Speaker
Description
Earthquakes have been hitting man-made constructions since immemorial time. In recent history, with modern seismic regulations, engineers try to prevent the seismic collapse of buildings with mixed results. Although seismic engineering theory is very advanced, in construction practice there are still many shortcomings and there is still a long way to go. One of the cases in which not everything is solved is in the seismic interaction that occurs between the non-structural elements of a building and its resisting structure. Non-structural elements are generally not taken into account in the calculations but they have a decisive influence on the seismic response of the building. This has been revealed in recent earthquakes, especially when the non-structural elements are made of masonry. The most modern investigations have developed solutions to seismically isolate this interaction, but two steps remain to be taken: on the one hand, to put these solutions into practice and install them to new or existing constructions to avoid future damage in the event of an earthquake, and on the other hand, to make these solutions more sustainable and contributing to the circular economy of the construction sector. The present work presents a seismic isolator for masonry infills in RC frames with excellent results obtained in the laboratory tests, and the current attempts that are being made to make this seismic isolator more sustainable, contributing to recycle the construction and demolition waste from the world of construction or car industry.
| Keywords | Seismic isolator; masonry infill; RC frame; laboratory test; sustainability; circular economy |
|---|---|
| Topics | Earthquake engineering; Circular economy; Innovation in materials, products and systems; |
