Earthquakes strike suddenly, violently and without warning. We all have in our heads the images of disastrous earthquakes that shatter human lives all across the grid of the continent. As human beings, we are naturally incline to have a constant feeling of psychological reaction that tends to illuminate when a certain situation is not happening yet, and that we are likely to disregard and pay no attention to things like prevention and preparation even before any loss is incurred. With these facts, hundreds of thousand casualties are struck and devastated by quakes that recurrently lurk a population of around 1 billion living in seismically active regions.
Indeed, this natural phenomenon occurs over a million times annually. When the ground starts shaking – where would you fleece for a shelter? What would be the utmost sheltered place for safeguarding yourself? Primarily, the best way to shield yourself when you are inside a house during an earthquake is to stand in the doorway or crouch under a desk or table.
Every portion of the building’s structure can be vulnerable to external elements, thus premature deterioration of construction materials is inevitable. These problems often result in costly maintenance and repair, exorbitant energy expenditures, poor indoor air quality – even a shortened lifespan for the most significant asset, the building itself.
To provide a sturdy foundation for residential houses and buildings, the wall and ceiling structure needs a high performance envelope that provides unyielding protection from the elements. But even after resisting to the earthquake magnitude, countless buildings are still extremely smashed and damaged because of the lack of a durable building structure. After an earthquake, however, fast and economical repair techniques are required to restore the buildings to service within a short space of time. Now, there’s a prodigious technology in construction that provides systems solution with time tested methods and technology to reinforce walls, columns and ceilings engineered for compatibility and performance. This is a very different approach from traditional “systems” offerings as the new technology has the ability to provide a broader range of solutions for both new construction and restoration.”
To achieve this, cracked concrete can be injected with epoxy resin-based and reinforced with externally bonded carbon fiber fabric technology. Heavily damaged concrete might be replaced by repair mortar or grout pouring mortar, while additional reinforcement is bonded to existing concrete using anchoring adhesive or post-installed bolt anchoring technology.
Cracked masonry walls in typical apartment buildings present a serious risk to inhabitants even during small aftershocks. The Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers Regional 7 (PICE) has performed a series of tests with large scale masonry walls subjected to a simulated earthquake. Following the serious damage sustained, a layer of this Carbon Fibre Technology reinforcement embedded in mortar was applied to the walls. Compared to the original walls, damaged walls that were subsequently repaired are able to resist earthquakes over 2.5 times more powerful. This shows that substantial protection is possible even before any damage is suffered.
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