Seismic Invisibility Cloak Could Hide Buildings From Earthquakes

Engineering a precise series of ring-shaped shields to deflect earthquakes around a building

By Dan Smith Posted 06.26.2009 at 3:07 pm 4 Comments

Earthquake Damage, Southwestern China, May 2008 TEH ENG KOON/AFP/Getty Images

Disaster film director Roland Emmerich must be quaking in his boots knowing that his movies may soon have to be a little less destructive. With the invention of an "invisibility cloak" for buildings, earthquake damage could be significantly minimized. Using a series of concentric rings in the foundation of a building, this "cloak" directs seismic waves around a building, rather than destructively against and through it.

The cloak won't save buildings from all seismic waves, just surface waves -- waves that travel across the earth's surface. The apparatus consists of a series of up to 100 concentric rings embedded under a building, each tuned to a certain frequency. That way, when surface waves come along, the rings that are tuned to that particular frequency will pick up the bulk of that frequency, and begin to vibrate along with it. These rings then arc the waves around the building, deflecting the shockwave and sending it off in another direction.

The theory has only been simulated and not tested experimentally yet, but once tested it could save untold lives and property damage. It might be that the only casualty will be earthquake movies: prepare for a rash of disaster flicks focused on supervolcanoes instead.

[New Scientist]

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4 Comments

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Old.Timer

06/27/09 at 1:13 am

Just make sure there is nothing valuable in the direction the shock waves are redirected too.

Might make a good weapon, redirecting the shock waves onto a competitors building or factory.

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SteveMcQwark

06/27/09 at 8:24 am

It would be nice if you could tell us how much damage is attributed to surface waves and how much to other waves.

Also, generally with these "cloaks", the wave continues along its merry way as though there wasn't an object there. Is this the case here, or is the design less precise and bends waves in the process?

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scottbruns

06/28/09 at 4:17 pm

I don't know about the word invention. I toured the catacombs beneath a church in Lima Peru in the 1980's. They had constructed deep round wells / holes that our guide told us were for earthquake protection. They were build in the 1500's.

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GeoPilot

06/29/09 at 5:01 pm

There seem to be a lot of earthquake safety devices and improvements lately. Supposedly you can even tell when an earthquake is going to hit by sensing the P wave arrival with this device www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001D8NMY4?ie=UTF8&tag=httplink-20

called an "Earthquake Alarm"