Seismic wall fuse
AssigneeDegenkolb Engineers
InventorGarrett R. Hagen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
One or more seismic wall fuses that wrap around the edge of a building wall, the seismic wall fuses having a first wall panel on one side of the wall and a second wall panel on the other side of the wall, and an edge panel along the edge of the wall connected to the first and second wall panels. Each of the first and second wall panels have: a top portion that is attached to the wall, a mid portion that deforms to absorb seismic stresses, and a bottom portion that is also attached to the wall. In operation, the mid-portion of the first wall panel expands while the mid-portion of the second wall panel simultaneously contracts (or vice versa), thereby dissipating seismic energy in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the wall, which could otherwise topple the wall.
Claims18
A seismic wall fuse, comprising:
- a first planar wall panel configured to be positioned flat against a wall, and
- a second planar wall panel configured to be positioned flat against the wall such that the first and second wall panels are parallel to one another, and
- wherein each of the first and second planar wall panels comprise:
- a non-deformable top portion that is configured to be attached flat against the wall,
- a deformable mid portion that is configured to deform to absorb seismic stresses by deforming in a direction parallel to the plane of the wall, and
- a non-deformable bottom portion that is configured to be attached flat against the wall,
- wherein the non-deformable top portion is separated from the deformable mid portion by a first slot cut inwardly from a side edge of the wall panel, and
- wherein the non-deformable bottom portion is separated from the deformable mid portion by a second slot cut inwardly from a side edge of the wall panel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.