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Originally Posted by worth
Great info. Civil Engineer?
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No, just a lowly draftsman, but I have to work with Engineers to develop every single connection in a structure.
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Originally Posted by BloodFetish
I know they also take into consideration the ground they build on. I'm no expert, but in Calgary you can pretty much lay in your foundation and build. On one of our projects in Vancouver we built on land that was reclaimed from the ocean in the early part of the 19th century. In an earthquake they fear this land will liquify, therefore we had to drive several piles deep into the ground and use them to support the weight of the building.
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The foundation of a building can vary quite a bit too depending on the area. I know in Richmond in particular it's very challenging as it's pretty much silt. Having a structure withstand an earth quake is one thing, but it's a potential tsunami that follows that can wash away a foundation that they also do need to account for.
There really has been a fair amount of seismic activity in the Pacific recently going back to the expectation that Mount St.Helens was acting up, two quakes in New Zealand, two in Chile, and now this major one in Japan. It does make me wonder if that big one on our own West coast is coming sooner than later. Again with that...the buildings for the most part sould withstand it, but the following tsunami is what would really wreak havoc. Which seems to be what really made things much worse in Japan.