Precast concrete residences resist great hurricane wind forces and moderate seismic forces. The entire residential structure, excluding the slab on grade are made from plant-cast concrete panels. Foundation panel joints are designed at the center of the precast wall panels to assure proper load-distribution from the walls to the foundation. Using a precast foundation greatly increases the speed of construction. All structural elements are field-bolted together. An interior wall track design allows engineered, prefabricated interior wall panels to roll into the home and “tip up” into place without wedging between the floor and ceiling.

To provide a connection structure between partition walls and a floor slab, and a method for constructing the connection structure, in which a wall material facing a vertical compartment is accurately attached to studs, without any deformation of runners and damage of the connection structure even if pressing forces are applied from the studs to the runners. A connection structure 100 configured to connect a first partition wall 30 and a second partition wall 40 to a floor slab 20 is provided. The first partition wall 30 and the second partition wall 40 are connected to the floor slab 20, and separate a vertical compartment 10 from an upper floor room 13 and a lower floor room 15 that are located adjacent to the vertical compartment 10 and above and below the floor slab 20. A lower runner 31 configured to accommodate a lower end of a first stud 32 is placed on the floor slab 20. An upper runner 33 configured to accommodate an upper end of a second stud 34 that forms the second partition wall 40 is placed below the floor slab 20. A first wall material 50 is fixed to the first stud 32 through a first back batten 80A and fixed to the second stud 32 through a second back batten 80B. The first wall material 50 extends from the first stud 32 to the second stud 24 in the vertical compartment 10.

A connecting metal (1) includes a tenon pipe (13) having through-holes (132) for fixing the tenon pipe (13) by drift pins or bolts, and a plate (12) joined at an end of the tenon pipe (13) and having through-holes (122) for fixing the plate (12) by drift pins or bolts, the tenon pipe (13) and the plate (12) being joined with each other in a substantially racket-like shape. A pair of slits (131) for receiving the plate is formed at the end of the tenon pipe (13), each of the slits (131) being defined by a first side edge and a second side edge that are bent inwardly. The plate (12) is inserted in the pair of slits (131) and joined with the tenon pipe (13) by welding, with no protrusion of weld reinforcement out of an outer periphery of the tenon pipe (13).

A floating-type base isolation system includes: a liquid storage portion storing liquid; a floating structure floated and arranged on the liquid; and a gas accommodation space formed at a position in contact with the liquid and accommodating gas. A volume of the gas accommodation space is set based on a natural frequency of a system that responds to a seismic wave propagating in fluid including the liquid and the gas.

A hold down system for a building wall comprises a first rigid member and a second rigid member, the second rigid member being vertically spaced apart from the first rigid member, the first rigid member is supported on a horizontal member of a stud wall, the first and second rigid members including first and second openings, respectively; a tie-rod with a lower end portion for being anchored to an anchorage, the tie-rod extending transversely through the first and second openings, the tie-rod dividing the first and second rigid members into a first lateral section on one side of the tie-rod and a second lateral section on a diametrically opposite side of the tie-rod; first support and second support disposed between the first and second rigid members, the first support being disposed in the first lateral section, the second support being disposed in the second lateral section, the tie-rod extending through the first and second rigid members outside of the first support or the second support; and a nut threaded to the tie-rod, the nut exerting pressure on the second rigid member to place the tie rod under tension loading, the tension loading is transferred by the second rigid member to the first and second supports to subject the first and second supports to compression loading, thereby causing the first rigid member to press on the horizontal member of the stud wall via the first and second lateral sections of the first rigid member, thus distributing the compression loading.

A sliding seismic isolation device includes a structure fixation plate having a first sliding surface and a metallic slider having a second sliding surface contacting the first sliding surface. A friction member composed of a single-layer fabric is attached to the first sliding surface, the second sliding surface, or both of the first sliding surface and the second sliding surface. One of a warp and a weft is formed of multiple plied yarns into which high-strength fibers and PTFE fibers are twisted together and the other of the warp and the weft is formed of multiple high-strength fibers in the single-layer fabric. The single-layer fabric has a twill weave and is woven such that the plied yarns of the one forming the single-layer fabric are exposed at a surface opposite from the attachment side of the friction member more than the high-strength fibers of the other forming the single-layer fabric.

An attachment device for securing a non-structural component of a building to a structural component of the building includes a non-structural component holder defining a receiving space configured to receive the non-structural component to couple the non-structural component to the attachment device. The non-structural component holder applies generally no compressive force against the non-structural component when the non-structural component is disposed in the receiving space so that the non-structural component is free to move relative to the non-structural component holder. A stop is configured to be secured to the non-structural component. The stop is configured to engage the non-structural component holder to inhibit movement of the non-structural component relative to the non-structural component holder when the stop and non-structural component holder are secured to the non-structural component.

The invention relates to an assembly for damping vibrations of a structure (I), having a wall element (5a, 5b, 5c, 5d) to be fitted in a upright position, a casing element (Sa, Sb, Sc, 8d) and a damping device (22a, 22b, 22c, 22d), which is connected to the casing element (Sa, Sb, Sc, 8d) and to the wall element (5a, 5b, 5c, 5d) such that a relative movement between the wall element (5a, 5b, 5c, 5d) and the casing element (Sa, Sb, Sc, 8d) is transmitted to the damping device (22a, 22b, 22c, 22d). The damping device (22a, 22b, 22c, 22d) is designed to damp a vibrating movement of the wall element (5a, 5b, 5c, 5d) in a damping direction and is arranged such that the damping device is oriented substantially parallel to a surface of the wall element (5a, 5b, 5c, 5d). The invention further relates to a method for damping vibrations of a structure.

A ductile anchor attachment (DAA) mechanism is disclosed. Example embodiments are directed to a DAA fuse plate including a bottom section configured to connect to an existing anchor; a tapered lower section; a narrowed neck forming a ductile yield mechanism; a tapered upper section; and a connection mechanism for direct removable coupling of the DAA fuse plate to a structure being anchored, the connection mechanism being in contact with the tapered upper section of the DAA fuse plate, the DAA fuse plate in combination with the connection mechanism being configured to not buckle under compression forces and to adjustably dissipate tension forces acting on the structure being anchored.

The present disclosure discloses an electromagnetic multistage adjustable variable inertance and variable damping device. Iron cores are magnetized by winding electromagnetic coil windings outside the iron cores and applying an electric current action to the electromagnetic coil windings, and air gap magnetic fields are generated by the magnetized iron cores and permanent magnets in air gaps to cause the variation of shear damping forces between a driving shear plate and magnet yokes and between driven shear plates and magnet yokes, which avoids that the mechanical properties of an inerter cannot be fully utilized due to the friction caused by mutual contact among parts, thereby realizing multistage real-time adjustability of an instance coefficient and a damping coefficient of the device.