Only about 10 buildings in San Francisco have accelerometers. The lack of uniform implementation highlights the need for a new and more efficient system. The new technology, called Discrete Diode Position Sensors, is being pilot tested on a building on the campus of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory this summer. Credit: Public domain
Lasers speed up seismic damage assessments
By Alka Tripathy-Lang
July 28, 2019
The Mw 7.1 earthquake on July 5, 2019, was the largest quake California has seen in 20 years. Part of the so-called Ridgecrest earthquake sequence, the Mw 7.1 event served as a reminder of the seismic hazard associated with living on the West Coast of the United States. Although these tremors struck a relatively sparsely populated region, significant damage was sustained, with the estimated economic impact in excess of $100 million. Determining the extent of damage to individual buildings is an arduous and time-consuming task. Now, engineers are testing a state-of-the-art laser-based system that could dramatically speed up post-earthquake damage assessments by accurately measuring displacement between floors of multistory buildings.
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