Roofs Built To Resist Earthquakes

One way to resist ground forces is to lift the building s foundation above the earth.

Roofs built to resist earthquakes.

Earthquake damage caused by the building having no structural framing where the upper floors and roof are simply built on to masonry walls. It s also important that the floors and walls of the building are made as lightweight as possible. This can be done with profiled steel cladding together with a layer of added insulation. While no structure can be entirely immune to damage from earthquakes the goal of earthquake resistant construction is to erect structures that fare better during seismic activity than their conventional counterparts.

A 30 degree roof slope has the best results. This can also have double skin with spacers and insulation. The roof of an earthquake resistant building must be as light as possible too. Create a flexible foundation.

In south florida all roofs must be built to withstand 146 mph wind forces and by using metal ties strapping and other reinforcement most builders use wood to meet this standard. Kelvin doerr director of engineering and technical services at fox blocks says basically it comes down to stronger thicker structural members with better connections. Here are some of the methods used to help buildings withstand earthquakes. It can have a roof slope between 3 and 15 degrees.

Once these walls shake a bit the entire strength is lost and the building will collapse or pancake during an earthquake. When designing earthquake safe structures the first consideration is to make the highest bit the roof as light as possible. This is difficult because some sort of framing is vital. Since earthquakes release energy that pushes on a building from one direction the strategy is to have the building push the opposite way.

This is best done with profiled steel cladding on light gauge steel zed purlins.