Eli5: how can a building be on rollers when everywhere I look it’s connected to the ground?

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We had a medium earthquake a few weeks
Ago but it felt pretty strong. I was at work and someone sent out an email that said “the earthquake felt stronger here because the building is on rollers” but everywhere I look the building is connected to the ground and there is a center courtyard inside our triangle shaped building that looks like a mound of earth. How can my building be on rollers?

In: Engineering

6 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Somwhere there is a area were there can be movement. Exacty how it is done depend on the building.

Look at a insulation system like that at [https://civildigital.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Base-Isolation-for-a-Building-1024×649.jpg](https://civildigital.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Base-Isolation-for-a-Building-1024×649.jpg) Look at the wooden bridge into the building and consider what happen if you would build it so it is only attached to the building but float just above the ground on the stationary part outside. That would be very had to spot.

Compare that idea to [https://imgur.com/a/LQTIWoT](https://imgur.com/a/LQTIWoT) that is the steps into San Francisco City Hall that is on a insulation system like that. It is quite clear on the magnification part.

So you can hide the gap. The building you looked at might have the foundation that is on contact with the ground stationary and the gap is where the building part stars, the clading might extend down so you can see the gap direct from the side. Flexible material can alos be used to cover the gap like rubber,

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