Inerter-based vibrating barrier for seismic protection of a cluster of building structures

Descripción del proyecto

Un «amortiguador» subterráneo para los grupos de edificios

Se ha trabajado mucho para aumentar la elasticidad y resiliencia de los edificios a los terremotos mediante la ingeniería estructural. En cambio, el concepto de barrera vibratoria (ViBa, por sus siglas en inglés) es una unidad de masa-resorte-amortiguador oscilante a gran escala colocada bajo tierra y sintonizada para disminuir el movimiento de las estructuras cercanas sin entrar en contacto con ellas a través de la interacción estructura-suelo-estructura. Sin embargo, requiere una masa vibratoria del tamaño de un edificio, lo que es un obstáculo para su aplicabilidad en la práctica. Un inerter, un dispositivo similar a un amortiguador, podría ser una solución. Con el apoyo de las Acciones Marie Skłodowska-Curie, el equipo del proyecto VIBRATIONCLEAR pretende desarrollar un concepto de ViBa basado en inerters (I-ViBa) mediante simulaciones numéricas de elementos finitos en 2D y 3D considerando múltiples I-ViBA y un grupo de estructuras de edificios.

Objetivo

Earthquakes are one of the deadliest and costliest natural hazards. In Europe, earthquakes have been responsible for more than 200,000 deaths and damage worth at least 250 billion euros during the 20th century. In Italy alone, more than 400 destructive earthquakes have been documented. In more recent history, the Central Italy earthquake in 2016 killed 297 people and caused damage worth at least 4 billion euros.

VIBRATIONCLEAR proposes the use of inerter-based vibrating barrier (I-ViBA) for earthquake protection of a cluster of building structures. The I-ViBA is unique because unlike any other currently available earthquake protection technologies, the I-ViBA is buried in the ground and tuned to protect surrounding structures without being directly in contact to them through a structure-soil-structure interaction (SSSI) mechanism. The I-ViBA can be a solution for a low-cost seismic protection technology for existing buildings as one I-ViBA can be designed to protect many surrounded structures, something that has never been explored before. Aiming to address the apparent gap, this VIBRATIONCLEAR project sets two key objectives: (a) propose a novel I-ViBA and its optimisation method; and (b) perform 2D and 3D numerical finite element simulations considering a more realistic environment (multiple I-ViBA with a cluster of building structures). Using both analytical and numerical methods, the I-ViBA will be accurately designed, modelled and simulated using finite element software with various types of earthquake ground motions.

With the support of my supervisor (Prof Marco Domaneschi) at the Politecnico di Torino, the Fellowship will train me in earthquake engineering and structural dynamics and act as a pilot for my own ERC Starting Grant on seismic protection technology. Ultimately, the project seeks to provide low-cost seismic protection technology for buildings to protect people from earthquakes.