UCL Sutton Scholars – ‘Engineering to Change the World’
Discovery Day, 9th April 2014 – Engineering Invention Winner
Afiea, Langdon Park School
The engineering problem I learned about was Earthquake engineering. This area specialises
in minimising and preventing immense impact on the social, political, economic, physical and
cultural environment caused by earthquakes. The design criteria for sustainable buildings
include:
• Regular design in plan and elevation to avoid local damage and “soft storey” failure.
Soft storey – This term is used to describe a multi-story building which has substituted a wall
and replaced it with large, open spaces therefore making it more liable to collapse.
• Base isolators – malleable bearings or pads on which buildings are rested on to be isolated
from the ground; it will only move a little or not at all during an earthquake.
Most buildings In modern times use seismic resistance, which just means that the walls are
connected to the each part of the building e.g. wall to roof, wall to wall, or wall to foundation.
The reason why we need to create buildings following the design criteria because the effects
of Earthquakes destroy a large number of buildings and man-made objects some effects
include:
• Ground Shaking – resulting in flooding, cracks, mudslides, landslides, etc.
• Surface rupture – resulting in deaths, destroys houses, etc.
• Landslides – leading to deaths, loss of land, etc.
• Tsunamis – loss of crops, livestock and land, death.
• Liquefaction – leading to sinkholes, death, loss of various properties, etc.
My proposal for an invention to prevent structural collapses is a device which lines the
tectonic plates so when an earthquake occurs the device will emit a signal, warning
everyone beforehand. Also the vibrations will travel to a satellite where it will be received and
converted into energy and passed onto various types of energy stations. My creation is
crucial for the world as it will supply huge gallons of power to our fossil-fueled world. The
greater the magnitude, the higher volume of energy will be composed.
Another reason to consider is the fact that fossil fuels are ending and other substitutes of
fossil fuels are either too expensive, take time to create or impact the environment
negatively. This could improve people’s lives as lots of earthquakes occurs within the Pacific
Ring of Fire, a highly populated area. If my device is used, the quantity of earthquakes will
decrease, saving more lives, crops and livestock.
Areas where my contraption could be used include the Ring of Fire which includes New
Zealand, eastern Asia, Alaska, the coast of North America, and the coast of South America.
Also the device will line the tectonic plates so any movement will be detected immediately.
Problems that I may encounter include: the device’s transmitter could be damaged and the
vibrations won’t travel to the satellite therefore not preventing the earthquake, killing millions
of lives, crops, and livestock. Another problem is that the device that line each plate might be
destroyed if the plates are destructive as the plate that is being pushed under will melt, along
with the device. If the device stops working for a mysterious reason, the warning won’t be
issued leading to the loss of lives, money, crops, livestock, etc.