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Buildings in the Province of Groningen are exposed to earthquakes as a result of gas extraction in this area. TNO, in cooperation with Remix Dry Mortar and others, has developed a vibration table test to determine how well buildings in the province of Groningen can withstand earthquakes. With the vibrating table test, a building component (facade part) can be tested. During simulated earthquakes, forces, accelerations and displacements of the building section are measured. With the measured data, the properties of the building section can be determined and, according to them, used to calculate the behavior of the entire building during an earthquake.
The vibrating table tests were conducted at BuildinG, the innovation center for Construction & Infra in Groningen. For the tests, two test walls with solid bricks and perforated strand compressed bricks, masonry with a previously commonly used mortar composition, were compared with a test wall of perforated strand compressed bricks masonry with the Remix ER® (Earthquake Reistance) strike-through mortar specially developed for earthquake zones.
The results are stunning. The Remix ER®test wall withstood a maximum PTA (peak table acceleration) of 0.84 g. For reference, the highest measured PGA (peak ground acceleration) values during the earthquakes near Huizinge (2012) and Zeerijp (2018) were 0.09 g and 0.11 g, respectively). The resistance to (repeated) earthquake loading of a facade and thus the safety can thus be significantly increased by masonry with a Remix ER®(Earthquake Resistance) mortar i.c.w. perforated strand bricks. And that at hardly any extra cost. The additional cost for an average house with 10,000 masonry bricks is only about €200. There is no easier and cheaper measure to build (and repair) more earthquake resistant buildings! TNO Report 2019, R10933.
The new generation of ER®(Earthquake Resistance) mortars is available under the Remix and Sakrete brand names as masonry mortar, strike-through mortar, thin-bed mortar, pointing mortar (in combination with Voegfix FX) and Multi mortar.
