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7-Story Wooden Condo Survives 7.5 Magnitude Quake

Posted by timothy on from the this-is-awesome dept.

Mike writes "Earthquake news abounds as of late — recently a team of researchers from five universities unveiled an seven-story earthquake-proof wooden building that is capable of withstanding severe earthquakes. Featuring a structurally efficient nail distribution and a 63 anchor tie down system, the wooden condominium survived a test using an E-Defense shake table, which simulated a 7.5 magnitude quake (check out the video!)"

5 of 146 comments (clear)

  1. Sensationalist headline by The_mad_linguist · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Simulations are nice and all, but it's a bit inaccurate to say it "survived a 7.5 magnitude quake" when it didn't actually.

    Also, adding in 63 steel rods seems to defeat the purpose of calling it a "wooden building".

  2. Unimpressive... by thisnamestoolong · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't know what they are trying to prove with this crap here but I am not at all impressed by that video -- I mean the building is completely empty and naked! Wouldn't the siding, roofing, walls, doors, windows, people, and furnishings make the building more heavy (and more likely to collapse)? Wouldn't the plumbing make the building more rigid and again, more likely to collapse? If I am incorrect please let me know, but it seems to me that this experiment proves precisely nothing.

    --
    To the haters: You can't win. If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine
    1. Re:Unimpressive... by phantomfive · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Please. How much exactly do you think is known about keeping buildings together in an earthquake? The body of knowledge is improving, but there is still a lot we don't know. These guys have developed a way that will keep buildings together better than what we had previously. Even if no one ever actually builds a seven story condo, this is knowledge that will help in any kind of wood construction.

      Besides, if you are not impressed then you missed the coolest part of the video. They have a platform there that can move a million pound structure around in simulation of a real earthquake. If that's not cool technology, I don't know what is.

      --
      Qxe4
    2. Re:Unimpressive... by tool462 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It would be interesting to see how a traditionally constructed wooden building fares in that test. If, built out to the same level, a traditional structure collapses like it's made of toothpicks, then this proves something quite significant.

  3. Re:uh, wow? by timeOday · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Also it was really light... no siding, no SHINGLES, no furniture, probably no plumbing. NOT impressed.

    Yeah, they could have made it much cooler with computer generated graphics, instead they probably blew their whole production budget on the world's largest shake table, a million pounds of wood, and a huge team of highly trained Japanese scientists and engineers. If nothing else, it needs more fire, and way more Godzilla. Two thumbs down!

    (I love slashdot).