Wooden Buildings in Earthquakes

AAAS: "Tall wood building is shaken, but not scathed." You may not have known that UC San Diego has an earthquake simulator. Investigators wanted to determine if wood could rival steel + concrete in safely supporting tall buildings. The 10-story test wooden building was reinforced by narrow wooden panels extending from ground level to the top on all 4 sides [look at the right side of the photo]. These 'rocking walls' were pinned in place by metal rods anchored to the ground + running through to the panels to the top, which allowed the walls to sway during a quake, then return to vertical. Partially funded by the US National Science Foundation, the test building was subjected first to the equivalent of the 6.7 magnitude Northridge, California EQ from 1994, then a few minutes later the 7.7 magnitude tremblor that hit Taiwan in 1999. The building + its hypothetical inhabitants survived both hits. "Scientists say using wood to construct tall buildings could lower their environmental footprint." Plus it would have been a great experiment to watch. At a safe distance. #building #structuralengineering