New technology for retrofitting non-earthquake-resistant buildings can prevent major damage in old settlement

Source: The post is based on the article “New technology for retrofitting non-earthquake-resistant buildings can prevent major damage in old settlement” published in PIB on 26th October 2022

What is the News?

Researchers have found a solution for retrofitting old non-earthquake-resistant buildings with a technology that can prevent major damage to such buildings from earthquakes without compromising their strength.

Background

Historically, most buildings technically called unreinforced masonry(URM) were not built using modern building codes. 

URM buildings have traditionally been widely adopted worldwide due to inexpensive and locally available construction materials.

Just like in most developing countries located in earthquake-prone regions, unreinforced brick masonry(URBM) has been a common practice in urban, semi-urban and rural areas of India.

These buildings are much more likely to experience damage or collapse during an earthquake.

What has been developed by the researchers now?

Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur have developed a technology called semi-confined unreinforced brick masonry(SC-URBM).

The technology can resolve the problem of the spread of settlements in earthquake-prone areas with constructions that have been built without following earthquake-preventive building codes.

Researchers found that SC-URBM can significantly enhance the energy dissipation capacity and ductility of the retrofitted building without compromising its strength.

Hence, such buildings would have superior performance in comparison to URBM buildings during earthquakes.