photos: Tainan Science Park Project

Dr. Shieh visits the vibration reduction project site at the Southern Taiwan Science Park.

Below you can see the stretch of the high speed railway that runs through the Park.  This picture is taken from the roof of one of the buildings.  The railway has not opened for service, but you can see the train on the tracks--one of the several tests that run each day.

Here's a closer up view of the railway.  You can see two coffin-shaped vibration mitigation structures between each set of columns.    Each "coffin" is a deep trench dug into the ground in which a coupling secures the columns together such that under normal vibration circumstances, the forces are linearized along the railway, thus creating a large "foot" and dampening the vibrations.  In the case of earthquake, these couplings are designed to disengage such that the columns once again act independently and disperse the vibrations.

A view down into one of the "coffins" at the coupling.

In addition to the "coffin" structures, a large linear trench is dug parallel to the railway and filled with concrete and a patented rubber substance that dampens the vibrations.

Comments

[Kathy Leong]

The photo of Ching and Rosalyne makes my heart sing with joy.