UB Prime Contractor For $1.4 Million Project to Protect Building From Quake Damage

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The U.S. Department of the Navy has awarded a $1.4 million contract to the National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (NCEER), headquartered at the University at Buffalo, to design and install new seismic-protection technology in a Navy office-supply building in San Diego.

The project builds on seven years of NCEER-funded research on viscoelastic dampers conducted by earthquake engineers at UB, the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Illinois.

3M Co., which has been a long-time research partner with UB and NCEER, manufactures the dampers, and will supply them for the San Diego project.

"The Navy is very interested in this project because it has thousands of buildings like this one in areas that are vulnerable to earthquakes," said Tsu-Teh Soong, Ph.D., Samuel Capen Professor of Engineering Science at UB and project director.

Based on results from the current project, the Navy is considering applying this technology to many of those structures.

The purpose of the contract is to design, construct, install and monitor viscoelastic dampers in the building to allow the Navy to assess how the technology, tested extensively in the laboratory, fares in an actual quake.

This is the first time the dampers are being installed to provide seismic protection for a reinforced concrete structure. They also have been installed in the 13-story Santa Clara, Calif., County Building.

Viscoelastic dampers consist of a polymeric material that is viscous and elastic sandwiched between two layers of steel.

Connected at strategic locations within a building, the dampers extend and contract during ground motions, absorbing energy that would otherwise have to be absorbed by the structure.

Installation of viscoelastic dampers is seen as an efficient and cost-effective method of reducing potential damage to structures and saving lives, Soong added, while causing minimal disruption to the building.

"Unlike many other seismic-protection technologies, the installation of viscoelastic dampers may be done on evenings and weekends, while the regular activities of the building continue undisturbed," said Soong.

A key advantage of the technology is that it protects from damage not just the building, but also nonstructural components, such as equipment and furniture, he added.

The dampers are prefabricated, requiring very little assembly on-site, and they may be easily integrated into existing architecture.

Once the installation work is complete by Summer 1996, Soong and other earthquake researchers will begin monitoring how these dampers react to ground motions.

Andrei Reinhorn, Ph.D., professor of structural engineering at UB, is co-investigator on the project.

The Crosby Group of Redwood City, Calif., will provide analysis, design and construction support. The construction firm is Douglas E. Barnhart, Inc. of San Diego.