March 19th Virginia Tech KTU exhibitor!

Liquefaction – How Earthquakes Sink Structures

Liquefaction is a geotechnical phenomenon that can occur during an earthquake, causing the soil that supports a structure to loose structural integrity. This phenomenon can lead to damaging effects on buildings, bridges and other structures that bear on soils. For liquefaction to occur, a set of three conditions are required: the soil must be loosely packed, the soil must be saturated, and there must be significant ground motions. This booth allows for interactive involvement of the EERI chapter and curious and motivated participants to build a structure from blocks/Legos. With the guidance of the EERI Officers, the three liquefaction conditions are replicated and the participant’s observe how their structure responds to an ‘earthquake’.

Virginia Tech’s Earthquake Engineer Research Institute (EERI) Student Chapter/ Civil and Environmental Engineering Department

EERI is a global, non-profit society dedicated to advancing the science of earthquake engineering and reducing the adverse effects of earthquakes through research and education. The organization is made up of engineers, architects, city planners, public officials and all other professions that incorporate the responsibility to help reduce the risks of earthquakes.