Earthquake Safety

The Baumann Energy Dissipating Rebar Coupler™ (BauEDRC™) will be used to rapidly construct all types of earthquake resistant concrete structures such as school buildings, bridges, apartment and office buildings.

The BauEDRC™ could also be used to construct blast resistant structures.

Benefits of the BauEDRC™

The BauEDRC™ can be used to rapidly connect precast and poured-in-place concrete structural members such as columns and beams.

Besides being a very efficient device for connecting structural concrete members, the BauEDRC™ will also reduce the lateral earthquake force that these structures must be designed to resist. These BauEDRC™ structures can safely be designed to resist up to 60% less lateral force than structures with conventional rebar couplers.

Novelty

A U.S. Patent has been granted to Hanns U. Baumann S.E. who is searching for funding to manufacture and test BauEDRC™ prototypes on the shake table at University of California San Diego, in order to obtain an Evaluation Report from the International Code Council (ICC).

Application of BauEDRC™

The BauEDRC™ will be used in seismic regions, worldwide, to reduce the amount of material and time required to construct all types of earthquake resistant structures such as schools, homes, business structures and civil structures such as bridges.

Market Potential of the BauEDRC™

Once tests are completed and an Evaluation Report (ER) has been issued by ICC, the BauEDRC™ will be very marketable in all seismic regions because of the time and material savings that the BauEDRC™ will provide to the building industry.

Design Concept

The BauEDRC™ is designed to make reinforced concrete structures more ductile without causing damage to the structure.

A ductile structure, during an earthquake, forms plastic hinges that absorb energy.

The BauEDRC™ acts in a similar way to dissipate energy without causing damage to the structural members.

BauEDRC™ Manufacture

Every BauEDRC™ will be manufactured and tested according to the requirements of the ICC ER which requires an ANSI approved independent third party audit of the ongoing Quality Assurance Program and unannounced inspection visits during the manufacture of the BauEDRC™.

Cost of BauEDRC™ Compared with Conventional Rebar Couplers

The BauEDRC™ will cost about 25 % more to manufacture than conventional rebar couplers that do not dissipate energy during an earthquake.

However, the structures with BauEDRC™ designs will require significantly less material than the structures without BauEDRC™ designs.