospace technology used to launch satellite and missiles is used to design and manufacture dampers, asserts Tayler Devices (India) director, Sandeep Donald Shah. The principal of friction brake, however, inspires frictional dampers being hawked by the likes of Pall Friction dampers. Commonly used types of dampers are viscoelastic in which energy is absorbed by silicone-based fluid passing between piston-cylinder arrangement; Friction dampers in which energy is absorbed by surfaces with friction between them rubbing against each other; metallic yield in which energy is absorbed by metallic components. Many companies specialising in the field are making a beeline for establishing operations in India. Dampers, typically cost about Rs 150-200 per square feet and come with a 35 years guarantee. Installation cost is about Rs 25 per square feet. Dampers can be installed in existing and new buildings with ease. This makes them extremely versatile for retrofit projectsbuildings that need to be seismically upgraded to meet the revised seismic codes. There are many who desire their building also needs to be upgraded to the revised standards. When seismic energy is transmitted through them, dampers absorb part of it, and thus damp the motion of the building. Dampers have been used since 1960s to protect tall buildings against wind effects. However, it was only since 1990s, that they were used to protect buildings against earthquake effects. By encouraging and adopting earthquake resistant design and structures in our construction, we can save 75% of casualties taking place due to them. The number of casualties has doubled in the past two centuries, and according to experts, the construction of sky rocketing buildings are much bigger threat to the society today than ever. In an era of vertical growth of building the risk factor has increased and it is the duty of the construction companies to ensure the safety of its occupants by building earthquake resistant buildings, sums up Rohtas Goel, CMD, Omaxe, which coduncted a workshop on Earthquake resistant structures in partnership with UNDP. What kills the people most of the times is not earthquake but collapse of building

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structures in which they are living! Though it is not feasible and economical to construct earthquake-proof buildings, it is possible to design and construct cost effective and structurally efficient earthquake -resistant buildings of shear wall structural system. The architects and structural consultants are therefore are no longer designing only to meet the government building code requirements but are going by the seismic performance criteria being demanded by their clients, in addition to the mandatory requirements of the building codes.

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