New Shock Absorption Method For Buildings

ruszka writes "Researchers at the University of Buffalo have demonstrated a way that spherical beads of different sizes could disperse the energy caused by shock waves, possibly saving the structure of buildings and bridges.. The story is at the University's website and also at PhysicsWeb."

It's not cost-effective

[Man of E]

This technology is intended to replace shock absorbers currently made of sand and gravel. That's nice in theory, but think of the cost: instead of sand, spaces would have to be filled with long manufactured chains of linked elastic spheres molded to exact dimensions. Even if they were incredibly cheap elastic spheres, protecting an entire building with this would be prohibitively expensive.
It's a beautiful idea. There's just no way anyone will use it.

Missed the point

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree that this stuff is interesting from an engineering standpoint but to even make a connection with the September 11 attacks is just silly.

Shock from the impact was not what knocked down the Trade Centers it was the heat of the resultant fires melting the steel support structures in the center of the buildings that utlimately caused them to fail.

Any decent engineer will tell you that it is not realistic to build new or retrofit existing buildings against this sort of attack.

Re:Missed the point

[Twylite]

IANAE (engineer), but I have spoken to several in the wake of the attacks. Apparently the US is one of the few countries to use steel as a basis for the superstructure of skyscrapers. In many parts of the world it is simply not economically or physically viable to build in this manner.

For example in South Africa (in coastal regions) it is not unreasonable to expect the highest grade of stainless steel to corrode within 5 to 7 years. London I am told has similar problems given their summertime humidity, a problem shared with many Pacific Rim locations.

While buildings not built in this manner (steel superstructure) would be more resistant to fire, it is difficult to speculate on the outcome of such an attack. Most likely the building would not have collapsed, but would have been considered unstable beyond a certain floor (and the entire structure demolished and rebuilt).

Re:Missed the point

[Winged Cat]

Any decent engineer will tell you that it is not realistic to build new or retrofit existing buildings against this sort of attack.

Sure they would, if the building's valuable enough and the client has enough money to spend (as for, say, Cheyenne Mountain). Of course, I can also see a lot of indecent engineers taking advantage of rich clients who only think their headquarters are as valuable - to terrorists, to the public, or even to themselves (in terms of continued operation during disruption and ability to replace) - as a military target.

Re:Missed the point

[kroymen]

That's only partially correct.

True, it wasn't shock from the impact that made the towers fall, but it was shock that did it. Heat only caused the levels near the impact sites to collapse. It was shock from that occurring that caused the entire buildings to collapse ... and it was exclusively the shock of the two main towers collapsing that caused the neighboring lesser towers to collapse and/or sustain varying amounts of damage.

So in an extremely theoretical world, phenomenally efficient shock absorption could have either prevented the total collapse or slowed it to the rate at which the fire could spread from top to bottom (which would have been quite slow since fire moves upward much more easily than it moves downward).

Impact ->-> Fire ->-> localized collapse ->-> systemic collapse >> shock waves damage nearby structures

Bulletproof Materials?

[MarkusH]

Interesting. The claim is that it could reduce shockwaves by as much as 98%. Given that the major cause of injury from a bullet injury is hydrostatic shock, I wonder if you could use this material for absorbing the impact?

Or if the material must be of such a certain thickness that body armor is impractical, could it be used as vehicular armor? With proper thermal insulation, I could see that it could stand up to a nuclear blast, absorbing the shcokwave without damage.