<
https://theconversation.com/city-skylines-need-an-upgrade-in-the-face-of-climate-stress-267763>
"When structural engineers design a building, they aren’t just stacking floors;
they are calculating how to win a complex battle against nature. Every building
is built to withstand a specific “budget” of environmental stress – the weight
of record snowfalls, the push of powerful winds and the expansion caused by
summer heat.
To do this, engineers use hazard maps and safety codes. These are essentially
rulebooks based on decades of historical weather data. They include safety
margins to ensure that even if a small part of a building fails, the entire
structure won’t come crashing down like a house of cards.
The problem is that these rulebooks are becoming obsolete. Most of our iconic
high-rises were built in the 1970s and 80s – a world that was cooler, with more
predictable tides and less violent storms. Today, that world no longer exists.
Climate change acts as a threat multiplier, making the consequences of
environmental stress on buildings much worse. It rarely knocks a building down
on its own. Instead, it finds the tiny cracks, rusting support beams and ageing
foundations and pushes them toward a breaking point. It raises the intensity of
every load and strain a building must weather.
To understand the challenge, I have been studying global hotspots where the
environment is winning the battle against engineering."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
