Which building design is best in withstanding an earthquake?
80716
My suggestion is contact with http://www.nicetermpaper.com
128624
The transmission of the various modes of vibration of an earthquake to a building can depend on whether the building is constructed on solid rock or on sand or silt.  Sometimes the excavation for the building and refill can also alter the ground response.  Sand and silt can actually amplify the effects on a building and earthquakes can actually liquify soft ground under certain cirstances especially when very moist.  You may not be able to build a buffer into the ground to protect the building.  Instead it may be necessary to obtain seismologist's estimates of the worst expected earthquake g-loads for the area and a geologist's estimates on how the selected site will react.  With that information a building can be designed to withstand the site response to an earthquake with room to spare (factor of safety).  Good luck.
845607
I'v heard about buildings being put on ball bearings so that the building will remain stable while the earth rocks beneith it. I'v seen a few specials on the Discovery Channel about it. Apparently the technology was pioneered in Japan. It makes sense since Japan has A LOT of earthquakes.
852108
Here's an answer that comes from a class I took in structural engineering.  Every building has a natural resonant frequency, ie, a frequency that it tends to oscillate at if it's shaken.  It's just like a tuning fork, or the string of a violin.  If an earthquake shakes the structure at a rate equal to its resonance, it will vibrate much more intensely, and be subject to more damage, that would be the case if the frequency were different. Also, I should point out, there are higher frequencies, called harmonics, which have a similar effect; however, they're not nearly as bad, and can often be ignored.  It has been determined from experience that the very worst earthquakes tend to produce vibrations in the 2 to 4 Hz range, so the engineer designs a building so its natural resonant frequency falls outside this range.  So here's a tip: Find out what frequency the earthquake simulator produces.  Try to design your building so its resonate freq. is higher or lower than that.  You'll have to think a bit about this, and be ingenious!  The frequency can be calculated, but that involves solving some differential equations (I don't think you're ready for that, yet...)
948942
Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake#Size_and_frequency_of_occurrence for your answer.\n\nGood Luck!!!
460913
structures are subjected to 2 types of movement in an earthquake, P-wave and S-wave. P-wave is the sharp up and down movement, called the primary wave. S-wave is the longer lasting side to side movement, called secondary waves. then there are the after shocks. PBS NOVA has several well made documentaries about that stuff.
618592
Just about any method will work as long as the final deceleration is minimized. Depending on the height of the building, wrapping it in three layers of two-inch thick egg-crate foam with an outer layer of one-inch thick ethylfoam should cushion the shock sufficiently.
814798
Mostly flexible structures.\nBuildings that are built to bend or move with the tremors, Bridges that can twist. If the structures can flex then they do not break (Cocktail stick versus rubber band). Some buildings collapse when they resonate (vibrating in tune with the earthquakes) Building designers can use different materials or different designs to stop resonance. Round buildings instead of square, thicker or thinner walls or make buildings modular ( like bricks stacked on top of each other.
1005402
The criteria for Designing of the RCC building is given in the IS:456. For taking the loads on the building you have to refer IS :875 .If you want yo design the building for earthquake resistant properties than you should refer to Is4326, IS 1893, IS 13920.
472801
If you live in the area (as my parents do), you get a small reminder every few months.  If you're an engineer like me, you're pretty keenly aware of the situation, since the building design requirements for that area are the same as they are in California.\n\nThey haven't been that way for long, so there are a lot of structures down there that aren't likely to fare well if the Big One hits.\n\nI do know that Anheuser-Busch has retrofitted its St. Louis plant and expects to be up and running within 24 hours of a major quake.  So there'll be beer.
951191
The best way to ensure the appropriate level of sound insulation for your building is to design it into the structure.  Architectural acoustics covers the topics of reverberation time, acoustic absorption, diffusion, first reflections, room modes, etc. Some of the points to be noted are placement of openings that is doors and windows and the design of the same with size of rooms of the house.  A few points are illustrated below.\n1. The window can be double glassed, with a thicker glass at the inside. 2.  The air gap towards the ground level to be the biggest air leaks, so may be  make panels (with the gypsum panels) which fit nicely in the window, and in the air gap?   3. Using acoustic ceilng tiles. 4.  Sound absorbing materials who can be pasted to the walls or plastered can also help.\nVR\n.
760871
This question is completely relative to the building/bridge's design. In an earthquake prone area, buildings and bridges are designed to withstand earthquakes. In an area where an earthquake is less likely, it is definitely possible that a building would collapse. In almost any area, large bridges are designed to withstand a wide array of natural disasters, although they are definitely stronger in certain areas. Of course, the earthquake's size and distance is also a factor. An extremely flexible building will suffer no damage from a minor earthquake but if you had say, a earthquake that rated a 9 on the moment magnitude scale occurring under your feet, the building would most likely topple.
814300
Some of the techniques are: active and passive damping; minimiization of masonry in tension (such as avoidance of overhangs and use of ring collars); reinforcement of structures at high-stress areas; cross-bracing; deliberately flexible design; base sliders or rollers to accommodate ground motion. See the refs. below.
47862
No substance at all. Skyscrapers in New York City are designed to collapse straight down in the event of a catastrophic collapse (like from a severe earthquake).\n\nThis is a necessity because New York City has so many skyscrapers closely packed together. If one fell over sideways, it would cause a chain reaction like dominoes, causing millions of deaths.\n\nWTC7 collapsed due to fire. The firefighters decided not to fight the fire in the building because they knew that the building was empty, and that their efforts were better spent rescuing people trapped under the rubble.\n\nSince the fire was allowed to burn unchecked, it eventually weakened the steel members causing it to collapse.\n\n\nBackground information: The steel in the building DID NOT MELT. Steel has a strange property; when it gets heated to a certain temperature, it loses about half its strength.\n\nIf you don't believe that, think about this: why do city fire codes require steel beams to be sprayed with fireproofing material if steel can't catch fire? The fireproofing material is to prevent the steel from losing it's strength due to high temperatures.
978904
First off I would never build along the San Andrus fault line or anywhere below a hill or mountain range or up in the hill country.\n For these simple reasons: \n 1) if you build on the fault line and if an earthquake happens your business will end up at the bottom of the fault.\n 2) If you build below a hill or mountain in the spring when it rains a lot your business will be buried by a mud slide.\n3) And if you build your business in the hill country you may lose your business to a wild fire. If I had to build it would be downtown central L.A..
190267
Any of the skyscrapers - Empire State Buildin, Sears Tower - would be fine, since they're also very blocky. For a greater challenge, you might even try the Pentagon, since it is a regular pentagon in structure.\n\nYou might start off with the Washington Monument, since it's nearly 1-dimensional (because it's so much taller than wide or deep).\n\nI'm American, of course, so I think mostly in those boundaries - I'm sure there are buildings in other countries that work, too.
274866
this site is the best\nhttp://earthquake.usgs.gov/learning/