The Earthquake-proof building task is a project where we had to design a building that would withstand a major earthquake. The task required us to design, build, and test a small-scale model that meets the following criteria:
- It is quick and easy to assemble
- Has a minimum height of 60 cm
- Has a maximum base of 30cm x 30cm
- Has a platform on the top level of at least 5cm x 5cm
- Remains standing after an earthquake, simulated by shaking it on a table for 15 seconds, this includes the motion of both P waves and S waves
- Is constructed from materials given, these materials are pasta and blue tac, it also has to cost less than $60 (one stick of spaghetti = $1, 1 gram of blue tac = $1)
Brainstorm
Several ideas we brainstormed were;
- Cross-braces
- Triangular structure (picture below
- Cross-braced rectangular structure (picture below)
These were our main ideas however we stuck to the cross braces and triangular structure.
Research
A lot of good research was put into this task, and we got good information from the research that really helped improved and create our design. Some of this research consisted of:
Shear walls, cross braces, diaphragms, and moment-resisting frames are central to reinforcing a building.
Diaphragm:
The diaphragm is one of the essential horizontal components of the building, including the floors. Earthquake-proof buildings have diaphragms on their deck and are strengthened horizontally to share the forces with vertical components.
Cross-braced system:
Earthquake-proof buildings are designed with properly braced columns, braces, and beams to reverse the seismic forces back to the ground.
These two components helped us to make a good strong design.
Design
Our design was heavily impacted by our research. The triangle design and the cross-brace system are evidently used on our design.
Create
Creating the building took a bit of time and effort. Quite a few sticks snapped although we could replace them we could only replace 3 in one lesson. Eventually, as we got toward the end of our design we finished with around $5, and as we did one of our tests several sticks snapped, so we got our 3 replacements and we agreed in the group that we need to reinforce the design more, and make more cross braces around the base. However, we only had $5 and we needed both blue tac and pasta. So we spent the rest of the money on 3 pieces of pasta and 2 grams of blue tac. This wasn’t enough to completely support the design so we had to salvage more blue tac off other parts of our building. The costs for blue tac and pasta were… $18 for blue tac and $42 for pasta.
Improve
Several improvements were made to our design throughout the building process. After our first test, several sticks snapped so we decided to add cross braces around the base because that is where all the weight of the structure is. After we made these slight adjustments we tested again and the second level broke on the S wave test. So we reinforced this level with cross braces as well. Then on the final test, no sticks were snapped.
Reflection
The Earthquake-proof building task was an enjoyable project, and I feel my group and I did really well. We worked collaboratively together and made a good design found from good research. The research that we found really helped with the designing and creating section of the project. After doing several tests and the sticks snapped we made a few improvements that really helped support the building. We made several mistakes throughout this project. These included accidental snapping of pasta, running out of materials, or failed test attempts. These mistakes were minor setbacks aside the running out of materials because we didn’t have enough materials to make a good support system. So we salvaged parts of other sections of the building. Overall this was a good task and challenging assessment that I learned a lot from.
0 Replies to “Earthquake-Proof Building Project”