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Nanotech and Wireless Guard Against Earthquakes
Roland Piquepaille writes "Two separate efforts using technology to protect people from earthquakes have recently been in the news. At the University of Leeds, UK, researchers will use nanotechnology and RFID tags to build a 'self-healing' house in Greece. The house's walls will contain nanoparticles that turn into a liquid when squeezed under pressure, flow into cracks, and then harden to form a solid material. The walls will also host a network of wireless sensors and RFID tags that can alert the residents to an imminent earthquake. Meanwhile, another team at the Washington University in St. Louis is using a wireless sensor network to limit earthquake damages."
I remain skeptical of the idea of the self healing house, I think that it might work in just the opposite direction of what is intended if not very careful, kind of like if the dampers in the other article linked to gets out of sync with the waves of the quake (or maybe rather into sync) creating resonance instead of weakening the resonance.
First thing I don't like about this idea of nano-particles turning into liquid is this. Imagine a solid structure being put under pressure, as the pressure increased a tiny fraction of the material is turned into liquid, my immediate idea is that this would weaken the structure increasing the risk of a collapse. Sure it might be nice if the liquid later filled out the tiny cracks in the structure, but if the entire thing has collapsed by then, what good will it do?
The second thing I don't like is that these cracks that will be filled out in structure represent unevenness in the entire structure. I can't help but think that it would resemble using uneven bricks for a house. I can see that this could give extra strength to the building if they are used very carefully, but if you just put one uneven block into an entire building it will make it more unstable.
Maybe if the blocks are to uneven they will liquefy and turn into the right structure for creating the most possible strength, I guess it depends on how much pressure would be put on a given unevenness.
Also wouldn't this leave the building a lot more vulnerable to the next earthquake?
All this is said knowing very little about the detail of this idea, it is just my immediate thoughts being confronted with this.
The idea to have the building itself alert the inhabitants is nice, it would especially be nice if the building would warn if there had been a minor quake that is not noticeable for humans but still might be the warning that a bigger quake will soon happen.
Don't forget to tag "boycottroland" as usual.
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don't cut it off www.mgmbill.org
People will have houses of strange bulging shapes with upper floor overhangs which are now glued into position and cannot be altered?
I welcome our new earthquake reigion overlords dwelling in surreal melting houses!
or:
1) build house
2) have earthquake
3) charge people $1.50 to view strange 'Leaning House of Athens'
4) ??
5) Profit!
"Shirley J. Dyke, Ph.D., the Edward C. Dicke Professor of Civil Engineering and director of the Washington University Structural Control and Earthquake Engineering Laboratory" http://news-info.wustl.edu/tips/page/normal/8961.h tml
OK this place is really going down hill? Whatever is happening to good taste and decorum these days?
This sounds like some badly written erotic literature.
This is not "nanotech" just because you have nanoparticles. This is applied chemistry and materials science.
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Try holding-up a piece of aluminum foil to a lighter flame. The black residue created contains good amounts of C60 buckyballs and other broken bits of nanotubes. These things have always been around. Nanotech means ATOMIC CONTROL, not just nanoparticles. Like this:
http://www.nanoengineer-1.com/mambo/index.php?opt
Sheesh, " Nanotech and Wireless Guard Against Earthquakes" makes it sound like they have something that works on actual earthquakes. Technically these technologies do not guard, the attempt to limit damage done to structures during an earthquake. This is a far cry from guarding against something.
An automotive airbag does not "guard against" accidents!
We all know about how much damage an airbag deployment causes, I wonder how much actual damage these technologies can prevent. Getting everyone out alive is important, but if the remaining structure is left distorted and unrepairable, the cost will probably be more than most want to spend. Safety is one thing, going broke just in case is another.
Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
To the practical...(?)
What?
Two separate efforts using technology to protect people from earthquakes (emphasis mine)
As opposed to efforts using what, brute force?
Fair enough, this is a bit of a troll, but it just makes me wonder if certain story submitters have figured out that a title with "Nanotech" and "Wireless" is best followed up with a starting line containing "Technology" in order to maximize story acceptance rate.
Especially considering that the actual articles are remarkably low on content/references/links...
i grew up in southern california and went through many earthquakes. paying attention to things like securing brick facades, anchoring furniture to walls, and buying adhesive pads for the bases of vases etc combined with improved building codes has nearly eradicated earthquake related deaths in that area.
my question is... could this whole gap filling technology be used to upgrade security for space vehicles..
i can't find links but read something about micro-meteorite protection systems already (i think) in place.
can anyone with better knowledge chip in here?
Geodesic domes are unaffected by earthquakes and tend to ride them out with little or no damage. The downside is people still want their ranch houses. Unless you build to the environment it's doubtful science can completely protect you. You can make them more resistent but so long as asthetics come first the resistence will be limited. Ever drive around the mountains in LA? There are sedimentary rocks with lines going straight up. Large building sized rocks that are part of the San Andreas fault have bounced tens of miles. In reality nothing is earthquake proof but if you're in a geodesic dome odds are you'll have the last house standing.
WTF? A post containing only the word "WTF" is modded interesting? Can anyone mod this interesting as well? Help free me from bad karma.
By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes: Open, locks, whoever knocks!
not offtopic, please. this link discusses issues such as rigidization of flexible structures if the structure is compromised. relates to tfa. this isn't what i read originally, but has some details about micrometeor protection systems including some stuff about asbestos foam and gelatin resin... true, all for a vacuum environment, but plenty of stuff starts with space research before getting to the general public. link: http://www.sicsa.uh.edu/index.php?option=com_docma n&task=doc_view&gid=26
It's Roland the Plogger again.
This sounds like a variation on self-sealing gas tanks, which were first used widely on World War II aircraft.
It's not all that hard to make earthquake-resistant buildings. You just have to have materials and joints with tensile strength. Steel frame buildings are seldom damaged by earthquakes. Wooden buildings with metal plates reinforcing the joints hold up well. Reinforced concrete does fine if there's enough rebar in the right places and the rebar is welded together.
This new science intrigues me, explain to me again how sheep's bladders can be used to prevent earth quakes?
Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
Many old mortars such as lime absorb CO2 and get harder with time. If lime mortar cracks while young, it will absorb CO2 and fill up those cracks.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
If a house built with this manages to collapse, will the rubble glue itself together making any chance of rescue moot?
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
turn into a liquid when squeezed under pressure, flow into cracks, and then harden to form a solid material
I can see that being really helpful when you're trying to drill into the wall...
your husband is stuck in the gone-to-liquid-back-to-solid walls of your house. But we'll get him out when we get an aftershock
How about self-inflating bubble "life capsules"? A sort of like durable fabric made air-bags, only the people are inside them. When earthquake begins, you place it on the middle of the room (or it is always there, in some decorative shape), get inside, seal it, open the valve and it soon enough becomes a pneumatic cocoon which isolates you from hard places around you. Of course, being buried inside it under a great pile of rubble would elevate the air pressure inside the bubble, but not as much as if you were a diver in the deep water, so I guess it is survivable.
This made me think about pneumatic boats - generally they are much more durable and safe in tough situations, less tending to crack your skull in a shipwreck, won't break its hull into pieces when it hits rock... Why don't we build buildings right away with safety in mind, in such way that there is nothing to become rubble: Perhaps even whole buildings could be made as a multi-airbag (soft!) structure with airlocks, only hard parts being shape-giving external skeleton, floors and lift compartments. Of course, usage of nails to hang pictures on walls is not an option!
WTF... as in wtf is the boycottroland tag?
"At the University of Leeds, UK, researchers will use nanotechnology and RFID tags to build a 'self-healing' house in Greece."
If this goes through successfully the possibilities are endless. Maybe one day you could use nanotechnology and RFID to build the self-healing houses in Egypt, or India. Then maybe one day you could even build it in Australia! Of course space is the next step, you could use nanotechnology and RFID to build the house on the moon? Saves a lot of work for the astronauts for when they arrive.
PS: Crafty British buggers
This is an ingenious and utterly simple concept that may actually work:
Scientists at Lehigh University have tested a next-generation "self-centering" system that uses gigantic steel bands to hold building columns and beams in place during an earthquake.
In allowing the beams and columns to separate, rock and twist independently of one another, the rope-like steel bands -- encased in plastic -- are meant to prevent a building frame from buckling during an earthquake. The system also uses friction plates that help dissipate the quake's energy. After the tremors subside, the steel bands pull the beams and columns back to their original positions. source
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