Engineers take on shaky science at Applied Dynamics Lab

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What if we could construct buildings that could be reused after an earthquake?

That’s just one of the questions researchers working in the Applied Dynamics Lab are asking.

Constructed in 1965 and located on the west side of campus, the Applied Dynamics Lab is the centre for large scale structural engineering at McMaster.

Students and researchers use the facility to study asphalt, concrete, fluid mechanics, beams, columns and the stress and strain on structures.

A number of engineers, including Lydell Wiebe, Tracy Becker and Dimitrios Konstantinidis, specialize in earthquake engineering, and use tools such as a “shake table” – a moveable platform that can be programmed with data from actual earthquakes – to look for better building techniques.

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