Technological Advancements :: essays papers

Technological AdvancementsOn November 7, 1940 the Tacoma Narrows Bridge was hit by winds of up to40mph. The bridge began to twist and flutter. Some cables snapped and asix-hundred foot section of the bridge fell into Puget Sound. Wind isbut one disaster, earthquakes ar another (Jay Stuller 36). Disasterslike this one and others could have been avoided if the properprecautions had been taken. Due to the disasters in the world thestructures of today and tomorrow are much safer. Today most of thesecatastrophes are avoided because of the up to date technology, likearchitecture, predicting the disasters before hand and new techniques apply by emergency rescue teams. Some major advances in todaysbuildings include such things like the material used. For instanceproducts like steel- beef up cover (refer to diagram 3-1), steelframing, and properly braced wood frames for houses are a few examplesof how buildings are being retrofitted and new buildings are beingbuilt towards guard from disa sters. As well, the foundations ofthe buildings can be built on shock absorbing base isolatorscontaining springs or alternating layers of steel plates and rubber, tocounteract the effects of earthquakes.In japan architectures have been keeping mind earthquakes whiledesigning and building structures. Unfortunately the buildings weremainly designed to obtain a vertical force. The Japanese buildingswere designed to withstand a certain acceleration force, but in January1995, an earthquake hit the city Kobe devastating the buildings, whichwere thought to be safe. It just shows, that building design criteriaare crucial to withstanding effects of earthquakes (Gerad Baker 12).The normal Japanese wooden houses that had heavy roofs collapsed, andalso newer homes were demolished, as seen on diagram 3-2. This couldhave been avoided by building the houses with illumination plywood frameswith crossbars that distribute force evenly rather than houses withheavy timber walls that collapse under fo rce. As well the materialsused to build the structures has a gravid deal to do with the survivalrate of buildings. The use of reinforced concrete is thought to be amajor reason why buildings stay intact. It is realistic to reinforceolder buildings with extra concrete simply and effectively, which hasbeen done in California since 1989. Bridges, a totally differentaspect of building, but a precise similar method for creating soundstructures. During the Kobe earthquake the Hanshin expressway collapsedon its side for a stretch of 600m (pictures seen on page 5). This typeof roadway is built upon reinforced concrete pillars. There is steelinside the pillars to increase its ability to bend and flex with the