Geniuses in engineering: how the Japanese manage to build earthquake-resistant skyscrapers

Every day in Japan, dozens of earthquakes of varying degrees of intensity are recorded. But here's what is interesting: in terms of the number of skyscrapers in Tokyo, and indeed in any other Japanese city, it is not much different from other megalopolises in the world. But how do the Japanese manage to build multi-story buildings that practically do not suffer from earthquakes?

Skyscrapers in Japan are not only a tribute to modern architectural trends, but also a necessary necessity. In a country whose population exceeds 120 million people, and the urban area is limited to a small number of suitable plots for this, it is simply impossible to do without high-rise objects. There are many buildings, whose height exceeds 100-200 meters, and the Tokyo Sky Tower (Tokyo Sky Tree) is one of the highest buildings in the modern world and has a height of 634 meters.

But the high seismicity of the entire territory of the Japanese archipelago, without exception, dictates its own rules: Japanese engineers are constantly forced to improve multistory building technologies. One of the strongest earthquakes occurred in Japan in March 2011. But modern multi-storey buildings constructed using earthquake-resistant technologies did not collapse, but only swayed slightly, as can be seen in this video.

If a few decades ago, the stability of buildings in Japan was achieved by strengthening the supporting structures, then modern buildings were built using pendulum suspensions, spring shock absorbers and other technological innovations. Much attention is paid not only to the main structures, but also to the windows. Due to the fragility of glass in Japan, there is a standard limiting the area of glass coating in a building, and modern glass is pierced with special steel thread, which prevents the formation of large fragments in case of destruction. The video below shows some of the technologies used in the construction of high-rise buildings in Japan

In Japan, whole scientific institutes are occupied with the problem of earthquake resistance of buildings. New construction technologies undergo rigorous testing, during which models of real buildings are subjected to real crash tests. Tests are held and private two-story buildings, and school buildings, and skyscrapers.

Based on the results of such tests, building regulations and urban development standards are regularly reviewed in the country. And although Japan cannot yet predict the onset of an earthquake, here they learned how to build truly stable high-rise buildings.