Shaking Things Up!

We're knee-deep into our investigation of plate tectonics and how seismic activity can be a powerful force in changing the landscape of our planet. Our discoveries naturally led to an earthquake engineering challenge where students were presented with an opportunity to design, create, and test a variety of structures that could potentially withstand an earthquake. We utilized real-life structural design strategies that would help minimize the effects of an earthquake, including cross-bracing, tapered geometry, and base isolation. This experience led to many interesting discoveries about structural engineering challenges in fault zones. Students were later asked to analyze their data from the test phase of the challenge and draw conclusions about which materials and structural techniques offered the most successful outcomes. Look out world - we've got some future civil engineers ready to roll up their sleeves and relocate to the San Andreas fault zone. This week's guest bloggers share their engineering experiences. Enjoy. 

One of the structural techniques I used was cross-bracing. It worked well because the structure wouldn't rock - it would just stay in place because of the line stabilizers. Base isolation helped too, because it helped separate the structure from the foundation so that the shaking motion didn't cause any damage.   - @RUUUUFFF 

Two of the structural techniques I used were cross-bracing and base isolation. Base isolation really helped because it made the structure stable because the springs absorbed the impact of the earthquake. Cross-bracing helped as well because it helped minimize the impact of the side-to-side motion.    - @Oreo17

If I were to change my design, I would definitely use base isolation and cross-bracing because they both seemed to make the structure more stable.   - @SoccerDog14

I used base isolation and cross-bracing to minimize the damage caused by the side-to-side motion of the earthquake. Base isolation helped absorb the energy of the earthquake and crossing bracing helped make sure the building was strong and did not fall.     - @Iamadog97

One of the structural techniques I used was base isolation because the springs did a good job of absorbing the energy of the earthquake. I put blocks between the foundation and the springs to be sure the structure did not touch the ground. We even tried putting marshmallows between them for extra padding, but they fell out. Even so, base isolation was a very effective structural technique.   - @DollyParton101

I used base isolation, cross-bracing, and tapered geometry, but I would not use tapered geometry again. Base isolation worked because the springs absorbed all of the impact of the earthquake. Cross-bracing worked pretty well because it helped most of the foundation stay together during impact. Tapered geometry was the worst technique because it completely fell apart during impact.    - @PumpkinPie