My "TOBI"
There is always a slightly dilapidated pink Kirby doll hanging from my climbing powder bag. I call it "TOBI". It is a gift from my best Japanese climbing friend, a climber who was disabled in the March 11 earthquake in Japan. Whether in the national team training, training in Japan for the Olympic Games, or participating in rock climbing competitions, it has always been with me. Also accompanied me to send the first 5.14a route of my life, "the Power of Love".
It is because of TOBI and the story behind it that aroused my attention to the earthquake. I began to study and explore geology, earthquake and earthquake resistance. Use the time of studying KIST in Japan, read the research literature about the earthquake through the Internet, interview Japanese local residents, and visit earthquake sites on the spot. I have found that the earth on which human beings depend for survival is a planet with very active and widespread seismicity. The San Francisco earthquake in the United States, the Alaska earthquake, the Mexico earthquake, the Indonesia earthquake, the Haiti earthquake, the Wenchuan earthquake in China and the 311 earthquake in Japan, these earthquakes do more damage to human life and property than a nuclear war. Today, the nuclear leak at the Fukushima nuclear power plant caused by the 311 earthquake in Japan is still a serious threat to the safety of the Japanese people and the ecological health of the surrounding oceans.
Architecture is an important symbol of human civilization and an important achievement of scientific and technological development. Different forms of buildings such as schools, apartments, single-family houses, libraries, hospitals, shopping malls, restaurants, stations, airports, bridges and railways make up our city. In the last century, with the rapid growth of the world's population, super cities are springing up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain. At the same time, with the rapid development of economy and the growing demand for human residence, human residence continues to expand rapidly, and many areas with frequent earthquakes or natural disasters have rapidly evolved into villages or towns. These denser and taller buildings, these expanding homes in earthquake-prone areas, as well as increasingly densely populated supercities, are increasingly shrouded in the threat of unearly warning and inevitable earthquakes.
During the summer vacation of 2021, I visited experts in the field of earthquake research in China, such as the Institute of Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the strong earthquake Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, with the knowledge of earthquakes learned by myself in Japan and the preliminary exploration results and many questions about the earthquake resistance of buildings. Under the guidance of anti-seismic experts and making use of the holiday time, I carried out an in-depth study on the theory of earthquake resistance and isolation, as well as an in-depth investigation on the application of current earthquake resistance and vibration isolation technology. I found that even in earthquake-prone areas such as Wenchuan of China and Japan, the popularization rate of building isolation is still low, even lower in ordinary residential buildings. The key problem lies in the high cost of the isolation system, complex design and calculation, complex construction and difficult maintenance. At the same time, for the important public facilities which are particularly in need of protection, the isolation effect of the current isolation system is not ideal in dealing with moderate or above intensity earthquakes.
Based on these learning, research, investigation, exploration and innovation, and considering the economic cost factors, I began to write this paper-"Research on the Technology of Building Horizontal Omnidirectional Seismic Isolation". It is hoped that my research and the building anti-seismic isolation technology and system proposed can contribute to the development and popularization of seismic isolation.
I hope more researchers can participate in it. We will work together and jointly develop a more effective and low-cost isolation system and intelligent digital isolation network to reduce the damage to human beings caused by repeated earthquakes. It can make Japan, Wenchuan of China, San Francisco of the United States, and those who live, study and work near the circum-Pacific earthquake belt feel lasting security and security.
Let the story of TOBI will not be repeated.
Written on a flight from Hong Kong to Tokyo in August 2021.
Shuonan Yu
