Steve Mahin, the Byron and Elvira Nishkian Professor of Structural Engineering, presented the "Use of Protective Technologies to Achieve Seismically Resilient Tall Buildings" at the Third US-China Tall Building Symposium, held at Stanford University on April 22.
This symposium brought together 150 leading public officials, urban planners, architects, structural engineers and other experts from across the US and China to discuss the role of tall buildings in achieving livable, sustainable and safe cities. Mahin was the only US academic to make a presentation at the meeting.
In his presentation, Mahin described the disruption in several large cities worldwide caused by damage to tall buildings following major earthquakes. As a result, there has been considerable discussion about enhancing the seismic performance of tall and other buildings; increasing their resilience and damage resistance so that they can continue to be used following significant seismic events.
He discussed several innovative approaches using protective technologies to enhance resilience as well as safety during strong earthquake ground shaking. These technologies include seismic isolation, supplemental viscous damping, exoskeletons, and various self-centering technologies.
Results of the studies show that these approaches can substantially reduce the damage to structural and nonstructural components, and contents. It was shown that each approach offers specific benefits in certain situations, and that they can be very cost effective if the probable costs of earthquake damage due to repair and business interruption over the life of a structure are considered.
The presentation highlighted research by 2 current Berkeley graduate students, Shanshan Wang and Benshun Shao.