8/12/2019 12 Highrises Now Earthquake Protection With Warranty

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Highrise Buildings - Now Earthquake Protection with Warranty

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An earthquake is the most extreme condition that any building may be required to survive during its lifetime. To survivethe natures might safely and surely also poses the greatest challenge to the architects and structural engineers

However the modern day computational power and the technological advances in the earthquake protection industry has

made the solution once considered un-surmountable a reality. There are numerous companies specializing only in

arthquake !rotection.

Today most medium and high-rise buildings are following "ife-#afety $esign% more popularly referred as arthquake

&esistant $esign for protection against earthquakes. However the awareness amongst people living in the seismic

regions is increasing and they are now aware that for a small additional cost they can get a much higher arthquake

!rotection for their buildings than what is mandatory as per the seismic codes. As the seismic codes are based on the

"ife-#afety ' arthquake &esistant design so they are aiming to prevent a total building collapse in case of a ma(o

earthquake% thereby saving lives. )or the user'owner of the property this implies that even an arthquake &esistant

building does not provide any guarantee that it would be habitable for living ' doing business after a ma(or earthquakeThe earthquake will structurally damage the building and incase the damage is above a threshold level there would be

no option but to demolish and re-construct.

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. *uilding codes are applicable to all buildings at large belonging to al

strata of society and therefore the socio-economic conditions need to be carefully looked into before formulating them

)or this reason it is not possible to lay down the stringent earthquake safeguards as many would not simply be able to

afford the associated cost.

The risk assessment exercises by the ma(or insurance companies and financial institutions is another factor encouraginpeople to reduce risks by going in for the state-of-the-art earthquake protection technologies. *usinesses want to limit th

threat to their employees as well as cover their business against losses due to earthquakes. The insurance companieworld over are refusing to guarantee such losses unless the buildings which house these businesses adhere to enhancesafety standards. The reduced insurance premiums and financing at lower rates of interest more than compensates fothe cost of enhanced earthquake protection in the long run. +ost earthquake protection devices come with a warranty upto , years which can be further enhanced after a performance related test when the initial warranty period gets oveTypically the life of earthquake protection devices is greater than the life of the building per se.

n /nited #tates it is mandatory for the computer data centers mushrooming all over to be designed to withstand thseverest of the earthquakes as they house the sensitive data of not one but many hundreds of businesses. Threpercussions of not designing buildings to withstand earthquakes are grave. #imilarly the /# government has laid dowvery strict compliance criteria for seismic performance of hospitals0 they say 1you cannot have deaths due to buildincollapse in a place that is meant to treat earthquake victims2. 3arious government departments are also paying a greadeal of attention on keeping essential infrastructure like public buildings% bridges and airports operational even in case of

ma(or earthquake.

1mmediate 4ccupancy2 and 1)ully 4perational2 during and post a ma(or earthquake is the criteria that is spelt out foimportant structures. The architects and structural consultants are then asked to meet these criteria. This design conceis also known as !erformance *ased $esign.

As the awareness and economic prosperity is increasing% more and more people want to reduce risks. 5ot to forget thurge of many upwardly mobile to live in high-rise buildings away from the pollution and noise with their balconieoverlooking the cityscape giving them a sense of achievement% superiority and contentment after a tiring days workHowever many have started to realize the peril of staying in a high-rise% they become more vulnerable to the seismeffects. 3ulnerability can be explained by taking the example of $ubai% 67 years back when high-rises didn8t exist% peopuse to only come to know of the earthquakes happening in ran through 5ewspapers% now with numerous buildings 9storeys and more their have been instances when the buildings have undergone evacuation because of excessiv

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8/12/2019 12 Highrises Now Earthquake Protection With Warranty

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in the seismic belt and therefore should be compared only to cities in Fapan% Taiwan% @hina% /#A G #an Andres fault lineetc. n all of these countries there exist stringent guidelines for tall buildings% it is yet to be seen how and with whicregulations the authorities in ndia confront this issue. #ome of the other high-profile buildings incorporating dampers ar#ky-bridge of !etronas tower +alaysia% F& Tokai #hin >okohama station in Fapan% Fan-&on &itz building in Taiwan% :storey !ark Hyatt hotel in @hicago% >erba *uena tower in #an )rancisco% storey Torre +ayor in +exico% which alshappened to win the award for the best seismically engineered structure in 977 after the structural engineers monitorethe building performance during and post an real life earthquake of magnitude I.: on the &ichter scale which hit (ust othe coast of @olima% +exico GFanuary 96% 977,. #ubstantial #haking was felt in +exico @ity% but Torre +ayor performewithout a scratch. There are hundreds in the list of buildings incorporating dampers ranging from single storey to thhighest that the world has seen% a Boogle search would bring forth hundreds on your screen.

)luid 3iscous $amping technology is also used to protect bridges. =hen used in bridges the orifice of the giant shocabsorbers is substantially reduced so as to get what is known as #hock Transmission /nit G#T/. #T/s are very wideused in all types of bridge construction as they not only help in protecting bridges from seismic effects but also reduccosts by facilitate load sharing amongst various sub and super structure components. #utong @hang(iang river bridgwhich also happens to be the worlds longest cable stayed bridge uses these devices extensively and so does 5an(ing ,@rossing bridge which has the title of the second largest cable stayed bridge to its credit. A glance at the photographrendering of these bridges cannot but take our minds to the striking similarity to the *andra-=orli sea-link. t is to be seeas to what safety standards the Bovernment insists on this pro(ect. The metro pro(ects in #eattle and Taiwan also makextensive use of this technology i.e. #eattle @entral "ink "ight &ail and Taiwan High #peed &ail0 however we do not comacross this technology being used in $elhi which lies in #eismic Cone-3. Taylor $evices are the leading manufacturers )luid 3iscous $ampers for the earthquake protection of buildings and #hock Transmission /nits for protection of bridgeand flyovers.