One of the most destructive forces in human civilization is earthquakes. Millions have been killed by them. Most of the deaths were due to indirect causes, typically the collapsing of houses and structures. Through many centuries, numerous techniques have been implemented to try to strengthen houses from earthquakes. However, none has been very successful and relatively easy to implement at the same time. Thus, it is desirable to find relatively easy to implement techniques to prevent and/or reduce damages to houses due to earthquakes.
Inventors Lucas Tong (Mountain View, CA) and Nimisha Pattada (Los Altos, CA) propose using a web of carbon nanotube wires to tie the foundations of houses and buildings together in U.S. Patent 7,618,216. With the foundations of the houses linked together by carbon nanotube wires, the foundations support each other. This will reduce the chance of the houses from collapsing even in major earthquakes, say the inventors. In another embodiment, a web of carbon nanotube wires links the foundations of single-family homes together, which in turn reduces earthquake damages to the single-family homes.
A carbon nanotube structure could strengthen a house against earth movement, such as earthquake. One house can be known as the central house. In one embodiment, there is a slab under the house. The central house has a number of neighboring houses around it. There is also a slab under each of the neighboring houses. The slab under the central house can be known as the central slab, and the slabs of the neighboring houses can be known as the neighboring slabs. At least one carbon nanotube wire is embedded in each slab. The at least one carbon nanotube wire in the central slab is connected to two of the carbon nanotube wires in neighboring slabs.
Figure 4 below, from the patent, illustrates the concept of tying house slabs together with carbon nanotube wires and mesh. FIG. 4 shows one embodiment 200 with nine slabs, connected together by carbon nanotube wires. For example, the carbon nanotube wire 204 of the slab 202 is tied to the carbon nanotube wire 206 of the slab 208 at the point 210.
