TOKYO: Shimizu Corp., a leading construction firm has revealed advanced research laboratory on earthquake and disaster prevention at its research institute in Koto Ward in Tokyo, featuring a large state-of-the-art shaking table – a platform that can reproduce the vibrations of any major earthquake ever recorded, including the Great Hanshin Earthquake and the Great East Japan Earthquake.
With experiments using mock-ups, the Shimizu Institute of Technology will scientifically clarify the mechanisms that cause the destruction of buildings, leading to the advancement of quake-resistant technology.
3.8-meter-high steel-frame mock-up of a high-rise building was placed atop a vibration table that measured seven meters square.
The institute officials then reproduced a vibration, with an intensity of lower 6 on the Japan Meteorological Agency’s scale of 7, which was observed in Sendai during the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011.
Using a mock-up of a building that is to be actually constructed will prove useful in working out an optimal quake-resistant design for the structure, one of the officials said.
