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Openings like windows, door frames, and elevator shafts tend to weaken a structure. Coupling beams try to mitigate this weakness by providing extra reinforcement in the vulnerable areas. Using a test structure of a 40 percent replica of a four story wall, the beams withstood a peak load of 300,000 pounds with a three degree drift (a measurement of the movement of the top of the building versus the bottom of the building).
Even in large earthquakes, buildings rarely experience more than a one or two degree drift.In addition to being stronger, easier, and more effective, the steel fiber reinforced beams are also expected to be less expensive than the traditional coupling beams in widespread use today.
The success of the initial test, conducted at the University of Michigan’s Structural Engineering Laboratory facility, which was designed and specially reinforced for earthquake testing, prompted researchers to plan to install the beams in several high rise buildings scheduled for construction on the west coast of the United States, where earthquakes are most prevalent.
1 comments:
I´ve read your posts, and the seem to be very interesting articles, but...
what i´m expecting for this homeworks is for you to read the article, and comment about what you think of it, maybe an opinion or a critic, and a little summary.
I don´t really need you to copy the article and paste it here.
P.S: can you tell me wich magazine are you reading? (name, year, publication number, etc)
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