Posted by JWmHarmon on November 13, 2002 at 13:21:21:In Reply to: Re: Can we not produce earth quake safe buildings ? posted by Per Corell on November 06, 2002 at 00:06:15:
Frank Lloyd Wright considered the problem of earthquakes in his Imperial Hotel in Japan. His solution was to build the structure on top of posts placed vertically in the ground under the floor slab. He described it as being similar to a waiter holding up a tray on his finger tips. The posts could follow the motion of the earthquake waves while the building itself "floated" on top of the posts. It could bounce around a little without having the earthquake forces trying to tear it apart.
Pictures of the Imperial Hotel show it as a predominantly horizontal structure. The vertical nature of skyscrapers seem to require a different solution. Using mass dampers is one solution.
http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Imperial_Hotel.html has a great drawing of the overall layout of the hotel.
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