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Shaking a 275-ton Building

Posted by Zonk on from the without-using-your-superpowers dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "If you want to predict how a tall building can resist to an earthquake, some researchers have better tools than others. Engineers from the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) have built a full-size 275-ton building and really shaken it to obtain earthshaking images. The building was equipped with some 600 sensors and filmed as the shake table simulated the 1994 Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles, California. It gave so much data to the engineers to analyze that they needed a supercomputer to help them. Now they hope their study will yield to better structure performance for future buildings in case of earthquakes."

6 of 110 comments (clear)

  1. Wow by hack++slash · · Score: 5, Funny

    The simulated quake must've been so big it shook the images off the linked page!

    --
    To do something right, you often have to roll up your sleeves and get busy.
  2. What they really did... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    They threw a truly awesome kegger and cranked the amps to 11!

  3. Think harder by GFree · · Score: 5, Funny

    It gave so much data to the engineers to analyze that they needed a supercomputer to help them


    Why are they using a supercomputer?

    Screw that, let's wait for Earthquakes@home - and hope the name doesn't scare off some people.
  4. Too bad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    It's too bad noone can find a way to protect steel frame buildings from collapsing due to fire...

    Oh. Wait.

  5. Structural engineers built it, not comp. engineers by fname · · Score: 2, Funny

    As reported in every other story, But this was no ordinary earthquake. In a groundbreaking series of tests, engineering researchers from UC San Diego's Jacobs School of Engineering jarred a full-size 275-ton building erected on a shake table, duplicating ground motions recorded during the January 17, 1994 Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles, California. The guys at the supercomputer center played a role, but they didn't build the building or run the test. It was obviously folks from the Structural Engineering department.

    I'll chalk that mistake to sloth, not pride. No doubt, some are envious of the attention the lead guys get, but the greedy bastards deserve it. In their wrath, they shake the building, lusting for its fall and gluttonous for the massive data.

  6. Spherical horses by gr8dude · · Score: 2, Funny
    Here's the long version:

    There was a very wealthy gentleman who wanted a scientific method to be able to predict the outcome of any horse race. He asked a geneticist, a statistician and a physicist to look at the problem and promised each a million dollars if they could find a solution.

    After a year of study the gentleman asks the scientists what they have come up with.

    The geneticist says, "Well, we have looked at parentage, gentic composition, hormone levels, musculature and sexual activity of all the horses raced last year, and we could find no pattern amongst the winners.." The statistician says, "We looked at the history of each and every race. We compared times, owners, ages, parentage, and many other variables. We could find no pattern."

    The physicist says, "We calculated the solution from first principles, and here it is!" He hands a huge sheaf of papers to the wealthy gentleman. The gentleman responds by returning a million dollars in cash to the physicist.

    "Well done!" he cries, "But how did you do it?"

    "Well remember," says the physicist, "it only works for a spherical horse moving in a vacuum...."
    --
    The saddest poem