Resist Quakes Using Steel Buildings
An engineer sets a model of a four-story building on his desk, adds two weights, and slides it slowly back and forth. The plywood-and-steel building sways smoothly. As he shortens and intensifies motions to mimic an earthquake, the model wriggles like molded jello, each floor moving differently from the one below it. Such complex motions challenge designers as they try to improve earthquake-resistant structures.
Yet engineers are no longer satisfied with buildings that avoid collapse during an earthquake – the basis of current ‘life safety’ earthquake steel building codes. They now want to design steel buildings that require only minor repairs and remain usable while repairs are made.


