Introduction
There is a common saying that goes; Earthquake does not kill, building kills (White 2016). This quote acknowledges the fact that most of the lives lost when an earthquake strike is usually not cause by the massive shock of energy released by the earthquake. It is structural failure of buildings that causes most injuries and fatalities. Earthquake cannot be prevented; however, the best thing is structural failures can be prevented hence saving lives and preventing injuries. This paper will discuss three of the common structural failures caused by earthquake and the advanced earthquake resistant techniques that can be used to prevent them.
Problem 1-foundation failure
The ability of a building to withstand earthquake is partly determined by it foundation. A strong foundation can carry the entire weight of a building and can also withstand lateral load such as wind waves (the constructor 2016). Unfortunately, even the strongest foundation constructed using convention method is not immune to earthquake. The earthquake waves are usually multidimensional and impose an intense side-to side load on a building. This usually causes buildings to slide off their foundation hence collapsing (White 2016).
There are two major advanced earthquake resistance techniques that have merged to help solve foundation failure caused by earthquake. There are Base isolation technique and Vibration control/energy dissipation devices technique. Base isolation is a technique that uses a series of pad/bearing to separate the building from it foundation (see Figure below). The major aim of base isolation techniques is not to “strengthen the building but to reduce the earthquake-generated forces/load acting on it (The constructor 2016). Unlike the conventional foundation which is tightly connected to the foundation, base isolation technique uses a series of elastic pad to separate the building and it foundation. Whenever earthquake strike, it wave displaced the building sideway which under conventional foundation lead to deformation hence collapsing. However, with the base isolation the building is also displaced but in this case, it is the elastic pad that is forced to bend not the building. As result the building still retain it shape and go undamaged by the earthquake (Reid 2016). The Figure below show the impact earthquake has on conventional foundation and on Base isolated foundation.