Assignment #23 Olivia Eilers 3/4/13 6

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Will My Building Withstand an Earthquake?

Architect Frank Lloyd Wright was an innovator in designing buildings that could withstand earthquakes. For example, Wright designed the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, which withstood that citys severe 1923 earthquake with only minor damage. Many modern cities located in earthquake prone areas have enacted building codes designed to reduce damage to structures, thereby reducing the incidents of injury or death. Architects often go beyond these safety codes to ensure public safety. For example, the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco is stronger than required by the citys building code. It also has features built into its base that are designed to dramatically reduce how much the building will sway during an earthquake.

Problem: What design strategies keep structures safe in an earthquake?

Hypothesis: If my structure of centimeters tall can withstand an earthquake, then the design strategy of anchoring (cross bracing, using a wide base, anchoring, a low center of gravity, rigid frame, or flexible frame) will be the most important factor in keeping it safe and minimizing damage. Materials: 40 Toothpicks 5 mini marshmallows or 25 grams of clay Sheet of paper (to build structure on and put names and group number on) Procedure: 1. Make your hypothesis if you havent already done so. 2. On the back or bottom of this sheet, sketch a plan how you and your partner are going to build your structure. How are you going to use the materials? Draw an example of your structure. 3. Have the teacher check and sign off on your drawing. Before you start building get a group number___. 4. Once the teacher has given you your group number, you may start building your model. 5. After you have finished making your model, fill out the data table for your group below. 6. Place your model on the counter with a piece of paper underneath it and be sure your names and group number are on it. 7. Collect data from all the other groups so that your data table is filled out. Results: Class Data Table for Period # _____

 Grou p#

H eight of model (centi meters )

Width of base (centimeter s)

# of cross brace s

Ancho red to the paper (yes or no)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

2.2 3.7 5 2.0 9.5 .6 3.0 2.0 .4 5.1 0.5 2.5 4.0 6.2

2 1 .

12.9 5.0 7.0 12.0 5.5 6.8 5.9 13.0 6.6 5.9 10.5 5.6 11.0 4.0

3 0 1 1 0 0 8 1 1 3 0 0 5 0

No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes yes No No No

L ow center of gravity (major ity of the mass is lower than halfwa y down (yes or no) N

Rigid (clay) or Flexible (marshmall ow) (choose one)

Tim e lasted on the shake table (seconds )

Rigid Rigid Rigid Rigid Flexi Flexi Flexi Flexi

1 1 15 15 15 15 15 15 1 15 15 1 1 1

Y N N Y ble Y ble Y ble Y ble Y

es

o 2 1 9 1 1 9 1 1 1 1 1

o es

es

es

es

Rigid

es

es o es es es

Y Flexi ble n Flexi ble Y Rigid Y Y Rigid Rigid

 15 16

8 .0 1 6.0

7.0 10.5

4 0

No No

o es

N Flexi ble Y Rigid

3 1

1 Observations: When our model was on the shake table it lasted 15 seconds and didnt move. We came in 2nd place. Conclusion: According to the textbook on page 204-205 shear walls, tension ties, base isolators, cross braces, dampers, and flexible pipes are good design strategies that will help absorb the shock in an earthquake and will help make a building seismic safe. In this lab we designed strategies to keep structures safe in an earthquake. I hypothesized that if my structure of fifteen centimeters tall would withstand an earthquake and that the design strategy of anchoring would be the most important factor in keeping it safe and minimizing damage. Over the course of fifteen seconds my structure was flexible and was anchored to the paper; Zero toothpicks fell off. Eight of the sixteen structures lasted the whole fifteen seconds. Six out of the six that used the same strategy of anchoring lasted the whole fifteen seconds. About 86% of the flexible structures made it, so this shows that using marshmallows (flexible) was also important. In conclusion my hypothesis was correct. Anchoring and flexibility were the most important factors in keeping the structures safe and minimizing damage during an earthquake.