Stanford engineers have built and tested an earthquake-resistant house that stayed staunchly upright even as it shook at three times the intensity of the destructive 1989 Loma Prieta temblor 25 years ago.
The engineers outfitted their scaled-down, boxy two-story house with sliding “isolators” so it skated along the trembling ground instead of collapsing. They also including extra-strength walls, to create a home that might replace the need for residential earthquake insurance, said project leader Gregory Deierlein, Stanford’s John A. Blume Professor in the School of Engineering.
The modifications are inexpensive and could be incorporated into new homes as soon as designers and contractors decide to try them, according to the researchers. Mr Deierlein estimated that building a house on this type of seismic isolators would add about US$10,000 to US$15,000 to the total cost of a 1,500- to 2,000-square-foot house.
Contractors could potentially start incorporating these changes into new homes anytime.
Click here for source (Stanford News)
Image Credit: Stanford University
