Thursday, 2010-09-09
| Steel Buildings In High Seismic Areas |
| Written by Chris Dotson |
| Thursday, 29 October 2009 16:45 |
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Thanks to the engineering departments of the steel building companies there are several types of buildings to withstand extreme weather and high seismic forces. Its common knowledge of the seismic activity that resides in California.
Thanks to the engineering departments of the steel building companies there are several types of buildings to withstand extreme weather and high seismic forces. Its common knowledge of the seismic activity that resides in California. But what most people don't know about are the small pockets of seismic activity that are scattered across the entire United States, like in Tennessee. And just last week there was an earthquake detected right on the border of Colorado and New Mexico with a magnitude of 3.0 or less. So what does this mean in terms of designing prefabricated steel buildings? Defined in the American Heritage Dictionary, the movements of the earth's crust from stress accumulated over a long geological faults or by volcanic activity. Say a earth quake hits, the shift of these plates will send a force of kinetic energy through out the structure. This is why it is important that the building is designed to absorb and control these energies till they dissipate. Building designers have known for some time now and are pretty knowledgeable when it comes to building a structure to withstand this. There are several rules to be followed when designing residential and commercial steel buildings that will be erected in the high seismic areas across the country with respect to the kinds of bracing that can be used for the prefab metal building. There are two different types of wall bracing that can used when designing steel barns. It should be noted that it's not necessary to brace every part of every wall of the steel barn for it to be able to resist the lateral forces of an earthquake. In a smaller steel garage only one bay of each wall needs to be braced. In steel buildings consisting of five bays or more, two bays at each wall need to be braced. The first type I'm going to describe is called diaphragm bracing or panel shear. This is the least expensive type of bracing and is mostly used in areas where the wind speed and seismic forces are the lowest. Diaphragm bracing is where the wall sheeting of the metal barns is designed to absorb the lateral wind and seismic forces. But say you are in an area in which you need more bracing because the threat is much greater, your goin to need a system called x-bracing. This type of bracing makes use of strong cables that are set up diagonally connected to the struts and columns on each side of the designated bay to be braced. So if you live in California or one of the other high seismic activity areas and you are ready to buy one of the many discounted steel buildings from Price A Building, you can be assured that it will be designed to stand up to earthquakes. About the Author: Make sure to check our discounted steel buildings if you are in need of a structure that needs to withstand the forces of nature. |