UB engineers have created a one-of-a-kind machine to test how the contents of a building are affected by an earthquake.
The Nonstructural Components Simulator (NCS) will allow researchers to take a step forward in figuring out not only how to secure a building during an earthquake, but also everything inside it.
According to Gilberto Mosqueda, a professor of civil, structural and environmental engineering, nonstructural aspects have not been a focus of attention until recently. Nonstructural components are anything in a building that is not part of the basic architecture, such as plumbing, electrical wiring, heating and cooling systems, and monitors in hospital rooms.
"We put a lot of emphasis on the building. If it doesn't stand, it's doomed," Mosqueda said. "But if the building remains intact, we have to make sure everything inside is still working."
UB's facility is the first in the world to focus on nonstructural building components, according to Mosqueda. Engineers were influenced in part by legislation passed in California that calls for stricter building codes.
After earthquakes in 1970 and 1994 when hospitals suffered much damage, Senate bill 1953 was passed, raising building code standards in an effort to improve hospitals.
To address this problem, UB engineers have been working on the NCS for the past two years. The machine consists of a two-story model of a hospital room that contains a bed, equipment and monitors donated from local hospitals.
The NCS simulates the intense shaking of a building during an earthquake and the damage caused afterward, with a frame that moves a total of 80 inches from end to end.
"If you have a 10-story building, when the earth shakes, the building shakes, too, and amplifies the shaking of the ground," Mosqueda said.
Engineers used the model of a hospital room because of the vital role hospitals play after an earthquake, when victims need medical care, according to Mosqueda. Even if the building itself withstands an earthquake, if anything inside is damaged, the whole building could be useless.
"In past earthquakes that are moderate, the structure has had no damage," Mosqueda said. "But sprinkler systems may break, causing enough water damage to shut the building down."
According to Mosqueda, if an earthquake doesn't put a hospital that isn't up to code out of business, the government will.
"If you're an acute care facility, your hospital has to be built to higher standards," Mosqueda said. "If your hospital is not in a structurally sound building and its contents not secured, your building will be shut down."
Engineers are using the NCS to revolutionize the way important buildings such as hospitals will be constructed in the future in an efficient and cost-effective way.
"(The NCS) can help address the needs of manufacturers and address certain needs in their designs," Mosqueda said. "It can also help code enforcers identify what is safe and what is not."
Mosqueda explained that UB's facility is a big advancement in earthquake research.
"With an earthquake, there's no warning. It happens in seconds. It takes 30 seconds to a minute for the event to be over," Mosqueda said. "There is not much we can do to prevent it, but we can try to help protect the building."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
