Educational Material

Take a look at the IDEERS (Introducing and Demonstrating Earthquake Engineering Research in Schools) web site which outlines an Earthquake Engineering Design Competition for school students to make model buildings that can resist earthquake forces.

The web site covers the following:

• The competition specification for the model and the presentation and a video of an example model being tested dynamically on the EPSRC shaking-table.
• Information on the nature and occurrence of earthquakes, especially in the UK and Europe.
• Information on the effects of earthquakes on societies, including, for example,
• Reports on recent earthquakes describing the loss of life, damage to structures and economic losses.
• Photographs of earthquake damage to structures such as buildings, bridges and dams.
• Information on earthquake engineering research projects and their benefits.
• Fundamentals of the seismic behaviour of buildings including, for example,
• The concepts of natural frequency, damping and resonance, with descriptions of simple experiments to aid understanding.
• Videos showing a model of a building on a small shaking-table responding in different modes of vibration.
• Methods for earthquake resistant design of buildings.
• A design for a simple inexpensive shaking-table using a timber table on ball bearings operated by an electric drill with an eccentric cam.
• Links to other useful websites on Earthquakes and Earthquake Engineering.

You can also find many other places to visit for information on earthquakes.