fairfolio
Saved Projects

Building Stability during Earthquakes

CSEF · 2013 Applied Mechanics & Structures

Krista A. Celo, Francesca C. Legaspi · Incarnation Parish School, Glendale, Los Angeles County

Overview

Objectives/Goals The objective of our experiment was to test the effect of different building modifications on its performance during a simulated earthquake. Our goal was to determine which building structural modification provides the most stability and earthquake resistance. Methods/Materials With the assistance of a family friend, we built an earthquake simulator made from sheet metal attached to wooden rods which served as rollers. We used a 7-amp, 120 volt electric drill to power and control the speed of the table. Next, four (4) blocks of wood were overlapped nine (9) stories high, and were placed in the center of the earthquake simulator. The machine was left vibrating and timed until the building collapsed. Three (3) trials were done. At the end of each trial, the building was rebuilt. For the next set of three trials each, we modified the building by adding a cross brace made of popsicle sticks, then a base isolator made of cardboard box filled with marbles, then the last set was a combination of both. Results The building with both cross-bracing and a base isolator was the most stable. It was able to withstand the earthquake simulation the longest time than the 3 other building structures. This building's stability increased by 263% than our original control structure. Conclusions/Discussion Before we commenced this project, our hypothesis was that adding both cross-bracing and a base isolator to our control structure will be the most earthquake resistant. Our experiment confirmed that our hypothesis was correct. The combined modification prevented the building blocks from collapsing longer than any of the other tested structures.

Summary statement

Our project shows that buildings can be more earthquake resistant by making certain structural modifications (such as cross-bracing, base isolation or a combination of both) to make it more stable during an earthquake.

Help received

Francesca's father and a family friend helped in designing and building the earthquake simulator table.

Competition history

  • CSEF 2013 Applied Mechanics & Structures · Entry J0308

Resources

Related projects

Closest projects by meaning, across every fair and year in the corpus.

Browse more like this

Source: California Science & Engineering Fair public projects

Save projects to your library

Sign in with Google to keep track of projects you find interesting, organized into folders. An account also raises your daily allowance for “Has this been done?”, and lets you create a key for the MCP server with a much higher limit than anonymous use. Browsing stays public.

Continue with Google