Earthquake interrupter: Idaho professor's invention may save lives during earthquakes

On the football field, a defense that bends but doesn't break is a good thing. When it comes to buildings that stand up to the extreme forces of an earthquake, this is also exactly what you want the structure to do. Now, the creation of a professorship at Idaho State University may enable future buildings to mount a formidable defense against nature.

Recently, Mustafa Mishal, Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, obtained patent No. 11,788,314B2 for his invention: flexible connections for pre-formed building elements. Simply put, Mashal, an expert in structural and earthquake engineering, devised a way for structures built using precast/prestressed concrete sections — massive concrete Lego blocks — to overcome earthquake motion using metal components called energy dissipators.

“Many different types of metal transducers have been invented over the years, and I was first introduced to metal transducers when I was a master's student at the State University of New York at Buffalo,” Mashal said. “I was also influenced by the work of inventors and researchers such as Dr. Ivan Skinner, Samuel White, Dr. Alessandro Palermo, and others in New Zealand. I have also explored the use of dissipators in various structures and co-invented new dissipators with Dr. Palermo and Gavin Kitts while working on my PhD at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. After coming to ISU, I continued to work on my ideas, creating new dispersants, improving the design and performance of existing devices, researching different metal alloys to manufacture dispersers, and proposing new applications for metal dispersers such as fastening between prefabricated floorboards.”

Placed between two precast/prestressed concrete or other physical floor sections, these humble pieces of metal move with vibration and sacrifice themselves by allowing the parts to slide back and forth during an earthquake. Once the shaking stops, the dissipator may be destroyed, but the building suffers minimal damage. One design resembles a ribbon with strings, and the other resembles two sections of tubing wrapped in metal. Devices can be manufactured from steel, aluminum, or titanium alloys easily and at relatively low costs.

“Dissipation devices work similar to how a circuit breaker protects important electrical equipment in your home,” Mishal said. “Diffusers absorb earthquake energy to prevent major damage to other parts of the structure such as floors, columns, beams and walls. Many lives have been saved during earthquakes by using scatterers.

The dissipators were tested in ISU's Structural Laboratory (SLAB) by a team of students led by Mashal: Samantha Kerr, Jared Cantrell, Rachel Brownell, and Bernice Sousa Aispuro. At SLAB, dissipators experienced the same deformations they would experience during a large earthquake of magnitude 7.0 or larger.

“I had a great time working under Dr. Mashal and helping with exams,” said Bernice Sosa Aispuro, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering. “This was my first experience working in engineering, and I learned a lot from it. I was able to see first-hand what the engineering process was like starting from the design/research phase and moving on to the actual testing phase.

Saksham Raj Maharjan, a former master's student, took up this topic as part of his dissertation research and analyzed the empirical data extensively.

“This project presented a unique combination of challenges, collaboration and innovation, and working on it has been a rewarding experience for me,” Maharjan said. “Being part of a multidisciplinary team that combines expertise in materials science, structural engineering and earthquake dynamics has added to my knowledge of earthquake engineering. I look forward to seeing the positive impact our work can have on improving the safety and resilience of structures in seismically active areas.”

“We would like to conduct further tests of the devices and partner with industry to commercialize them,” Mishal said. “We see a potential use for these dissipators in structures such as precast concrete parking lots built in seismic areas.”

For more information about the Idaho State University Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, visit isu.edu/cee.

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