These Lightweight Carbon Fiber Strands Can Make Buildings Earthquake Proof

Umer Sohail

8 years ago

We have seen too many times how a devastating earthquake can destroy an entire city within a flash. This natural phenomenon has probably taken millions of lives and surely is one of the most destructive forces on our planet. Most structures collapse as their foundations are firmly affixed inside the ground. So when the tectonic plates collide and sway, they resonating the foundations and the entire building until the tensional forces break the bonds between the bricks, causing the building to collapse.

There have been many earthquake-proof designs over the years, but a Japanese company’s method involving carbon fibre tethers promises to be a true game changer.

Most of the earthquake-proof buildings try to remove the coupling with the ground, thus allowing the building to move independently in case of an earthquake. And some of them use seismic based isolators, which act as shocks for the building and absorbs most of the earthquake’s effects. But Komatsu Seiren, a Japanese company, have devised a new technique that will let your building resist the earthquake forces without changing its foundations or trying the impossible task of installing shocks.

Komatsu Seiren has created this ingenious technique by designing an interlocking web out of carbon fibre noodles. This webbing can absorb the horizontal forces from an earthquake and transfer them into the ground, which makes helps the structure resist the shaking motion and avoid crashing. Komatsu Seiren talked about his amazing design in an interview:

The CABKOMA Strand Rod for seismic reinforcement is a thermoplastic carbon fiber composite. It uses carbon fiber, which is an advanced material, as the interlining, while its outer layer is covered with synthetic fiber and inorganic fiber. It is finished by impregnation with thermoplastic resin.

[Image Souce: Cabkoma]

The design has a high tensile strength while 160 metres of it only weighs 12 kilogrammes making it the lightest seismic reinforcement in the world. Its strands are five times lighter than steel and are equivalent in strength to fibre strands five times its weight.

The brilliant aesthetic looks will make sure your house is not marred by extra webbings while providing amazing strength and protection against possibly devastating earthquakes.

Pretty cool, isn’t it?

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