Building a new home is a huge investment of time, money and energy. Choosing materials that can withstand natural disasters is crucial for ensuring a comfortable and secure living space.
The most resilient materials for a building’s structure have high ductility—the ability to undergo large deformations and tension without breaking. Steel is a popular choice for earthquake-proof buildings, while wood’s elasticity and strength give it resilience against earthquakes.
Concrete
Concrete is one of the most durable building materials available. It can stand up to tornadoes, hurricanes and even earthquakes. It is also an insulator, which can lower a home’s energy bills significantly. Concrete is also less flammable than wood, which makes it easier for firefighters to protect the structure and its occupants.
Concrete can also be recycled from industrial waste, such as fly ash or ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBFS). Using recycled materials helps reduce the environmental impact of concrete production.
In addition to being strong and insulating, concrete limits the infiltration of allergens from outside. It also inhibits the growth of mold, which can cause a variety of health issues, including headaches and respiratory problems. Concrete houses can also limit the transmission of sound and noise between rooms, which is beneficial for families with children or pets.
Steel
Steel has the highest tensile strength of all construction materials and is one of the most enduring materials. It can withstand extreme force, temperatures and other elements like fire and water. It does not deform or twist, and it resists corrosion. It is available in many variations and forms, and there are two comprehensive grading systems that accurately categorize a particular steel type along with its attributes.
It is less expensive than iron and more sustainable. It can be recycled indefinitely without losing its durability. It is also one of the most versatile building materials and has a wide range of applications that include cars, appliances, ships, tools and surgical scalpels.
The 2010 earthquake in Haiti demonstrated the need for disaster-resistant buildings and construction methods. The rebuilding efforts included elevated homes and improved levee systems. The rebuilding of homes in seismic zones has focused on the use of earthquake-resistant design principles and the increased use of concrete, steel and other disaster-resistant construction materials. Research is ongoing for self-healing building materials, such as concrete embedded with bacteria that can repair cracks on its own.
Brick
Brick is a common building material and can be used in a wide range of structures. There are four different types of brick – unfired, burnt clay brick, engineering brick and fly ash brick.
The unfired or mud brick is made from a mixture of earth materials such as clay, silt, sand and other natural material such as chopped straw, grasses, tree bark or even dung. This type of brick is very durable and has a low embodied energy.
A burnt clay brick is similar to mud brick but has been heated at a much higher temperature, resulting in increased strength and durability. This type of brick is often used for foundation work and underground tunnels.
Sand lime brick is another commonly used option, and this type of brick can be painted or colored with a pigment to change its appearance. This type of brick has a high compressive strength, which makes it suitable for load-bearing walls in houses and multi-storied buildings. It also provides good acoustic insulation as sound has a hard time passing through the dense brick.
Masonry Block
Concrete block masonry or CMU is used in building construction and may be solid or hollow. Solid blocks are used for load-bearing walls and beam and block floors while hollow blocks are more often found in partition wall construction. CMU is less expensive than brick masonry and requires lower maintenance.
Pros: Brick masonry is lightweight, easy to handle, and relatively cheaper than stone or concrete block. It is also versatile, as it can be made into various sizes and colors. Openings for doors and windows are easily made with brick masonry. Cons: Bricks have low resistance to tensile and torsion loads, which make them more susceptible to seismic damage. They are also heavy, which increases the dead load on the structure and may require additional reinforcement in earthquake-prone areas.
Lightweight masonry is a good choice for disaster-resistant buildings, as it reduces the building’s dead weight without compromising structural performance. It is usually produced by replacing the sand and gravel with expanded clay, shale, slate, or blast furnace slag. This material provides better insulation against sound and heat, and it offers improved fire ratings.
Ductile Cementitious Composite
When earthquakes strike, they release a massive amount of energy, which can cause buildings to collapse. To help make buildings resistant to these seismic forces, scientists have developed ductile concrete materials. This enables them to shake without mangling and gives survivors under rubble a chance to escape or be rescued.
Researchers at the University of British Columbia have developed a new eco-friendly building material that is extremely ductile and resistant to seismic activity. Called EDCC, it is made of a mixture that includes polymer-based fibers and nearly 70% type F fly ash, which is a sustainable alternative to cement. In tests, interior walls coated with a 10-millimeter-thick layer of EDCC were subjected to simulated earthquake conditions as high as 9.1. The walls held up, while their uncoated counterparts collapsed.
The resulting material is also highly ductile, and its strength and deformation capacity are comparable to those of steel. This makes it an excellent choice for applications where longitudinal steel reinforcement is not feasible, such as in seismic shear elements and hybrid steel connections. In order to further enhance the material’s ductility, it was infused with microencapsulated phase change materials (PCMs). Adding these reduced the temperature fluctuations in the mix, and enhanced its tensile strain capacity by over 7%.