Morehead State University

Benefits of Floor Isolation

Grade Level at Time of Presentation

Senior

Major

Construction Management/Civil Engineering Technology

Minor

Mathematics

Institution 24-25

Morehead State University

KY House District #

92

KY Senate District #

31

Department

Department of Engineering Sciences

Abstract

In the face of earthquakes, occupants of various buildings are at risk of injury or even death, even with the current gold standard, i.e., base isolation for earthquake protection. Base isolation separates the superstructure of a building from its foundation using isolators. This can protect the building from structural damage, but damage to nonstructural components of the building is still unavoidable. This can lead to grave injuries or even death to occupants, especially to occupants of hospitals. In the event of an earthquake, equipment throughout a hospital can roll or slide fast enough to break bones or cause brain damage. Our research aims to investigate a new method of preventing structural and nonstructural damage to buildings. This method is referred to as floor isolation. In addition to placing the isolators only between the foundation and superstructure, they are instead placed between each floor of the building. In a small-scale experiment, we found that accelerations were reduced by an average of 60% in the floor-isolated building compared to the base-isolated building, in addition to an increase in the inherent (aerodynamic) damping of the model. The gap between isolated floors can further be utilized for building augmented wind turbines.

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Benefits of Floor Isolation

In the face of earthquakes, occupants of various buildings are at risk of injury or even death, even with the current gold standard, i.e., base isolation for earthquake protection. Base isolation separates the superstructure of a building from its foundation using isolators. This can protect the building from structural damage, but damage to nonstructural components of the building is still unavoidable. This can lead to grave injuries or even death to occupants, especially to occupants of hospitals. In the event of an earthquake, equipment throughout a hospital can roll or slide fast enough to break bones or cause brain damage. Our research aims to investigate a new method of preventing structural and nonstructural damage to buildings. This method is referred to as floor isolation. In addition to placing the isolators only between the foundation and superstructure, they are instead placed between each floor of the building. In a small-scale experiment, we found that accelerations were reduced by an average of 60% in the floor-isolated building compared to the base-isolated building, in addition to an increase in the inherent (aerodynamic) damping of the model. The gap between isolated floors can further be utilized for building augmented wind turbines.