Research

Earthquakes and other natural disasters create immediate need for building replacement structures to the displaced. In developing or underdeveloped countries, these structures will be permanent and easy to build without skilled labor from readily available materials. In that context, rubble houses which are made with steel wire baskets filled with loose rubble stand as a safe and sustainable alternative. 

Development

Phase 1:

• Evaluate current construction techniques and propose cost-effective improvements.
• Perform static load testing on a full-scale rubble-house.

Phase 2:

• Create computer models for static and dynamic analysis.
• Make recommendations for future seismic shake table experiments.
• Draft construction and design guidelines based on experimental and numerical findings.

Phase 3:

• Perform shake table tests on full-scale models.
• Finalize design and construction guidelines.