Earthquake-resistant building construction

Ingenieurgesellschaft

Dr.-Ing. Fischbach mbH

For some time now, engineering structures have had to be designed and calculated according to earthquake-protection criteria.
The introduction of the earthquake norm DIN 4149 by the German construction authorities following the Roermond earthquake of 1992 was no surprise for us. Long before this, we had been dimensioning load-bearing structures according to similar principles. With the right design – deliberately flexible and dissipative in some areas – earthquake loads calculated for load-bearing structures can be significantly reduced. Where functionally necessary and expedient some kind of stiffening is part of the solution. Particularly when planning industrial plants with extreme hazard exposure and enormous masses at tall heights, the earthquake-proof planning of load-bearing structures is of special importance.