Jessa Mae Z.
Acman
jessamza@gmail.com
A Critique Paper on Carbon Fiber Strands Tested for Seismic Stability
Earthquake-proofing buildings with a
‘curtain’ may sound absurd, but this is the latest
innovation to come out of Japan which combines
both functionality and design.
Approximately one thousand five
hundred earthquakes hit Japan annually [1],
therefore, finding innovative ways to support and
strengthen the buildings in the country has been
an important task. Twentieth-century structures
and existing earthquake-proofing technologies
mainly consist of steel and concrete. Although
these materials can be strong, they are heavy,
bulky and more prone to cracking. In addition,
earthquake-proofing a building usually involves
grafting on a lot of support using these materials,
which is not really an option for historical
buildings or other particularly delicate structures
which Japan is famous for.
A Japanese company might have a better
way. The company has created strands made from
thermoplastic carbon fiber composite, which are
braided into ropes to form a strong yet flexible
rod that's as strong as iron, but ninety percent
lighter. Its carbon fiber-based CABKOMA
Strand Rods can protect a building against
earthquakes by being draped all around the
structure like a curtain, and essentially tethering
the roof to the ground making sure that the whole
building moves together - and thus stays together
- during a tremor. There are rods inside the
building as well, in the form of a mesh or
network, and serve to strengthen the interior
walls.
Carbon fiber is a long, thin strand of
material composed mostly of carbon atoms. The
carbon atoms are bonded together in microscopic
crystals that carefully aligned parallel to the long
axis of the fiber. This crystal alignment makes the
fiber incredibly strong for its size. The weight of
carbon fiber is almost a quarter of that of steel,
but its pulling force is ten times stronger [2]. It
eases construction work to a great extent, and
there is no need to rely on heavy steel bracing.
Carbon fiber composite uses carbon fiber as the
inner lining or the basic skeleton of the strand
while its outer layer is covered with synthetic
fiber and inorganic fiber to protect as well as
Material Science
Critique Paper on Building Materials
reinforce the carbon fiber inside. It is finished by
impregnation with thermoplastic resin, which
holds all the materials in place [3]. Before
attaching the rods, the strength of the building's
parapet was enhanced to resist tensile stress and
placed anchors around the structure to prevent the
ground from rising. Seven strands are then
intertwined to produce a strong rod. The building
uses over one thousand rods outside connecting
the roof to the ground, and over two thousand
rods inside knitted intro meshes.
The material’s mechanism is simple:
when the ground shifts from side to side during
an earthquake, the rods stretch and pull the
structure back in the opposite direction to prevent
shaking. The carbon mesh inside and the drape
outside help restrain the horizontal force of the
earthquake.
Although the concept of the material is
quite simple, the technology has its limits: it will
not work for tall buildings or those in dense urban
areas where there's simply no room, and it is
made up of carbon which is combustible,
therefore, further development for the design of
the rods are needed. All the same, this
architectural and materials science breakthrough
combines functionality and design, preserving
structures, lives, and aesthetics.
[1] Guha-Sapir, D., Vos, F., Below, R., & Ponserre, S. (2012).
Annual disaster statistical review 2011: the numbers and trends.
Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED)
[2] Chung, D. D., & Chung, D. (2012). Carbon fiber composites.
Butterworth-Heinemann
[3] Chung, D. D. L. (2017). Processing-structure-property
relationships of continuous carbon fiber polymer-matrix
composites. Materials Science and Engineering: R: Reports, 113, 1-
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