Low-cost braces to enhance earthquake resistance in constructed structures developed

New Delhi: Ensuring more resistance and safety on the physical structures, a team of researchers from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi on Tuesday unveiled its latest innovation, a low-cost super-elastic buckling-restrained braces that can give improved protection to constructions from earthquakes.The earthquake resistance of civil structures is often improved by using seismic force-resisting systems or vibration control devices. Buckling-restrained braces are the special structural elements that serve both purposes. According to the researchers, these braces developed by their team have several advantages, such as all-steel components, onsite fabrication and assembling process, post-earthquake inspection, and easy replacement.

The IIT Delhi researchers claim that the fabricated novel hybrid buckling-restrained braces (HBRBs) have higher strength, excellent ductility, and better energy dissipation potential. These braces can be customised depending on the seismic demand expected on buildings or bridges located in different seismic zones of India.

Prof Dipti Ranjan Sahoo from the IIT Delhi's Civil Engineering Department and his student Dr. Ahmad Fayeq Ghowsi, who fabricated the braces, studied the seismic performance of more than ten full-scale HBRBs at the full-scale testing facility of the Heavy Structures Laboratory of the Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Delhi developed under Fund for Improvement of S&T Infrastructure (FIST) programme of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India.

Tests are being conducted on specimens with improvements and modifications at the laboratory, and according to Prof. Sahoo, a patent has recently been applied for the proposed bracing system. The institute has stated that these braces can also be conveniently adopted in the steel and concrete bridges to enhance their earthquake resistance.

"The proposed technology is effective in the new constructions and has a great potential for the upgradation and retrofitting of seismically deficient reinforced concrete (RC) and steel framed structures, such as residential/office buildings, hospitals, and school buildings. We have filed a patent for this technology," said Prof Dipti Ranjan Sahoo. "The implementation of this technique in the existing structures reduces overall retrofitting cost and minimises the intervention and downtime. It is possible to design a structure to achieve the required performance objectives in terms of strength and serviceability utilizing the hybrid buckling-restrained braces," the institute has announced.