Do You Want an Upper or a Downer with That Shake?

The Japanese are seemingly working on a ‘ground-breaking’ solution to prevent earthquake damage to dwellings. Basically, the shaking triggers a sensor that starts a powerful air compressor that elevates the house above its footings. Details appear scant, at least readily available published details, but, in short … 

When the footings feel seismic shock shakes, 
A compressor by sensor awakes, 
As the ground ’celerates, 
The house elevates, 
To ensure there’s no damage or breaks. 🤗

You can find more, but not much more, on how Japan's Air Danshin is attempting to solve the isolation of structures to seismic shaking, at this link: 

https://www.modscape.com.au/blog/japan-earthquake-resistant-buildings-best/  

Those of you who love to nitpick and who have a keen eye for detail, however, will notice that the stairs (as currently depicted on the left of the above photo) are connected to both the elevated deck and also the ground.  This, of course, is an obvious failing in the concept, as depicted by the artist, unless the stair assembly (including treads, risers, frame and handrails) is constructed of a material with very low elastic modulus (ie capable of effortless stretching) in both horizontal and vertical planes, or includes a flotilla of virtually frictionless piston-cylinder combos, all in mechanical equilibrium, and unaffected by seismic tremors. ‘Artistic licence’ springs to mind, perhaps born of a marketing department and graphic artist's need to display, well in advance of the designer's wish to display?

Then there's the simplistically-shown hemispherical seating arrangements between house and footings, obviously lacking any lateral guides to re-connect the two halves after lateral displacement (again artistic licence kicks in). Is it just me, or is the imagination initially drawn to bra cup sizes for a solution to this one?

But, hey, at this initial theoretical display stage, who gives a hoot about the stairs, and who gives two hooters whether the solution to the footings cup connections lies with Calvin Klein, Berlei or Bendon? Presumably the conquering of such devils, along with a choice of many forks in the road to success, will be in the detail? 

It appears to me that achieving a solution to actually elevating the dwelling by concentrations of compressed air, without sending into orbit any peripheral items (such as grandad having a siesta in a hammock on the balcony), might be a much more important devil to dwell on. 

Might be worth keeping a lookout for the beta version of this ‘outside the box’ concept.  After all, those cunning Japs have a certain reputation for providing resilience to earthquakes in the design of their buildings and structures (see link below).

https://www.planradar.com/gb/japan-earthquake-proof-buildings/    

This reputation arises, no doubt, as a consequence of being located firmly on the Pacific Ring of Fire, and having acceptance and application of the following historical concepts: 

• Strong Regulation;
• Innovation; and 
• Investment. 

For those of you with an appetite for examples of seismic resilience design features, which have been adopted by the Japanese in their buildings, the above ‘planradar’ link indicates that their 

"… architects may pick and choose between many other earthquake proof building features including:

• The use of a steel frame in the building’s core – as opposed to the reinforced concrete core common in Western structures
• The use of diagonal dampers, steel beams and columns rather than concrete columns
• Pendulums in the core or on the roof of the building
• Dampers installed between the levels of the building
• Mesh structures to help to fortify the building
• Made-to-break T-joints
• Many new buildings are also connected to the country’s early warning system, which alerts inhabitants of an oncoming quake
• Use of fall-away doors which provide more ways to escape
• Covered lights to protect people in case light bulbs explode."

Mater artium necessitas?  

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When not researching the weird or the wonderful, the comical or the cultured, the sinful or the serious, I chase my creative side, the results of which can be seen as selected photographs of my travels on my website at:

https://ken-boddie.squarespace.com 

The author of the above, Ken Boddie, besides being a sometime poet and occasional writer, is an enthusiastic photographer, rarely leisure-travelling without his Canon, and loves to interact with other like-minded people with diverse interests.

Ken's three day work week (part time commitment) as a consulting engineer allows him to follow his photography interests, and to plan trips to an ever increasing list of countries and places of scenic beauty and cultural diversity.

#earthquakeresilience #japanesebuildings #seismicdesign #floatingbuilding