To promote protection against natural disasters, Shimizu Corp. developed a device that can reproduce the vibrations of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded, including the magnitude-9.0 temblor that struck the Tohoku region four years ago.
To promote protection against natural disasters, Shimizu Corp. developed a device that can reproduce the vibrations of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded, including the magnitude-9.0 temblor that struck the Tohoku region four years ago.
Measuring 7 meters by 7 meters, the square-shaped device supports buildings or replicas weighing up to 70 tons and assesses their quake-resistance levels and other features.
The equipment has the highest vibration-generating ability in the private sector, officials of the general contractor said.
In a demonstration experiment on March 4, Shimizu officials used the device to reproduce the vibrations observed in Sendai during the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011. A 1/40 scale model of a 40-story, 150-meter high-rise was placed on top of the device. When the machine vibrated, the model deformed like a real building and wildly swung from side to side.
According to the officials, the shaking equipment can reproduce an earthquake even with a maximum intensity of 7 on the Japanese seismic scale.
The maximum amplitude of vibrations is 80 centimeters horizontally and 40 cm vertically, double the scale of the Great Hanshin Earthquake that devastated the Kobe area in 1995.
The device also makes it possible to simulate how construction methods would fare if hit by an earthquake stronger than the March 2011 disaster and any other quake observed around the world, the officials said.