Modern Gadgets Have Made Us Slaves

misadventure moderateness of Debris Flows, Slope Failures and Landslides 727 Development of Earthquake- and Landslide-Proof prevalent Buildings and their Transformation into Shelters in Case of Emergency Emmerich Simoncsics Institute for Architecture and Design, capital of Austria University of Technology, Karlsplatz 13, 1040 Vienna, Austria (emailprotected ac. at) Abstract Due to the occurrences of the Niigata-Chuetsu earthquake 2004, last October the Vienna University of Technology already delivered proposals jobing the reconstruction and future contingency mitigation for the protection of the lot in the Niigata prefecture.Humane accommodation for the victims should be profferd in unrestricted buildings, which are earthquake- and landslide-resistant, as well. Last year a selection of earthquake and landslide resistant public buildings endure been designed in interdisciplinary cooperation among students of architecture and experts for structural trains, dealing with proj ects of tourist facilities, schools, sports and health centers, buildings for research, congress and administration centers with battle array areas.The buildings have a regular cultivate in normal persona, but each of them give the axe be converted within 6 (six) hours into a shelter for 2,000 victims in case of emergency, providing humanee accommodation and board for several(prenominal) months. Integrated are emergency hospitals, storages, water reservoir and energy supply. So-called familystands (3 ? 3m), which stinker be well assembled, can accommodate six persons each (in three levels, equivalent in a train for long trip). The ascertains show that emergency accommodations should be made possible in all kinds of public buildings in hazard-prone countries like Japan.Regarding the Reconstruction Activities, according to the future demands, the economical development of the Niigata prefecture shall be enhanced by the above proposed buildings. This year, therefore, binding the topic of Strategy for accident Mitigation, additional public facilities with various functions will be true and concerning the theme of Risk Management the organization of immediate medical aid (emergency hospitals) and the procedure of quick ccommodation (transformation of the buildings and deportee of victims) will be treated. It is intended to show the research results in the exemplar of a poster exhibition. Keywords Niigata, earthquake, landslide, reconstruction, disaster mitigation, Introduction The engineer has the task to do research in the ? eld of natural sciences and to ? nd the virtue about the violating forces of Nature. He has to detect the danger for human beings and call the societys attention to the risks.Moreover, the engineer (including the architect) is supposed to propose practice oriented solutions in shape to rivet the hazards and the politicians together with the engineers are answerable to realize the relevant countermeasures in order to protect the population from catastrophes. However, close cooperation with the public is needed, as well. The lawfulness is that no engineer can stop earthquake and they will occur similarly in the future. in that locationfore, necessary preparations have to be done. Expectancy of life may add-on in the future. After forty long time it might be even 90 years.The last repeat of an earthquake in Niigata was after 40 years (19642004). It is not impossible, that an earthquake may happen after 40 years again. Considering the life expectancy, tribe of even 50 years old today, living in Niigata, may once more experience an earthquake. Based on this awareness, middle-aged and younger engineers and politicians are responsible for the protection of human life and berth. In the framework of this symposium we exchange our experiences and thoughts about possible improvements of the expose situation.How does future look like? Future is a very important concept in this connection. We cannot create improvements for the future with our present attitude toward our present situation. With our present attitude no change into a more safe life in future can be achieved. We cannot in? uence the laws of Nature violating forces will always threaten our population. In order to protect our lives against hazards, we have to detect the truth and change our mind accordingly. In order to be able to work e? iently and in a practice-oriented way, in 2002 (after a severe disaster in Austria ca apply by ? ood) the VUT (Vienna University of Technology) Cooperation subject matter for pp. 727732 c 2006 by Universal Academy Press, Inc. / Tokyo, Japan 728 Disaster Mitigation and Security in Buildings was founded. It is a computer program and network to foster ensureings of several institutes, in order to exchange and coordinate their research activities and form groups to comprehend their research topics in interdisciplinary cooperation.The most important events are the yearly arranged public exh ibitions, in which the research results are presented. Basically it consists of two sections the component part for Fundamental look and the Section for Objectoriented Research. Whereas the Section of Fundamental Research elaborates the basic theories by representation of the data and facts about natural hazards (case studies), the Section for Object-oriented Research aims at the practical application of this knowledge to buildings, in order to mitigate or even preserve structural damages and the loss of human life.The proposals are developed by means of Research impelled Education Programs, involving interested and talented students in the design procedure of buildings for concretely de? ned hazard-prone areas, under the constant oversight of consulting engineers and experts. The Vienna University of Technology has been conducting research activities on the topic of Disaster Mitigation already since the year 2000 in cooperation with the University of Tokyo and other related i nstitutes and universities.The method of interdisciplinary cooperation became the basis for the research principles of the above described VUT (Vienna University of Technology) Cooperation Center for Disaster Mitigation and Security in Buildings. As most of the damages caused by natural hazards concern buildings and consequently the people within them, the main focus is placed on the development of hazard-proof construction techniques for public and residential buildings, as well. Method The subject of investigation is ? exibility in public buildings. There are di? erent types of buildings with di? erent functions. There are buildings with several functions (e. . o? ce building mixed with hotel and exhibition hall) and others with one main function (school, exhibition hall, theater, sports facilities, congress center, museum, library, cultural center, hotel, hospital, health center, etc. ). These buildings are very di? erent in their operation, as well. A comparative method helps to look into the degree of ?exibility in each type of building, which shows the e? ciency of these buildings as a shelter for the accommodation of victims in case of emergency. The ? rst target is to develop some public building types and investigate the possibilities of ? exibility.Within a building there are spaces, which 1) fully can be evacuated to give place for another(prenominal) function (e. g. seminary entourage, exhibition hall, gym, stadium, etc. ) provided there are su? cient storages available, 2) can be rearranged, e. g. a) hotel rooms, by additional mystify beds in order to increase the capacity of accommodation or b) a banquet hall, in order to enlarge the capacity of a restaurant also for victims, or c) a foyer / lobby to provide space for organization and discussions between the victims and the crisis managers or d) a wellness center / swimming pool, to use them for sanitary purposes, etc.Function of crisis management 1) Public buildings usually lack some special facilities for the case of emergency (e. g. ?rst aid, smaller measure medical center or clinic, su? cient storage area for food, drinking water, clothes and family stands, water reservoir also for cleaning, sanitary and catering facilities, energy supply, etc. ) These facilities are supposed to be planned in addition, in order to achieve a humane environment for the victims. 2) In those buildings, which serve as a shelter, emigration of persons (victims) and necessary objects (blankets, food, etc. temporarily increases. Heliports near to these buildings are required because the get to roads might be destroyed after a disaster. Family stands 1) are equipments, which in normal case are mainly used in exhibition buildings / halls or international fairs. However, nowadays, many other public buildings (schools, universities, museums, o? ce buildings, hotels, surgical incision stores, etc. ) also o? er exhibition areas and use stands to display the relevant exhibits. 729 2) By means of a very simple additional device these stands can be equipped with attachable beds (max. ix in each family stand of 3 ? 3 m). The goal of these stands is to achieve privacy for each family and to increase the capacity of a ? oor for accommodation purposes. In order to reach an economical arrangement of the family stands, the newly designed buildings have to take the size and layout of the family stands into consideration. Projects, Examples Some architectural projects carried out in the last years shall confront the methods and aims of our interdisciplinary research cooperation. Sports hotel and asshole? ght Arena, Design R.Malinov This project considers a local attraction the cook? ght for the design of a hotel building in combination with sports- and training-facilities. Additionally, the structure provides a medical center and can be transformed into a shelter for up to 2000 victims within 6 hours. Theatre in landslide-prone part in Niigata, Design I. Mach This project take s the risks of a landslide-prone area into consideration. The structure is ? xed in the ? rm ground by anchor-foundations and the access way protected by a wall. High-rise building in Tokyo, Design A.Gr? nanger u In cooperation with Dr. M. Hochrainer (Assistant, Institute for Structural Engineering and Technology) the application of a so called Tuned Liquid Column damper was tested on a high-rise building. By means of an experiment on the shaking table the functionality of the proposed construction was proved. The facility is very economical and can be installed even on the top of vivacious buildings. Tuned unstable column dampers (TLCDs) are passive energy absorbing substructures to control vibrations of buildings when e. g. exposed to earthquake or wind loads.They can be used to prevent structural Fig. 1. Earthquake-proof Sports Hotel and Bull? ght Arena, model and section Fig. 2. Sports Hotel and Bull? ght Arena ? oor plans equipment with family stands in case of emergency 7 30 Fig. 3. Landslide-proof Theatre and Exhibition Hall for Niigata Fig. 4. Increase of the capacity of hotel rooms in case of emergency by bunk beds and family stands Fig. 5. Earthquake-proof high rise building model+shaking-table-experiment with tuned liquid column damper 731 Fig. 6. Detail TLCD Tuned Liquid Column Damper lements from damage (earthquake load) or increase human comfort due to reduced ? oor accelerations ( inviolable wind load). The actual implementation of a TLCD is uncomplicated, since it only consists of a soused piping system, partially ?lled with water, allowing the water column to move inside the piping system. A movement of the TLCD caparison induces a motion of the water column, and vibrational energy is transferred to the TLCD in a desired way. The energy breakup of a TLCD is caused by viscous and turbulent ? uid damping, which can be regulated by the insertion of hydraulic resistances (ori? e plates) to obtain a required damping characteristics. In addi tion to the plane TLCD already established in literature, an entirely new arrangement, called the torsional TLCD (TTLCD) has been proposed. Plane TLCDs are very promising in mitigating ? exural vibrations whereas TTLCDs are used to reduce torsional or coupled ? exural torsional vibrations. Although the construction of a tuned liquid column damper is quite di? erent from the well cognise tuned mass damper (TMD), a TMD-TLCD analogy has been found, which allows to use design guidelines of the extensively researched TMD.The conventional TLCD is a rigorously passive energy absorbing device, and its application reduces the steady state dynamic response of vibrating structures substantially. However, especially during the strong motion phase of earthquakes several response peaks remain, which can be eliminated by the application of an actively controlled air-spring apparatus integrated into the TLCD. This extended hybrid TLCD concept combined with an energy saving control design maintai n the salient features of TLCDs cheap and easy implementation into civil engineering structures, little maintenance costs and a performance comparable to TMD.Considerable vibration reduction has been shown in extended numerical simulations for both, wind and ground excitation. actual buildings 1) In 2004 around 100. 000 people needed temporary accommodation. As newly built buildings will not cover the required space completely, it will be necessary to investigate the possibilities in existing buildings (gyms, exhibition areas, sports stadiums, etc. ) as well, whether appropriate areas can be converted into a shelter in case of emergency. 2) In this connection the students help is absolutely necessary.In the framework of the general education program, students could carry out analyses on the above theme, asking for the cooperation of the managers of some existing buildings. Future development 1) A part of the public buildings may serve in the most attractive mountainous areas of the Niigata Prefecture to enhance the interest of tourists and last but not least of the young generation to ? nd a job in the ? eld of tourism and renovate facilities. This could become also a countermeasure against the aging society in the mountainous areas.Also for this purpose the investigation of the geological quality of possible sites is necessary. 2) In this connection the feasibility of this idea has to be investigated. However, simultaneously a veridical project has to be developed and announced among the population (questionnaire). 732 Conclusions 1) According to the experiences of the Chuetsu Earthquake the value of the lost property (including private houses) should be compared with the possible sum of future investments. The horrible amount of the lost value should gift us conscious that investments are worth making before a disaster ccurs again. 2) In the framework of this symposium we exchange our experiences and thoughts about possible improvements. Therefore, I su ggest ? nishing this symposium with a RESOLUTION on immediate measures to be proposed to the government. 3) In order to achieve an e? cient international cooperation, based on the experiences of the VUT (Vienna University of Technology) Cooperation Center for Disaster Mitigation and Security in Buildings the principles should be extended also in other universities.It is not enough to meet every 4th year, the research and realization activities must be done uninterruptedly.References Catalogues of the exhibitions 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 Vienna University of Technology (2001), Disaster Mitigation Catalogue Exhibition 2001 Vienna University of Technology (2002), Architecture and Disaster Vienna University of Technology (2003), Innovations for Disaster Mitigation and Security in Buildings Vienna University of Technology (2004), Disaster Prevention and Security in Buildings Vienna University of Technology (2005), The Niigata Project