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INNOVATIVE GROUND INTERFACE CONCEPTS FOR STRUCTURE PROTECTION

Project description

Unnatural materials may protect structures from natural and man-made vibrations

Rumbling of the ground beneath our feet can originate from a variety of sources, both below and above the ground. Whether caused by the passage of cars and trains, construction or mining or by seismic events, these ground-based vibrations can have an important impact on structures and infrastructure – and on people in the case of failure. The EU-funded INSPIRE project is harnessing the combined potential of bright young researchers and metamaterials in a training network focussed on developing man-made materials engineered to inhibit wave propagation in all spatial directions.

Objective

IINSPIRE aims to foster a new generation of highly qualified researchers and engineers, which will create a critical mass kernel, able to implement a holistic and novel soil-foundation-structure concept for the efficient protection of structures from all ground induced hazards, including earthquakes and all other sources of low-frequency noise and vibration excitations. This concept offers a drastic breakthrough over the existing approaches in crucial aspects:
A)Wave inhibition capabilities over broadband low-frequency excitation in all three spatial directions
B)General applicability to broad classes of structures and infrastructures
C)Simple, reliable and resilient design, leading to easy and low-cost implementation and maintenance
INSPIRE mainly relies on recent innovative scientific and technological concepts, mainly developed within the broad concept of meta-materials. The notion of “meta-materials” refers to natural or artificial materials or structures which exhibit extraordinary properties for inhibiting or conditioning wave propagation in all spatial directions over broad frequency bands. Quite recently, the feasibility of the application of meta-material concepts has been also demonstrated for seismic and infrasound waves. These general developments of metamaterials will be further enriched and advanced through novel absorption and isolation concepts, such as negative effective mass and stiffness

Coordinator

ETHNICON METSOVION POLYTECHNION
Net EU contribution
€ 486 035,28
Address
HEROON POLYTECHNIOU 9 ZOGRAPHOU CAMPUS
157 80 ATHINA
Greece

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Region
Αττική Aττική Κεντρικός Τομέας Αθηνών
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost
€ 486 035,28

Participants (12)

Partners (7)