Earthquake-proofed buildings

Posted on March 30, 2011 by eflreader

Taipei 101 building's Mass Tuned Damper

This article describes the technology that has been developed in east Asia to counter the
threat of the numerous, severe earthquakes that occur in this region.
Around the Ring of Fire fault, which is an extremely active earthquake zone that
surrounds the Pacific ocean, earthquakes large and small are a daily occurrence. While no
technology can prevent earthquakes, or even accurately predict them, architects and
engineers in east Asia have been working to reduce the effects of earthquakes on the
people living and working in the skyscrapers of the big cities of the Pacific Rim.
Many of the cities of the Pacific Rim such as Tokyo or Taipei have extremely dense
populations, and so more and more, people are living and working in very tall buildings.
Taipeis 101 building was until recently, the worlds tallest building with 101 floors, houses
offices, retail outlets, restaurants and an observatory deck and on any day can contain
thousands of people. It is a cultural meeting place, a tourist attraction and a place of
business rolled into one.
Aware that a disaster in one of these huge centres could cause huge loss of life, there are
systems in place to absorb the impact of seismic activity. Taipei 101 has the worlds largest
Tuned Mass Damper at 660 metric tonnes, with a diameter of 5.5 metres. A wind damper
is a heavy ball, which is suspended in the centre of a building, and acts as a counterweight to swaying caused by either wind or earthquake. This marvel of engineering is
open to the public and it is fascinating to see it in action, during the frequent earth
tremors in the Taipei basin.
Tokyo is also a place that faces similar challenges to Taipei with regards to building safety.
Tokyo is also near an extremely active fault with frequent seismic activity and has a high
population density, with a need to build upwards rather than outwards. The Mori Tower
also has a number of features designed to minimise sway. At the base of the building,
there are pads made of rubber and steel, called Seismic Isolators. When the building
moves, the pads absorb the movement.

A relatively recent development has been the use of CTF columns, which make up the
structures framework. These are steel pipes, filled with high-strength concrete, which
prevent the building from swaying too much, in either high winds or earthquakes.
As well as structural features, many buildings have sophisticated back-up systems, as well
as independent water and electricity supplies and food. Many buildings issue staff with
emergency grab bags which can be vitally important in supporting life in survivors in any
disaster, while the emergency services search to find them.
These features are tested by using special equipment called shake tables, which are used
by engineers and architects to quantify how well earthquake resistant construction
innovations stand up to the movements in earthquakes. They simulate the shaking and
swaying movements of earthquakes so that engineers and architects can quantify the
efficiency of the technology.
Despite the terrible loss of life during the recent Japanese earthquake and the following
tsunami it is clear that if buildings in Tokyo had not been as technologically advanced as
they are, they would not have resisted the earthquake as well. The devastation might
have easily have been far worse, if it had not been for these life-saving innovations.
*Idioms and expressions
Pacific rim the countries around the edges of the Pacific: Japan, Taiwan, the
Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, the US and many others.
EXERCISES:
I. Answer the following questions in Spanish:
What is the article about?
What life-saving innovations are mentioned in the text?
Apart from structural features, are there any other features important to safety in a
building?
What two things cannot be done about earthquakes?
What do architects and engineers have been trying to develop in relation to earthquakes?
What is extraordinary about Taipeis 101 building?
What is a Tuned Mass Damper or a wind damper?
What are CTF columns? What is their main objective?
What are shake tables?
II: Provide the Spanish word for the expressions underlined in the text.

Reference
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