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Building Vibration Lab
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The lab uses vibration control technology to realize buildings that can withstand any earthquake.
AboutAbout the lab
Safe and secure architecture through vibration control technology.
The Building Vibration Lab studies structural design that uses vibration control and seismic isolation technologies to protect buildings from earthquakes that are difficult to predict.
The lab considers the most dangerous ground motion for each building (the worst-case ground motion) and aims to establish a framework for structural design that takes redundancy and robustness into account.
Prof. Ikago also studies vibration control devices using an inerter, as well as countermeasures against long-period ground motion.
The lab encourages students to present their research in English, with the goal of nurturing people who can be active internationally.
Key terms
- Vibration control
- Technology that reduces building sway by absorbing the energy of earthquakes and wind with devices such as dampers
- Robust design
- A design approach that keeps performance from being seriously compromised even when assumptions are off or uncertainty exists
- Seismic isolation
- Technology that reduces earthquake shaking by placing devices between a building and the ground that make it harder for shaking to be transmitted
ResearchResearch themes
To keep buildings safe against uncertain earthquake shaking, the lab adopts the concept of building-specific worst-case ground motion. It conducts research to establish a framework for structural design that makes use of vibration control technology and takes redundancy and robustness into account.
*Illustrative imageSeismic isolation that suppresses shaking with small deformation
A challenge for base-isolated buildings is that deformation becomes too large in major earthquakes. Based on complex damping, in which the way force is transmitted is devised, and its approximate models, the lab studies high-performance seismic isolation structures that suppress shaking while keeping deformation small.
*Illustrative imageIdentifying building properties from few observations
It is not easy to evaluate a building's performance after completion. The lab has developed a method to simultaneously estimate a building's stiffness and how readily its shaking dies out (damping) from the minimum necessary earthquake observation data. It achieves highly accurate identification of damping, which is especially difficult.
*Illustrative imageRobust design against the most dangerous earthquake
At the design stage, it is difficult to predict what earthquakes a building will experience during its service life. From limited information, the lab considers the set of possible ground motions, identifies the most dangerous motion for the building, and studies robust design that remains safe against it.
*Illustrative imageImproving living comfort with stiff rubber dampers
Through experiments and theory, the lab verifies the effects of incorporating viscoelastic dampers made of stiff rubber into high-rise buildings. They can reduce, in good balance, both the acceleration that affects living comfort and the deformation that affects safety, from everyday light winds to major earthquakes.
MembersFaculty
- ProfessorKohju Ikago
- Associate ProfessorKohei Fujita
VoicesStudent voices
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Te Papa's base isolators” Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Seismic isolation that suppresses shaking with small deformation: “Seismic isolator for buildings, based on Teflon, exhibited in Nara” Syced / CC0 (cropped)
- Identifying building properties from few observations: “Seismogram at Weston Observatory” Z22 / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Robust design against the most dangerous earthquake: “Where Venezuela’s Earthquakes Shifted the Ground (where-venezuelas-earthquakes-shifted-the-ground - lrg)” NASA Earth Observatory/Lauren Dauphin / Public domain (cropped)
- Improving living comfort with stiff rubber dampers: “Aparna Zenon, Hyderabad - Symmetric framing of the high-rise apartment towers facade” iMahesh / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Architectural Structures Lab): “NR Dresden Seilnetzkonstruktion einer Sporthalle” Jörg Blobelt / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Earthquake Environmental Engineering Lab): “Overview Seismic Waves” LukeTriton, Steven Earle, Mario Bačić, Lovorka Librić, Danijela Jurić Kaćunić, Meho Saša Kovačević / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Building Safety Control Lab): “Earthquake damage in San Francisco's Marina District on the north side of the city from the Loma Prieta Earthquake” Nancy Wong / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Building Construction Lab): “Reinforced concrete rusted rebars german bunkers Pointe du Hoc” Jebulon / CC0 (cropped)
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