Dive Brief:

• A team of researchers from the University of Washington and the University of Nevada, Reno, is testing an earthquake-resistant design for supports that uses tensioning cables built into the columns during off-site manufacturing.
• The technique, borrowed from building construction, also is expected to speed bridge construction because the precast columns will not have to cure in place, the researchers said.
• A column would rock with the force of an earthquake, but the tensioning cables built into it would snap it back to vertical after.

Dive Insight:

The researchers plan to test their techniques with a quarter-scale model on a shake table that the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation has at the Reno campus. The researchers will present their work later this month at the 10th U.S. National Conference on Earthquake Engineering in Anchorage, AK.